AIDS Institute trial press 05/08/99
Kouri trial 05/08/99
Clinton AIDS advisor mulls visit to PR. to discuss patient's concerns
By MARTY GERARD DELFIN
of the STAR Staff
President Clinton's national AIDS advisor is deciding whether to travel to Puerto Rico in the coming days to discuss with AIDS/HIV patients their concerns over the misuse of federal funds, said a spokesman for a patients group on Friday.
Sandra Thurman, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, is scheduled to meet Monday with Wayne Turner, Washington D.C. coordinator for Act-Up, who was here last week for the San Juan AIDS Institute embezzlement trial.
Jose Colon, spokesman for the local AIDS Patients for Sane Politics, said that Thurman asked for a meeting with Turner after receiving a letter from the local group.
Gov. Rossello has also asked Turner to travel to Puerto Rico, but she hasn't decided whether she'll make the trip at this time, Colon said.
He said that she also wants to come on the invitation made by Colon's group.
"I think this is marvelous, this action taken by ONAP," Colon said during his weekly vigil outside the Clemente Ruiz Nazario Federal Courthouse,
Three protesters, Colon, Anselmo Fonseca and Katherine Angueira, wore signs with the Mexican flag that stated "Extradite Ornellas Hall."
They were referring to federal prosecutors studying the possibility of extraditing Dr. Gloria Ornellas Hall, a Mexican epidemiologist who was indicted last February for conspiracy in the AIDS Institute embezzlement scandal.
Ornellas, who testified this week, was the president of the Pan American Foundation, which received $484,000 in contracts from the AIDS Institute.
She testified this week from Mexico City through a videoconference call which was cut short when her lawyers advised her that she should not continue providing testimony for the defense.
Internet Links...
The San Juan Star
The Associated Press
Pacientes de SIDA pro Política Sana
Send e-mail to [email protected]
Copyright © 2000 Pacientes de SIDA pro Política Sana.
Page created 19 January 2000. Last updated 19 January 2000 at 5:27 AM.
Produced with Webford 2.01.