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Acclaimed Honduras teenage Aids activist kidnapped in street Kidnapped Honduras Aids activist Keren Dunaway freed
(about 7 hours later)
A Honduran Aids activist who gave an impressive speech at the age of 12 at a 2008 international conference has been abducted in the city of San Pedro Sula. A teenage Honduran Aids activist who was abducted in the city of San Pedro Sula on Tuesday has been released.
Keren Dunaway Gonzalez was seized by three gunmen while in a parked car. Keren Dunaway Gonzalez, 18, was abandoned in a car eight hours after being seized, officials said.
Her family has called for her urgent release because she needs to take anti-retroviral medication. Police said her captors had asked for ransom but had released her after her mother assured them the family had no money.
Now 18, Keren has spent years speaking out against stigma and discrimination. She currently runs a magazine for HIV positive children in Honduras. She came to prominence after giving an impassioned speech at the age of 12 at an international Aids conference.
At the age of 12 at the 2008 International Aids conference in Mexico City she impressed delegates with her candid description of what it was like to be a young person living with HIV/Aids. Plea for release
"The Dunaway family is appealing for Keren to be freed because she must take her anti-retroviral medication." said a spokesperson for Llaves, the organisation Keren runs. Ms Dunaway and her mother were abducted by three gunmen while in a parked car outside the offices of the non-governmental organisation they both run.
Police spokesman Jorge Rodriguez said Keren had been in a car with her mother, Rosa Gonzalez, when the kidnappers struck. The NGO, called Llaves, fights for the rights of people with HIV/Aids.
He said Rosa Gonzalez was released but Keren had been driven away in a red car. Minutes later, the men released Ms Dunaway's mother, Rosa Gonzalez, just a few blocks away, but took the young activist with them.
In a televised interview, Ms Gonzalez made an impassioned plea for the release of her daughter.
"It's just her and me, her father died a long time ago, we're not people with money, she is my only daughter, the light of my eyes, my driving force, and I beg those who took her not to harm her and to return her to me quickly as she has to take medication daily, if she doesn't, she could get sick and die," she said.
'No money'
She stressed that the NGO they both worked for was a non-profit organisation and that the family had no money.
A police spokesman said Ms Dunaway had asked to be taken to see her mother after her release.
The spokesman said she was undergoing tests in hospital to make sure her health had not suffered.
Ms Dunaway impressed delegates at the 2008 International Aids conference in Mexico City with her candid description of what it was like to be a young person living with HIV/Aids.
Now 18, she runs a magazine for HIV positive children in Honduras.
Honduras is ranked as one of the most violent nations in the world, and kidnapping for ransom and disappearances are said to be common and under-reported.Honduras is ranked as one of the most violent nations in the world, and kidnapping for ransom and disappearances are said to be common and under-reported.
A spokeswoman for the family, Katherine Calderon, told BBC Mundo that the kidnappers could be seeking a ransom as Keren is a well-known face in Honduras.
However, she said the family was not wealthy and could not afford to pay for her release.
Ms Calderon said the kidnappers had not yet contacted the family but messages of support were coming from activists in Honduras and around the world.
The family is asking Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez to make a statement on the kidnapping.