Photo: Courtesy, James Perigny/Red Hispana

FORT LAUDERDALE – Fulgencio de Jesus Aponte Contreras, AIDS activist and president of Red Hispana Florida, passed away Dec. 7. For the past year, Contreras had been suffering with multiple cancers. Right up to his passing, Contreras was fighting for the rights and dignity of PLWAs both in Venezuela and in the U.S.

Contreras was diagnosed HIV-positive in the early ’90s and moved from Venezuela to Spain to seek medical help and eventually moved to Florida. His role as a community leader developed while working at Hispanic Unity. In April 2004, he helped co-found Red Hispana Florida to help others cut through red tape and seek out medical help and enroll in clinical trials.