Author: Unknown

Date: Unknown

Demonstration: Hispanic AIDS Forum

People: Unknown

Description: The Latina/o Caucus took up a high-profile fight with one of New York’s few established Latinx AIDS organizations - the Hispanic AIDS Forum. The Caucus accused the HAF of being ineffective and out of touch with the City’s Latinx community and failing to have people living with HIV in its leadership. The director of HAF at the time, Miguelina Maldonado (pictured in the flyer), was targeted by the activists. The offices of HAF were in SoHo, while the epicenter of the Latinx AIDS crisis was in the Bronx and Harlem.

The decision to oppose HAF, as well as some of the strategies used, divided ACT UP and the Latina/o Caucus. Many outside and within the Caucus felt that it was risky politically and that civil society groups should be protected. Supporters of the actions regarded HAF as an establishment organization that was receiving significant money from the government but was not providing services in the places and to the people that most needed them. Ultimately, the campaign against HAF fractured the Latina/o Caucus and many regard it as the beginning of the end.

Collection: Unknown