Brazos Abiertos: An American Man’s Perspective
By Vincent Paul Gricus Jr.
This is not an investigative article on Brazos Abiertos. It is simply an account based solely on my experience with Brazos Abiertos and contains only my opinions. I am sure that perhaps others have had other experiences.
I will not only mention the negative but I will also mention the positive experiences.
I am making no claims that this organization is a fraud. That is for you to decide on your own. It is my opinion, however, that the people running Brazos Abiertos are disorganized and misleading.
I’m Vince Gricus, manager of a local Merida Bed & Breakfast, and a co -founder of the Merida Bed & Breakfast Association. February 19, 2007 was the first night of a two week vacation that I was spending with my partner in Merida. It also the night that I was introduced to Brazos Abiertos. Our two week vacation was spent at the Angeles de Merida B&B which at the time was owned by John Truax and Jose Solis. The manager at the time was Michel DeVoid.
It was during these two weeks in Merida that I realized that my old life in the United States was no longer bringing me joy. It was time to change. One thing still remaining on my wish to do list was to operate my own B&B. So in those two weeks I and my partner bought a property. I returned to Merida in April 2007 and have made this my permanent home.
I know that this may sound courageous and fearless, just to pack up and go and move to a foreign country, but believe me I did have more than a few reservations about what I had just done. These reservations were based on my fears, ignorance and my gullibility about Mexico. I tend to trust people and believe what they say without questioning, which is why I believed what John Truax and Jose Solis told me about Mexico.
My introduction to Brazos Abiertos caused me a mix of emotions. On the one hand, I feared moving to Mexico, a country, I was told by my new “friends” at Brazos Abiertos, which was overrun with strict Roman Catholic homophobia hate-mongers. It was a country that was sending AIDS patients to live with the pigs. This was a place which had no HIV/AIDS services. I was told that once a person is diagnosed with HIV, this information it is stamped on his or her IMSS national health care card making it impossible for him or her to get a job, rent a house or obtain decent health care. Apparently their only salvation was to live at a compound called Oasis de San Juan de Dios, a shelter in a remote village far from town. These were real fears for me because I am openly gay man living with HIV for 27 years.
WHAT HAVE I DONE by moving here? But I chose to look at this in a positive manner: Was this God’s plan for me? Was I sent to help? After all, I was not only establishing roots in a new community but I now had the opportunity to become part of that community. A chance to reach out and help others, both American and Mexican alike.
On that first night in Merida I attended a party that was taking place at Angeles de Merida B&B. It was there that I was introduced to a young gay couple from the Texas. One of them told me he had just made a donation to Brazos Abiertos, although I forgot the exact amount I believe that it was more than $100,000 USD. John Truax confirmed that he indeed had made the donation.
How cool this is, I thought. Here’s an organization where people speak English and that is actively working to reach out to the less fortunate.
While I was not able to make this kind of contribution I attempted to do my best. On several occasions I told both Michel and John that I would like to accompany them to Oasis de San Juan de Dios to see firsthand what happened there and what was needed. I was willing to help with patient care and support. Perhaps to offer a smile and hug that these people needed just as I did. That never happened.
My first doubt about the operation was when I was told that Michell DeVoid would be paid a salary to act as a director. Having worked for nonprofit organizations for almost eight years it is my experience that no one is paid a salary until the organization is at least five or more years old -- and only when a volunteer is not available. Start-up nonprofits, after all, are almost always initially staffed by volunteers who are passionate about the cause, not by people looking for salaried positions from Day One.
Nevertheless, I wanted to help out Brazos Abiertos in every way I could. For example, since I am insured in the U.S. and I received my medications in a 3 month supply, when my medications were changed I donated my old ones to Brazos Abiertos. I was happy to make monetary donations, get others to donate medications for them and host fundraising events. Remember that “Dinners with Friends” fundraising event? One of those dinners was held at my house.
It was at this event that I started really questioning the validity and operations of Brazos Abiertos. When I had invited some people to “Dinner with Friends” who had lived in Merida for a while, several said “That’s a scam,” or “Be careful with those guys – they’re dishonest.” I was surprised that their financial statements were not available on a web site. Although I was surprised by the lack of readily available financial information for public review, I forged forward: I took the donations which were raised at my home and attend the dessert party at another person’s home.
It was there that Director Michell asked me to speak at an upcoming school event, and I was thrilled. After all, I have more 13 years’ experience being a counselor for people with HIV, working on education programs to educate young people about HIV and working with the HIV community, I knew a few things about speaking on these issues. He told me that I was the only person he knew in the expat community who was totally open about his HIV status.
My story is one that offers hope and encouragement, and is not one of those doom and gloom ones that having HIV is a death sentence. The date and time were set for Michell to pick me up. I set the time aside, prepared my remarks, showered, shaved and got dressed – and waited. Not only did he not showed up, but he never called to cancel, or later explain what happened. When I contacted him we rescheduled for the following week and the same thing unfolded – I was ready, and I was stood up.
My experience with Dr. Carlos Cabrera for the most part has been positive. On two occasions he came to my house to examine someone that wanted testing, and wanted counseling about safer sex practices. And two months ago I took a young man who had just been diagnosed with HIV the day before to the Brazos Abiertos clinic. This young man was devastated and afraid. Perhaps Dr. Cabrera was having a bad day but the truth of the matter is that he was impatient and lacked complete empathy to the young Mexican man – compassion certainly left a lot of room for improvement in his bedside manner. He told the young man who was crying, “Well it’s your fault you did not use a condom.” As I looked around, the state of the so-called clinic surprised me. It did not have a pen light for the doctor to examine the patient’s throat with. It was a sparse office, hardly the kind of clinic one is used to seeing anywhere. I asked if there was a HIV support for this young man to attend. I was surprised to learn that no such group met in the Brazos Abiertos clinic. Dr. Cabrera did tell me that there was a group, but he did not have the contact information for it, which I found incredulous for a place whose mission statement is to provide services to the HIV/AIDS community. Dr. Cabrera promised to get back to me with the information, and I waited two weeks, but received it only after several emails and phone messages.
More to the point, during the time I have lived in Merida, I have realized that everything Brazos Abiertos says to motivate donors is false. For example, I now have Mexican health care. And on my ID, nowhere does it say that I am HIV positive although I fully disclosed that I was HIV positive at the time when I registered with IMSS. Another example: At the support group I go to, none of the Mexicans who attend and are HIV positive have been fired from their jobs. Another example? Merida has a state-of-the-art clinic for HIV and AIDS located at the Hospital O’Horan, on Avenida Itzaes, a couple of blocks from the Parque del Centenario. No Mexican that I know of, who has HIV, reports having been “disowned” by their family. Babies are not left to die if they are HIV positive, and more importantly, Conasida operates a fleet of vans that travels to every community to educate the public, provide confidential HIV testing, and arrange for medical services to those who are HIV positive – free of charge. Certainly there may be a number of these sad cases but not to the extent that Brazos Abiertos leads one to believe.
As with everything in the world certainly things could be improved upon, but things are better here in Mexico than in the U.S. in one important way: HIV infection rates. In the U.S., 0.6% of the population is HIV positive, and in Mexico the rate is half that (0.3%)! And all it takes is common sense to realize that one can walk the streets of Merida without seeing the “multitudes” of HIV positive people who have been thrown into the streets by their families and are dying from lack of medical care! So what Brazos Abiertos says may be brilliant marketing, but it not true. And it is sad that Americans in Mexico have created a campaign to distort the truth about Mexico and defame Mexico in this horrible way. It is the same offense I take when someone claims that Uxmal and Chitzen Itza must have been built by extraterrestrials because the Maya were certainly NOT smart enough to do it.
I think that Brazos Abiertos could do their work without the need to defame the country of Mexico, which is my opinion of what they are doing.
I would be more than happy to share my experiences and the reasons why I have reached the opinions that I have with anyone. I can be reached at mexicovince@yahoo.com.
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