More than one hundred and fifty professionals, mainly from my university, signed the letter. In terms of money, the bar owners did not contribute a cent.
If their customers got sick, they said, it was their problem. As soon as the letter was published, to my absolute surprise, the conservative newspaper La Nación came to our defense; it argued that the raids were not a way to prevent the spread of the virus and that they violated human rights. President Óscar Arias, who anticipated a Nobel Peace Prize, realized that his can-didacy was in danger and ordered the Minister of Security to stop the police persecution.
In the field of prevention, the workshops at the National University were a success. I had learned from my mistakes in the previous therapy group and designed a workshop with good readings, exercises, and topics for discussion. From the participants, those who would help me establish the organization to fight against the scourge emerged.
In 1988, one of my best friends was hospitalized due to complications from AIDS. William had not told anyone, not even me, that he was infected. When I went to visit him, he was in a coma; he had lived stoically with his illness. I entered his room, accompanied by Dr. Quesada, the only one who dared to defend the rights of patients during this time, and he was alone, he had urinated and defecated in bed, and no one had cleaned him up.