Letters to the Editor

More to Miller

The sympathetic piece on John Miller in Sunday's Pacific Northwest ("The Abolitionist," Aug. 21) made him out to be some sort of a human-rights crusader. But Alicia Mundy painted only part of a picture, forgetting to cover Miller's role in supporting the contras who raped and pillaged in Nicaragua, with the backing of the Reagan regime.

I remember particularly when they murdered my former student, Ben Linder, a young engineer who was helping bring electricity to isolated villagers by teaching them how to construct and maintain low-head hydro power. The "good-government moderate" Mundy writes about just kept up the right-wing ranting and didn't seem to have much of a moral dimension then.

Philip L. Bereano

professor, Department of Technical Communication, University of Washington

Where grant money went

Regarding "The Abolitionist" (Aug. 21): The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is deeply opposed to human trafficking, especially involving minors, and we support ambassador John Miller's work to shine a spotlight on this important issue.

The article notes that we provided a grant to a group called DMSC. Our support was for an evaluation of their HIV-prevention project for sex workers in Calcutta's Sonagachi district.

It is important to clarify that DMSC has rules and regulatory boards in place to fight trafficking, and has programs to discourage minors from voluntarily becoming sex workers. As a result of these efforts, the number of minors working in Sonagachi has dropped dramatically since the project started in 1992 and is much lower than in other red-light districts.

To prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in India and other developing countries, it is critical to reach sex workers and other groups at highest risk for the disease. The ultimate solution is to empower and protect women so they never enter the sex trade, and the foundation strongly supports that goal. However, those women already working as prostitutes in India must be reached with HIV-prevention services, to protect their health and to help stem the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Helene Gayle, MD, MPH

director, HIV, TB and Reproductive Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation