Date: Wed, 2 Aug 1995 16:55:18 -0600 From: cblanca@sol.racsa.co.cr (Hotel Casa Blanca de Ml. Ant. S.A.) Hello out there: as stated in my last mail our movement will publish nationally and internationally a statement about the actual situation in Costa Rica, which you can find at the end of this mail! The statement will be followed by an open invitation to all commissions or groups which are fighting in Costa Rica against any kind of discriminations to assist our conference we will hold the 28th of August 1995 at 7:00 PM at a place we still have to determine! During this conference we will discuss the details of our statement and the reasons why our group came into being and which precisely are our aims! Any international group (not being represented in Costa Rica) or it's representatives are very welcome to join this conference, too! We will send an official invitation very soon! Until this meeting we will operate under the following name: "Comite para la Consolidacion del Movimiento Costarricense Pro-Respecto de la Identidad Sexual y Enfermos de Sida" which means: "Committee for the Founding of the Costarican Movement Pro-Respect for Sexual Identity and People with HIV and AIDS" The committee will then integrate into the movement with the same name which will be founded at the end of the conference! Just one thing before I give you the translation of our statement: The International Gay Travel Association protested officially with a very strong letter against the discrimination of g/lb/t in Costa Rica in general and against the discrimination of gay/lesbian national/international tourists and members of IGTA in particular. I want to take this news to thank IGTA and all of you again in the name of all g/l/b/t people in Costa Rica for your very strong support you are giving us. Very kind regards Harald +++++++++++++++ August 1995 San Jos=E9 / Costa Rica ACTUAL SITUATION OF G/L/B/T AND PEOPLE WITH HIV AND AIDS IN COSTA RICA Although it's not easy to admit, but we have to accept that Costa Rica is not the State of Rights and it is not the Country where the Human Rights are respected, opposite to the image Costa Rica presents to the rest of the world! There are existing clearly discriminating politics against the gay/lesbian community and in respect of the treatment of patients with AIDS in hospitals and health centers these politics are very obvious. Yes, it is true that at the beginning Mr. Jacobo Schifter presented himself as a protector of the Rights of Gays and Lesbians, when he organized a group of people collaborating en activities related to prevention of AIDS and attention for people with HIV and AIDS with the financial help of the Government of the Netherlands. In a very short time these initial motivations were abruptly substituted by more materialistic ones which are very distant from the original ones. The attention and efforts were given to other activities; by leaving out the solidarity with people with HIV or AIDS (either homosexual or heterosexual). This situation provoked the disintegration of the original group. For that reason Costa Rica in reality is not having any organized group just now which is interested in the health of people with HIV or AIDS. Experienced persons in the attention of patients, which also gave stability in continuing this activities saw themselves forced to leave their work in case they were not fired without justification by ILPES (Instituto Latinoamericano de Prevencion y Educacion en Salud / Latin American Institute for Prevention and Education in Health), which is a nongovernmental organism, created and financed by the Government of the Netherlands dedicated to the attention of the Costarican Gay Lesbian Society and upon all especially to attend the basic needs of persons with HIV or AIDS! In June 1994 the biggest gay/lesbian disco of Costa Rica "Deja Vue" was target of the most violent and repressive action against the rights of more than 1000 visitors by a bunch of unconstitutional, military and fascistic orientated actions. The owners of that business organized themselves to claim the value of their Constitutional Rights, something unusual in Costa Rica. They put la lawsuit to the Constitutional Supreme Court (SALA IV) as well as a lawsuit regarding Civil Rights. Both lawsuits were recently won by the accusers. Just now the respective courts of justice are processing the lawsuits against the all police departments involved in the repressive acts against the Costarican gay/lesbian society. Nevertheless, one year later the discrimination started over again with a dirty anti-gay campaign directed to the owners of several gay/lesbian hotels in which they connected the gay/lesbian tourism in total to prostitution. This campaign was started by one of the most spread printed communication media in Costa Rica. This situation motivated again one of the owners of the businesses being affected by this campaign to stand up and sew the reporter which is responsible for the most dirty reports. It is necessary to point out that neither in the first case nor in the second case any governmental or non-governmental organization in Costa Rica gave any support!! The described situation and many more cases against the Rights of Gays and Lesbians, in their position as clearly discriminated human beings create the need to have people organizing a group in order to attend the situation. signed: Committee para la Consolidacion del Movimiento Costarricense Pro-Respecto de la Identidad Sexual y Enfermos de Sida (Committee for the Founding of the Costarican Movement Pro-Respect for Sexual Identity and People with HIV and AIDS) ****************************************************************************** To send a message to the entire list "queerplanet", email queerplanet@abacus.oxy.edu This list is run by the program MAJORDOMO@abacus.oxy.edu. *******************************************************************************