Jacob Cohn Photo
As the gold, blue and red flag of Ecuador was raised for the first time in the symbolic center of town, Beatriz Avila waved her smaller flag in pride. New Haven is her city, too.
Wednesday evening marked the first time that Ecuador’s flag has been raised on the Green, reflecting the growing numbers and influence of the immigrant community. The ceremony was conducted in honor of what Elio Cruz of the Ecuadorean Community of Virgen del Cisne called “the first cry of independence of the Republic of Ecuador.”
Avilla moved to New Haven three years ago, part of an influx of thousands of Ecuadorians welcomed by the city in recent years. (Estimates of the community’s size range from 2,000 to 3,000.) The community has spawned a soccer league, a social club, a school, an annual parade, businesses, and the 2008 opening of an Ecuadorian consulate.
Avila said she was “very emotional and very happy” to see her native land’s flag ascend the pole in the heart of her new city.
In 1809, exactly 202 years ago Wednesday, leaders in the capital city of Quito declared Ecuador’s independence from the Spanish Empire, becoming the first nation to do so. (You can read their declaration in Spanish here.) Though the new government lasted only a couple of months before being suppressed by Spanish forces, the declaration is celebrated as the symbolic beginning of Latin America’s wars of independence.
As violinist and speaker Angie Durrell Godoy put it Wednesday, the “first spark [of Latin American independence] came from the brave sons of Quito.” (Ecuador would later join the larger Republic of Gran Colombia in 1822 and become a sovereign nation in 1830.)
The anniversary celebration drew Mayor John DeStefano and Police Chief Frank Limon, as well as Raul Erazo Velarde, Ecuador’s consul general in New Haven. Ecuador’s consulate, which opened in 2008, was the first diplomatic mission to serve New Haven in decades. In a show of solidarity, a representative from Peru’s consulate in Hartford also attended Wednesday’s event.
The Ecuadorian flag is presented to Consul General Raul Erazo Velarde.
After receiving the tricolor Ecuadorian flag from Fernando Palacios Escobar, a cadet from the Ecuadorian Army’s military college, Erazo raised the flag as Durrell played Ecuador’s national anthem. Durrell explained the meaning of the flag’s colors: Gold stands for the gold of Ecuador, blue for its ocean and sky and red for the blood of its national heroes. (The flag is based on that of Gran Colombia.)
In a brief statement delivered in Spanish, Erazo praised the “patriotic sentiment” of New Haven’s Ecuadorian community on a day when “all Ecuadorians are united.”
DeStefano told the crowd that New Haven was proud to accept “the great flag of Ecuador” in a “celebration of freedom and human dignity.”
“The real celebration of independence is the lives we lead in our neighborhoods together,” DeStefano said.
DeStefano also presented official proclamations of recognition to two members of the Ecuadorian community of New Haven. The first recipient, Rafael Palacios, is a professor of Spanish at Southern Connecticut State University, besides being a lieutenant colonel in Ecuador’s army. The second, Andrea Hernandez, is a rising senior at Career High School who was recognized for her academic achievements — she was chosen for this summer’s Yale SCHOLAR, a three-week intensive program in the sciences for outstanding Career students. (Click here for a more detailed story about Hernandez.)
Dancers from the Ecuadorian community perform.
Besides the speakers, the ceremony featured a “Mosaic of Latin American Dance.” Ecuadorian and Mexican youth dance groups performed in traditional costume for the crowd between the many speakers.
Esperanza Zambrano of the Comite Civico Cultural Ecuatoriano de Connecticut (speaking through translator Keny Champang, one of the young dancers) said she was happy to see that DeStefano and the city had recognized her community. She said she is excited about her group’s upcoming parade Saturday. which begins at noon at the Ecuadorian consulate on Church Street.
“We’re just happy that we can celebrate in public,” Zambrano said. “That way we can teach more people about the culture of different countries.”
A performance of traditional dance from the Mexican state of Jalisco.
Congratulations to the Ecuadorian people of New Haven. Well done Mr. Mayor and all who organized this event.