Hunger striker stages protest against agency

Birusk Tugan

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2000 | 9:49 a.m.

Andres Mendoza, who is HIV positive, lost nine pounds last week -- not because of AIDS but as a result of a five-day hunger strike.

Mendoza, 32, camped out under an umbrella in the front of the nonprofit Nevada Association of Latin Americans Inc. (NALA) on Maryland Parkway and Stewart Avenue last week to protest policies he says have failed to provide him and other area Hispanics adequate social services.

NALA receives two-thirds of its annual budget from local and state agencies to provide services from child care to case management for HIV patients and their families.

Mendoza objected to the fact that the extent of help for him and other AIDS patients is a $10-a-month food voucher.

But the hunger strike also brought attention to a schism on the 31-year-old organization's board that has been festering for months.

To anyone who would listen, Mendoza accused six members of the 11-member NALA board of holding NALA back, of squandering money provided by the United Way and the Clark County Health District, and of failing the Hispanic community, which accounts for 17 percent of the population in Southern Nevada.

Mendoza called on NALA Chairwoman Mary Manchego, Vice Chairman Daniel Rodriguez, Secretary Yolanda Fuquay, Treasurer Francis Odom and lifetime members Davey Garlington and Sara Rios to step down.

Those six and NALA President and CEO Zullie Franco have been locked in a bitter dispute over control of the group -- a fight that Mendoza says hinders the organization in providing services. Mendoza said the six board members have pressured Franco to resign, when in fact it is they who should do so.

His plan for a hunger strike prompted one other board member, Eloiza Martinez, to resign.

Citing the fact that five of NALA's 25 employees have left since Franco arrived in February 1999, the six board members accused her of abusing the employees.

"I am not abusing them, this is discipline," Franco said. She said some employees were habitually late or otherwise not meeting standards. She said employees who do their jobs have no reason to fear her management, and those who remain support her.

Mendoza supports her efforts and lauds Franco's plans to raise more money to provide services to the Hispanic community. Mendoza said the board members are standing in the way.

"There has been enough scandal," Rodriguez said, declining further comment on the allegations. He said he had no plans to resign.

Repeated calls to the five other board members were not answered.

NALA received $100,000 from the health district in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, for its HIV/AIDS programs. Mendoza said NALA is not using the money to provide meaningful help.

"They give us one $10 food voucher a month," Mendoza said. "You can buy 10 tortillas. I give it to my friend who has a bigger family so he could buy 20 of them."

But Franco said 952 people were helped by the $100,000. She did acknowledge, however, that the need is great in terms of helping people with HIV/AIDS.

Between 1992 and June 1, according to the health district, there have been 3,326 recorded cases of AIDS in Clark County. Hispanics with AIDS accounted for 13 percent -- 421 -- of those cases. Of the total number of cases, 1,656 resulted in death.

Mendoza said the financial information of all nonprofit organizations is public record, but that nobody knows how the money was spent during the NALA administration before Franco took over.

He said there should be a federal investigation into NALA's financial records.

Franco would not comment on Mendoza's allegations.

Franco did say, however, that when she took over the agency it had a $100,000 budget deficit. She added that she hopes any lingering disputes between her and the board members will be resolved at NALA's board meeting on Aug. 8.

One of her supporters on the board is not as optimistic.

"This division on the board has taken away NALA's potential leadership," Wayne Pressel said. "It is not only a difference of opinion anymore. These people must leave."