KEY PERSONS AT
THE FRENTE COMÚN
CONTRA EL SIDA ...
Here are a few of the important people who make up the Frente Común Contra el SIDA.
Profesora Lilia Palacios Esteva, President of the Frente Común, and until recently was number two person in the State Public Education System (IEEPO). There she was able to open many doors to providing AIDS education and materials to teachers throughout the state of Oaxaca. In 1997 she lead over 3000 persons through the streets of the Historic Center calling for help for persons living with HIV/AIDS in Mexico. At Oaxaca's Day of the Dead celebrations in 2000, she lit the 845th candle in honor of those who have died of HIV/AIDS in the state. Highly respected in the community, she is a tireless worker for the Frente Común Contra el SIDA.
Bill Wolf
,
General Coordinator of the Frente Común, artist and theater designer, he worked extensively with AIDS groups in San Francisco, California, during the eighties where he received the first Hall of Fame Award from the AIDS Emergency Fund in 1990. One of the founders of the Frente Común, he has worked throughout the state and is well known in AIDS organizations there. He has organized the various benefit art auctions for the Frente Común and was one of the original four founders of the State AIDS Council, COESIDA. In 2002, he called upon the NGOs of Mexico to be vigilant to see that the public funds dedicated to AIDS services get to their destination. He has become a voice through the media advocating the rights of AIDS patients to receive the medicines they need.
...VISIT BILL WOLF'S "PERSONAL ARCHIVES"
Ayax Cruz, is the director of the Education program of the Frente Común, where he has given over 400 AIDS talks in schools and workplaces. A teacher of theater in the COBAO school system of Oaxaca, he also was coordinator of the state-wide Encounter of AIDS Organizations in 1996 and the region-wide Ten-State Conference in 1997. At the state Governor's Informe of 2002, he called for the end to homophobia and discrimination against HIV/AIDS in the Secretary of Health and full funding of current medical attention for AIDS patients. He is a well-known voice in AIDS work and frequent representative of the Frente Común in national and international AIDS efforts.
Sergio Santamaría
,
theater director and founder of Teatro Vivo de Oaxaca, A.C., he has been involved in the Frente Común since its founding in 1992. Through a grant from the Panamerican Health Organization of the UN in 1997, he wrote and directed “Las Intrépidas VS. SIDA” and toured to eleven cities in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. That same year, he accompanied Tania Libertad through the streets of Oaxaca to inaugurate the Frente's Condón-Manía. (SEE: “An Inauguration To Remember” on our Main Menu.) In the year 2001, he was instrumental in calling upon the AIDS organizations of Oaxaca to demand complete and current medical attention for all AIDS patients in our state.
Esperanza Rojas, is the accountant for the Frente Común and advisor in all things financial, legal, fund-raising, as well as international tax-deductible donations, and mother of a three-year-old girl. She represented the Frente Común at an international conference on gender in Mexico City in 1994 and was co-chairperson at the Frente's interstate summit of 22 AIDS organizations in 1997. Her expertise is vital to the continued good standing of the Frente Común's tax-deductible status under the laws of Mexico.
Lic. Yolanda Acevedo , psychologist and long-time contributor to the Frente Común's program of support for persons living with HIV/AIDS. She is professor of psychology at the Southern Mexico University, URSE, and was instrumental in writing the Frente's initial AIDS presentation in 1993. She has traveled extensively in the state giving AIDS presentations and was the moderator for the Ten-State Conference of AIDS organizations in October of 1997.
Doctor Miguel Ángel Ramírez Almanza, advisor to the Secretary of Health of Oaxaca in the area of evaluation and follow-up, he was the first President of the newly formed Frente Común Contra el SIDA from 1992 to 1995. An influential and highly respected advocate of the Frente Común for many years, in 2001 he was responsible for the Frente's comprehensive survey of AIDS patients and the medicines they receive at the state's AIDS clinic, COESIDA. In 2004, he called for greater transparency in official AIDS reporting by the government. His continued support of the work of the Frente has been vital in the fight against AIDS in Oaxaca.
Pina Hamilton ,
well-known Oaxacan activist in many good causes including clean air, animal rights, education and health. Long-time supporter of the Frente Común, she says, “Our work at the Frente is PREVENTION, PREVENTION, PREVENTION!” Here she is flanked by the Frente's Marco Ramírez and Ayax Cruz at the Bank of Mexico's recent honoring of the work of the Frente Común in Oaxaca.
Nancy Mayagoitia, untiring worker and founding member of the Frente Común Contra el SIDA since 1992, she is dedicated to a number of important causes including handicap access in the streets of Oaxaca as well as AIDS prevention. She was the original president of the State AIDS Council, COESIDA, in 1994, and long-time director of a prominent contemporary art gallery where she spearheaded important efforts by the art community in AIDS work. (SEE: “The Art Community Responds” in ART AGAINST AIDS on our Main Menu.) In Vancouver, Canada, at the International AIDS Conference of 1995, she called attention to HIV/AIDS issues among migrant workers in Latin America. A continuing force in the Frente Común, she remains the most well-known voice and face of the fight against AIDS in Southern Mexico.
...AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST!
SEÑOR CONDÓN, here in his spacious offices at the Frente Común's headquarters, he takes time to tell us, “Hey kids! Remember that it's always smart to have TWO condoms in your pocket at the same time!” Hero of the youth of Oaxaca and popular gossip-column personality, he tirelessly promotes his message of protection and prevention to his huge and adoring public. ( SEE: “A Day in the Life of Señor Condón” in the CONDÓN-MANÍA choice off our Main Menu.) Good work, Señor Condón! And we say: Keep It Up!
