Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 22:53:15 +0600
From: rastern@sol.racsa.co.cr

For Immediate Release...

Costa Rican Gays Receive Grant from Dutch Government

        San Jose, Costa Rica,  11 January, 1996.   Costa Rica=B4s first
legally recognized gay group, Triangulo Rosa, has received a grant from the
Dutch government to continue and expand its programs of AIDS prevention
among  Costa Rican gays during 1996.

       The grant will help to pay costs for renting and equipping  the new
Triangulo Rosa community center in Alajuela.   Another  major priority is
that group will now be able to expand its efforts in prevention to various
rural provinces of Costa Rica, and will attempt to organize AIDS prevention
efforts in these areas.

        During the last four years, Triangulo Rosa  survived on the basis of
small donations made by individuals.  Meetings were held in the house of its
President, Francisco Madrigal.  Triangulo Rosa became the first legally
recognized gay group in Central America last year when it was granted its
legal charter by the Costa Rican government in spite of protests by the
Church and other conservative entities.

       Triangulo Rosa was founded four years ago by Madrigal and several
other young gays in the rural town of San Pedro de Poas, near the Poas
Volcano.  They have continued to hold  a weekly meeting and coffee house
since then, and group membership is now around 100. 

      Says Madrigal "we are extremely happy about the support that the Dutch
have given us.  We welcome collaboration and communication from groups
around the world.  There are cultural and social factors in Latin culture
that make AIDS prevention efforts extremely difficult with the  gay and
bisexual population here."

     There are about 1000  diagnosed cases AIDS in Costa Rica, but estimates
as to the number of  HIV+ people here run as high as 15,000. About 70
percent of diagnosed cases have occurred among gay men.  Costa Rica has a
population of 3,000,000.
 
   Members of Costa Rica's gay community  and its supporters are invited
 to  the inaugeration of Triangulo Rosa's new community center later this month.

 Triangulo Rosa can be reached  by means of the following:

 Telephone or Fax.  (506) 234-2411
 Mailing Address: Apartado 1619-4050, Alajuela, Costa Rica, Central America
 e-mail:  rastern@sol.racsa.co.cr