Miami Herald - Sunday, September 9, 2001
Rosa Mae Neel, Herald Writer

Too quiet, many say, even though statistics show that Hispanics are contracting HIV at a rapid rate.

Now, a South Florida group is speaking up for Hispanics and reverse this disturbing trend.

Union Positiva, founded four years ago, is the first organization in South Florida dedicated to helping Spanish speakers prevent and treat AIDS.

"Union Positiva is finally making an impact," says Dr. Eddie Sollie, a spokesman for the group.

The leadership of professionals like AIDS activist Dr. Alberto Avendano, who serves as an advisor, and executive director Zaida Castillo, who has experience financing nonprofit organizations, has helped Union Positiva get grants from organizations such as the Alliance for Human Services.

Its founders' original goal was to pass along AIDS prevention information to Latin America. But the nonprofit organization now focuses on offering anonymous testing and counseling, prevention education, street outreach, treatment education and referrals.

Group members say it's about time.

"We can't blame Hispanic legislators for not doing enough," Sollie said, "because they'll say, `You never came and asked.'"

But now that activist Luis Penelas Jr., brother of Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, has joined Union Positiva as political advisor, the group may be knocking at politicians' doors more often.

While gay and African-American communities demanded to be heard by the government years ago, Sollie said Hispanics have avoided the topic.

"Our community doesn't like to talk about sex," Sollie said.

"It's a taboo that we have to break, because the AIDS virus doesn't make any exceptions."

Added Dr. William Skeen, Union Positiva's consultant for health care public policy, who is HIV positive, "The Hispanic community is the fastest growing group affected with AIDS."

And Miami is the third-most-impacted city in the country, Skeen

And the number of deaths caused by AIDS, which had been "decreasing steadily over the past years, is now leveling off," Skeen said. Sollie and Skeen say that information translated from English to reach the Spanish speaking community often has grammatical mistakes.

The group's leaders say they can best communicate with Spanish readers and speakers.

"What I encounter the most is ignorance and very genuine concern, but the response is almost always positive," said Luis Penelas, who has appeared on about a dozen radio shows since joining the group.

"Sometimes you hear things that you heard 10 years ago in the Anglo community," he says. "A woman once called and asked us why we can't just lock up the infected people. You're not going to change their culture. But we have to make them responsible."

Women are especially at risk, because many are unaware that they've been exposed, Sollie says.

They don't realize that if their husband has an affair, for example, he can bring a disease into their bedroom. Skeen recalls the case of a 65-year-old woman who contracted AIDS from her husband.

But Union Positiva is helping Hispanics catch up.

"The other day we had a graffiti party where we tested people," Skeen says. "Hundreds of kids showed up to create art. It was something they could relate to, and it gave us the opportunity to reach out to them."

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