Dec 02, 2025
3 min read
World AIDS Day: find out how three voices from the Canary Islands are breaking the stigma of HIV with their testimonies.Important information about diagnosis, treatment and visibility
World AIDS Day
Andony, Belén and Jesús from the Canary Islands and live with HIV: "Stigma and misinformation kill"
Incompletion and Non-Buyable AIDS Remember: See and Meet, Meet and Visibility and Visibility and Three Heroes to Promote Information
For decades, HIV in Spain has become more than a disease;It has been an electric epidemic of secrecy, characterized by discrimination and HIV infection.In the Canary Islands, the narratives of Anony, Jesús and Bellén show different things but they are united in the same battle: they challenge the myths that keep repeating themselves.
In 2024, according to official data provided by the Ministry of Health, there were 3,340 new HIV diagnoses in Spain - a rate of 6.95 per 100,000 inhabitants, which would be 7.44 when the reporting delay is corrected - mainly in men (85.3%) and with an average age of 36 years.Sex was the highest (54.3%), followed by heterosexual transmission (28.7%), and more than half of the new cases (53.7%) were related to people born outside Spain and 51.1% were detected late.Together, the data confirm that sexual transmission remains the main form of transmission, that late diagnoses remain high, and that, despite this, there is a downward trend in both new HIV diagnoses and AIDS cases, a factor that may exacerbate the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In the Canary Islands, however, we did not know the current information when we contacted and we did not receive a response from GAMá, a non-profit organization that fights for the rights of gays, homosexuals, lesbians and bisexuals.
Canaries influencer Andoni Artiles threatened to reveal his serological status
At the end of July 2019, make -up artist Andony Artiles received two calls that were noted before and after.The former warned that he had to get to hospital.The second, a day later, confirmed that he had an HIV and could not return home because his defenses were dangerously low."They told me that a simple flu could kill me", he remembers.
Although he knew something about the virus and knew that with treatment he would be able to live a normal life, he could never have imagined that his body was on the verge of collapse.The doctor who treated him assures that speaking to him added to the mix a hardness of humanity that he would never protect.However, not all of their health experiences would be similar to this treatment.Today, he receives injections and is informed that patient privacy is still being violated: "Flyer doors open without warning, advice where there are more people."These are very high level operations.You have to watch out.
At first he decided to keep quiet, mainly to protect the family.But years later he received a threat: someone wanted to disclose his HIV status.I thought: if I didn't use the video, without editing the video, without the speech.He was blocked from his cell phone for several hours.
Not only did the message go viral, but it was also accompanied by massive support from well-known faces in the archipelago and at national level: LGTBIQ+ leaders such as Carla Antonelli, Antonia San Juan or Ángela Ponce shared his statement, and hundreds of people wrote to him and thanked him for his courage.Many were women who acquired the virus in a sexual relationship only.That day, he realized that his story had a purpose: the breaking of a taboo.
Emotionally, it hasn't been easy either. Before his current relationship, some guys blamed him for not disclosing his diagnosis until intimate, despite it being undetectable and non-communicable (I=I). "I can't go around saying that 24 hours a day. If you're in treatment, you're not contagious."
Today, he is a visible voice in sex education.He insists on something basic and urgent: take a serological test at least once a year."If you test positive, with treatment, you can live a completely normal life."
Belén Lamuedra: Living Memory of a Generation That Lost Everything
The story of Belpe Koelager, 62, whose generation of people living with HIV still equates to death.After running away from home in the 80s, leaving Herod without shelter and knowledge, he performed.He became very ill and decided to go to the class to try it out, because this custom made the job unavailable on the island.
The diagnosis was brutal.The scene remained intact in his memory: a dark hospital, a known number of patients and the doctor directly told him: "You are 20 years old; I will give you two."At the time, the misinformation was so deep that there were discussions on television about infection from cutlery, mosquitoes or simple contact.Many proposed segregating those with HIV as "lepers".
Belén vio morir al 90 % de sus amigos en apenas unos años. Ella misma cayó en coma por una neumonía. Contra todo pronóstico, sobrevivió. Salió adelante gracias a un amigo que la cuidó hasta el extremo, pero la culpa —y el miedo a que alguien tuviera que cuidarla como ella vio cuidar a otros— la condenaron al silencio durante décadas. Sus padres murieron sin saber su diagnóstico.
Many have proposed isolating people with HIV "like lepers".
At 32, he found an unexpected outlet: the ocean.He joined a tour boat as a spare, trained at a fishing school and became a tall captain and boat captain.But the stigma caught up with him again.In 2005, his company discovered his HIV status and unexpectedly fired him."My notebook says 'suitable'," he replied before leaving.
However, he reappeared.Four years ago, he participated in Pride Positivo in Madrid and realized that his story could be useful to others.Since then, he has been an activist and partner of newly discovered persons.He even gives talks on sex education and shares his story in prison on the island.
Belen forcefully repeats his message: imperceptible = incommunicable.Although he feels that Spain has made healthy progress, he laments that socially "we are still on the edge".
Jesus, by making his serological status visible, is a double salvation
MaJa Japús Aclollo, a producer from Tenerife, also saw his own earthquakes.I was 18 years old and had no interest before sex.At home the subject was not disclosed;In high school, he got a little something that was pictures with cucumber and condoms."He's not telling me lies or truths."His lack.
When he called his best friend to vent, his response was a vague stab: "It's fine now, you don't know how you left."He admits that it shines through deeply.And the ignorance doesn't end there."Avoid contact so you don't face that moment."
The change came in 2023, when Mr. Gay decided to perform for Spain. On the way, he asked himself: what could he contribute to the team?He answered visibly.That year, he says, was a "double liberation": speaking publicly about his HIV status and becoming the first to fight in the wing, he shattered stereotypes on all fronts.
Since then, his life has changed.His family accepted him, of course, and he himself became a safe space for hundreds of newly diagnosed young people looking for answers, comfort, or just someone who understands them.You also get questions about injection treatment, pain, process, effects."Knowing that you're helping is very nice."
His actakism grows every year.He participates in campaigns with, among others, Apoto Positivo and the "Connected Life" initiative, whose stories are presented in Madro Metro.This year she is collaborating with the life of life project, an event in La Laguna that combines art, sexuality education and community intervention to break stigma.
Jesus has a message that he repeats again and again and again: people with viruses inevitably have the same expectations as everyone else.The killer is not HIV, but late diagnoses.And these late diagnoses, he accuses, continue to appear because of medical discrimination, non-discrimination and fear.
The truth that doesn't have three votes
Andon, Jess Bais and Bel Urn don't know each other, but their lives are in dialogue with each other.All three repeat the same thing: AIDS does not kill stigma yes.The difference between HIV infection and survival is the virus, but late diagnosis.And this late diagnosis was fought with sex education, information, testing and social courage.
On World AIDS Day, December 1, their stories are published exclusively in La Provincia, not as a warning but as a reminder: visibility saves, free information and silence remains the greatest enemy.
Three generations.Three different tracks.Similar message: HIV is not defined;How do we choose?
Sign up to continue reading
- Aemet announces a radical change in the weather in the Canaries: the fog will disappear in the archipelago today
- Jorge Rey anuncia que la lluvia no cesará en Canarias y se aproxima un nuevo frente: 'Llega una borrasca de la península y otra del Atlántico
- Aemet warns: Saturday with blankets, wind and rain in the Canary Islands
- Civil Guard confirms: 'Supermarket fraud' identified in Canary Islands bank accounts
- El BOE lo hace oficial y también afecta a Canarias: adiós a los ciclistas de los arcenes de las carreteras nacionales tras la nueva ordenanza vial
- A football scout was arrested for sexually abusing 61 minors in the Canary Islands.
- Flight between tears and hope: Winter moves to Madrid on a plane
- Aemet predicts chicken, rain and wind for the last weekend in the Canary Islands
