Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 11:19:01 -0800 (PST)
From: Rex Wockner <rwockner@netcom.com>
Subject: TIJUANA AIDS LEADER DIES; LA PAZ GAYS BLAST OFF

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       * Copyright (c) 1995 Rex Wockner. All rights reserved. *
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       * ACCENT MARKS FIRST STORY: e in Mexico, i in Mejia.   *
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                      TIJUANA AIDS LEADER DIES
                          by Rex Wockner

TIJUANA, Mexico -- The man who ran the Tijuana city government's AIDS
Information Center died of the disease March 7.

	Lino Casillas Chon worked for free for three years building the
center from scratch, said Max Mejia, editor of the Baja California
newspaper Frontera Gay.

	The center, located in the old City Hall Plaza at 2nd Street and
Constitution Avenue, is a project of COMUSIDA, Tijuana's Municipal
Committee for the Prevention and Control of AIDS.

	"He was a very organized person," said Mejia. "His work at the
center was a real success. I don't know who is going to take charge of
the information center. Once again we lose somebody who was doing the
most important things that the government should be doing but isn't."

	Casillas Chon also wrote on AIDS for Frontera Gay.

                              == END ==

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       * ACCENT MARKS SECOND STORY: e in Mexico, i in Garcia   *
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              BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR GAYS WIN CARNIVAL PRIZE
                           by Rex Wockner

TIJUANA, Mexico -- The 35 members of Manos Unidas (Hands United), the
first gay group in Baja California Sur, are "very impressive," says
Tijuana gay leader Alejandro Garcia, who presented workshops in the state
capital, La Paz, March 1-2.

	The group, formed January 8 by "Felizardo" and "Estelita," entered a
float in La Paz's March 26-28 Carnival parades and won first prize.

	"That was their card of presentation," Garcia says. "The were very
happy. They're off to a great start."

	La Paz, 913 miles south of Tijuana, is a city of 150,000 in a state
of only 260,000 people. Most of Baja California Sur is unpopulated
desert.

	"We spoke for six hours," Garcia said. "We told them the history of
the gay and lesbian movement. They were very attentive. It was
information they did not have. We did a safer-sex workshop. They were
just magnificent."

	Garcia and other Mexican gay leaders will return to La Paz in April
to train AIDS educators and counselors.

                              == END ==