Date: 16 Nov 94 17:10 PST Subject: EL SALVADOR: AIDS Activist Death Th Lines: 57 ********************************************************* INTERNATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION 1360 Mission Street, Suite 200, San Francisco, California 94114 USA Tel. +01-415.255.8680 Fax +01-415.255.8662 ********************************************************* FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 14 November 1994 Press Release AIDS ACTIVIST THREATENED WITH DEATH IN EL SALVADOR CONTACT: Jorge Cortinas, +1-415-255-8680 An AIDS educator in El Salvador has been threatened with death in an apparent effort to stop his disease prevention efforts, according to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). Human rights groups are treating the threat very seriously and are publicly calling on the Salvadoran government to do everything in its power to safeguard the educators life. The AIDS educator, whom advocates are referring to by his first name Wilfredo in order to conceal his identity, has been forced to go into hiding. A Salvadoran national, he had been working since July with the San Francisco based Oscar Romero AIDS Project. His tasks included distributing condoms and educational materials in some of San Salvador's poorest neighborhoods. Wilfredo's efforts had come to the attention of local bar and store owners, some of whom had barred him from their establishments. The chronology of events is disturbingly similar to what human rights groups have seen in Brazil and Colombia where "social cleansing" operations claim thousand of lives every year. In those countries, small business owners are believed to operate with the tacit and even formal cooperation of police forces to target prostitutes, gay men and street children for paramilitary execution. On 5 November 1994 Wilfredo was followed by a black Nissan with tinted windows. Two men stepped out of the car and pulled a gun on him, warning that they were "here to clean up the city and if AIDS doesn't kill the faggots, we will." Later that same day, the assailants stopped Wilfredo two blocks from his house where they announced that they would kill him unless he ceased his work and left the El Salvador within thirty days. "We refuse to permit intimidation and the threat of violence to deter us from serving the health needs of San Salvador's poor", said Matt Wettlaufer, the San Francisco Co-Director of the Oscar Romero Project. His organization, along with IGLHRC and other human rights groups, are hoping to mobilize as much international attention on the issue as possible. Already representatives from Amnesty International have expressed interest in the case. # # #