Much attention has been paid in recent years to the plight of black women, who make up the largest percentage of women in the state with HIV and AIDS. But Latinas are not far behind. At the end of June 2005, about 30% of all women with HIV were Latina, compared with 36% African American.
Like many black women, Latinas often do not discover they are HIV-positive until they or their partners become ill, so they fail to benefit from early treatment.
Once their condition is diagnosed, Latinas often keep it a secret -- even from their own families.
"They don't know how to tell their children," said Evelyn Renderos, who works at the AIDS Service Center in Pasadena. "They don't talk about it."
Among immigrants, the disease often is not well understood and carries a huge stigma, in part because of religious and cultural views on homosexuality, and limited sex education.
Even when Latinas suspect their husbands or boyfriends of drug use or unfaithfulness, researchers say, they often don't ask questions. Many defer to their mates or are dependent, emotionally or economically, on them.
"When you can't imagine being on your own, you are more likely to justify or put up with or ignore behaviors," said Britt Rios-Ellis, director of the Center for Latino Community Health at Cal State Long Beach.
Moreover, illegal immigrants are often reluctant to seek medical care.
"Some of the women fear that we are going to report them," said Yolanda Salinas, a case manager with the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
"We reassure them that this is all confidential."
Like many illegal immigrants, Pena did whatever she could to remain invisible. But once she was found to have HIV, she couldn't hide as easily.
She had to find free medical care from doctors she could trust. She needed a safe place to go for emotional support. And all the while, she had to keep working. She couldn't afford to get sick.
Pena became more fearful than ever of being discovered by \o7la migra\f7 and deported.\o7
\f7"If I go to my country," she said, "I don't have a chance to survive.... They don't have the same kind of treatment. They don't have the same kind of medication that we have here. They don't know what to do."
Pena looked at her boyfriend in the hospital bed, weak and thin.
\o7Is that going to happen to me?\f7 she thought.
They fought that day. She insisted on knowing how he got HIV. He lashed back, accusing her of having an affair.
