Victoriano Cohon-Garcia, whose body was found floating in the Peconic River in Grangebel park last week, had suffered from alcoholism for years, according to Sister Margaret Smyth of the North Fork Spanish Apostolate.
His cause of death is not yet known, she said. His family is still waiting for the results of an autopsy. But the nun who runs the Riverhead-based ministry that assists Hispanic immigrants on the North Fork said alcohol was likely a factor.
Indeed, the day before his body was found floating face down in the river, near a footbridge in Grangebel Park, Cohon-Garcia had pleaded guilty in Riverhead Justice Court to having an open alcohol container in a public place.
He had been arrested by Riverhead Town Police on that charge on Friday, Aug. 7 and spent the weekend in jail. On Monday, he was sentenced to time served, according to court records. He had an outstanding November 2009 charge for the same offense, according to the court. Possession of an open container of alcohol in a public place is a violation of Riverhead Town Code, punishable by imprisonment of up to 15 days or a fine of up to $250.
When his body was discovered Tuesday, Aug. 11 shortly after 5 p.m., it appeared to have been in the water “quite some time,” according to police at the scene.
The 34-year-old Guatemalan immigrant had been a member of the church choir for the first two years after his arrival in Riverhead, Smyth said.
“Then his father died,” she said. “And when his father died, he began to drink. Once he started he was never able to pull himself out of that.”
Alcoholism among the men who emigrate from Latin America seeking work, often to provide for family back home, is a serious problem, Smyth said.
“The problem in many cases is isolation,” she said. Far from home with no opportunity for occasional visits, they are lonely and unhappy. Many turn to alcohol to ease the pain. They can’t travel freely back and forth because the vast majority are unable to get work visas because the government won’t issue enough work visas for the number of people needed to work here, Smyth said. Nationally an estimated 50 percent of hired farmworkers are undocumented, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“When you look at the big picture, one of the things that is so terrible is someone will come up here to work and there’s no way for him to see his family. Many come here without their wives and children and they may go years without seeing them again,” she said. “I don’t care how much you talk on the telephone. It’s not the same.”
She said she asks these men, “How long can you be away from your family? You’ve missed everything about your children growing up.”
Smyth said the chances of alcohol abuse increase if a man with no family here is “not connected to something like a church or an organization that will provide healthy things to do.”
“I tell people to come to church even if you don’t want to pray,” she said. “You’re going to learn things. You’ll make friends. And it will give you something to do.”
Loneliness, social isolation, family separation and economic worries, as well as racial-ethnic discrimination and prejudice are major stressors linked to increased substance use, as well as traumatic events, such as a death in the family or job loss, according to a 2011 research paper published in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.
There are many resources in the community to help people get sober, Smyth said. Alcoholics Anonymous has Spanish-speaking meetings in both Riverhead and Greenport. “Agencies like Family Service League, Seafield and Alternatives all have Spanish language services as well.” There are sober homes, such as the Talbot House run by Catholic Charities, that are available even to people who are here without documentation, like Cohon-Garcia.
Sadly, Cohon-Garcia was deep in the throes of alcoholism, Smyth said. “Even his cousin, who he was supposed to be living with, didn’t see him much lately,” she said.
He had never married and had no children, she said. His body will be flown back to Guatemala following a wake at St. John’s church this evening.
“He was a well-liked guy,” Smyth said. “It’s very sad. In many ways he’s more at peace now than ever before.”
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