Puerto Rican Superhero Raises Awareness of HIV

This Sunday, October 15 the US commemorates National Latino AIDS Awareness (NLAAD), an opportunity to bring together Latino communities, Latino service providers and organizations providing services to Latinos throughout the US under one theme: "Be a Superhero Defeat HIV."

Plus spoke to Puerto Rican activist and writer Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, creator of the super popular Puerto Rican superhero , La Borinqueña which dovetails with NLAAD’s theme. Miranda-Rodriguez’s comic book creation — an Afro-Latina, environmentally powered superhero, La Borinqueña — is a super powered love letter that basks in the spiritually connective pride that all Puerto Ricans feel toward La Isla del Encanto. He created the heroine, who shares a name with the Puerto Rican national anthem, not just to continue the growing diversity that has reached superhero comics, but to serve as a reminder that Puerto Rico can weather its storms, be they financial, natural disasters, or HIV.

“One of my good friends and strong advocate for the LGBTQIA community is Pedro Julio Serrano,  who is currently the executive director at Puerto Rico ParaTod@s (Puerto Rico for Everyone)” Miranda-Rodriguez says. Serrano is also HIV positive, living in Puerto Rico and actively engaged in social justices concerning the environment, and who is presently volunteering providing disaster relief on the island. “Pedro and I met at the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in 2016 when the two of us were being honored. I personally gave him my La Borinqueña T-shirt and he has consistently worn it as a symbol of hope and empowerment at rallies, demonstrations, and even when he was arrested for civil disobedience when protesting the dumping of toxic coal ashes in the town of Peñuelas, Puerto Rico. He wore the La Borinqueña T-shirt as part of an exhibition of portraits of many activists that stood up against the US based company Applied Energy Systems (AES).”

Much of Miranda-Rodroguez’s work centers on the upliftment of Puerto Rico and it’s people. As he’s been on a speaking tour for over a year — at universities, museums, libraries, and cultural centers — about the power of education and how that is truly the key to building a stronger Puerto Rico “for all of us.” He says. “This HIV campaign is important to get the word out, but it is truly up to all of us, individually, every day to become aware and to share this with others. Although 83 percent of Latinx are diagnosed, only 58 percent are actually receiving care. That number drops to 48 percent when they choose to be retained in care. It’s up to all of us to get tested and to encourage our community to not only get the care they need, but to continue to receive the care. We can only uplift ourselves if we are all healthy enough to do so.”