Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press Tuesday, September 24, 1996 6:43 pm EDT
Paul Haven, Associated Press Writer
The two were not hurt in the fire Monday night in Paicol, 185 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota. Another family of four staying at the house was away at the time.
The farmhouse is run by Eudes, a Roman Catholic group that shelters poor people throughout Colombia who are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"It appears that people who want the group to leave Paicol set the fire," said Jose Valenzuela, the town's police chief.
The farmhouse was partially destroyed and police had no suspects. Eudes said the house was uninhabitable, but said his group would not be intimidated into leaving the town.
"On top of these ashes we will build a beautiful home," said the Rev. Bernardo Vergara, the Eudes director.
The group would not release names or ages of the family members.
Townspeople threatened in July to burn the house down if the HIV-infected families didn't leave, said Gerardo Forero, a Eudes spokesman in Bogota.
Misinformed Paicol residents fear their water supply and crops are in danger because HIV-infected people have bathed in a stream that feeds into town. HIV is spread through sexual contact or exchange of body fluids such as blood or semen; it cannot be transmitted through a water supply.
In March, five armed men in military fatigues and ski masks threatened to kill four HIV-positive young men living in the farmhouse if they didn't leave.
The men, all homosexuals and some former prostitutes, left after a two-month standoff. Eudes replaced them with the families in an effort to appease angry residents.
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