After New Haven’s Ecuadorian community came together to heal his grieving family, Freddy Salinas took off on a long journey home.
Salinas’s life was cut short on Monday, Feb. 25, at the age of 27. Shot in the chest while coming to the aid of a friend who was being robbed, he was another victim of violence targeting immigrants in the city’s Fair Haven neighborhood. Police have made no arrests in the killing.
Members of the Ecuadorian community came together at St. Rose of Lima Church on Blatchley Avenue Wednesday night to honor the young father at a funeral Mass. Salinas moved here in 2006 with his fiancée, Silvia Bueno, 21. He left behind a five-month-old child.
His baby bobbed up and down in a woman’s arms as six men drew a white mantel over a blue casket. The pews filled with young laborers from the same area Salinas and Bueno came from, near Sigsig, Ecuador. A generation of tiny new citizens wiggled in their seats as Father Jim Manship (pictured above) led a solemn ceremony.
“Freddy’s story is the story of many people here in our community,” said Manship. “He came here to find a better life, but he found himself in the middle of a nightmare. A nightmare of being far away from his family, of the struggle for work, of the threat of being a victim of violence.”
Manship urged the crowd to look “with the eyes of faith” past this sad moment, to find the strength to keep going. “We must always, always keep going forward, towards a better life.”
At that same church on Sunday, when pews brimmed with people from all over Latin America, Freddy Salinas’ family and friends pleaded for donations to send his cadaver home. Freddy’s parents wanted to see him one last time, and it’s a Latin American tradition to send recent immigrants’ bodies to their native lands.
Silvia and Freddy’s friends stood at the door Sunday holding boxes with his photo on them, receiving condolences and money. The family came away with $800. Other donations trickled in from collection dishes at Ecuadorian-owned stores, and in checks sent to St. Rose’s. The family was able to scrape together enough money to get Freddy out of the hospital and into the church.
To add to the grief of the shocking incident, Silvia Bueno’s family is still swimming in debt: To cover the rest of the $9,000 in funeral expenses, they had to take out a loan. On top of that, the family is still $30,000 in debt from the grueling, two-month voyage from Ecuador to the U.S. Silvia’s mom mortgaged her house to pay for that trip. Her dad is here in New Haven, working to send money home.
The Buenos’ financial situation looks bleak, said Father Manship. If the Buenos can’t keep sending money, “people in Ecuador will be losing their homes.”
In conversations with Salinas’ friends and family, Manship said he urged them to find strength in unity. He came away hopeful from the show of support over the last week. “This community came together to help the family bear a heavy burden. It’s part of the hope that keeps us moving.”
Donations are being accepted at the church. They were still trickling in as friends rolled Freddy’s casket down the aisle then gathered around for one last prayer outside the church.
Mary Carvaja stood by with tears in her eyes. “It’s so sad,” she said. “He had such a young kid.” Carvaja, who’s from Ecuador, too, didn’t know the couple well. But the Ecuadorians in New Haven try to support one another, she said. Carvaja thought of her own six-year-old daughter. “I pray to God that nothing like this would happen [to me].”
Segundo León, a quiet man in a black leather jacket, stood on the dark street as the hearse drove away. His son, Ricardo León, was a good friend of Freddy. They worked in roofing together. Ricardo was the one who was being robbed when Freddy came to the rescue.
“It’s been horrible,” Segundo León said in a soft voice. “We who are left here, are left to suffer.”
León said Freddy was being taken straight from the funeral to New York City, where his body would travel by plane, alone, to Ecuador.
“He’ll be home by Friday,” said León. “His parents are waiting for him.”