Manuel Briseño's family would have wanted to mourn his death at the age of 78. Briseño died on Tuesday after losing his battle with COVID-19. His family would have wanted him to have a big funeral with all of their extended family, an extended period of mourning, and a Mexico City Cemetery burial beside the grave of his wife Consuelo García says an article.

However, due to the circumstances of his death, his family was not able to fulfill their plan. Under the health guidelines in the country, the remains of Briseño was immediately cremated. Only eight relatives gathered to mourn for his passing in a private ceremony.


Breaking Traditions

The COVID-19 pandemic had significantly affected Velorios, a Mexican tradition. In Floris, an entire neighborhood joins in the funeral of a recently deceased person where they gather around the casket of the deceased and pray quietly with the family member of the dead.

Briseño's son, Gustavo, shared that ambulance drivers charged them the same amount countless times to transfer his father when he was still alive. His father was an Uber driver. Gustavo is a street vendor. Neither of them has enough financial resources to spare.

Despite the widespread lockdown in the country and the closure of many businesses due to the COVID-19 crisis, Gustavo was lucky enough to have some cash to pay.

After the death of Manuel, the doctors said that his remains should be cremated immediately.


Under Health Guidelines

Under Health Guidelines, authorities are recommending the immediate handling of the remains of dead COVID-19 patients, whichever is quicker to arrange.

Through the assistance of a funeral home, Manuel's remains were picked up by his family on Wednesday.

The family waited for six hours outside the crematorium in San Nicolas Tolentino on the east side of Mexico City, to receive Manuel's ashes.


Taking the Ashes

Due to the social distancing orders in the country, only Gustavo and his wife were able to go inside and to collect Manuel's ashes.

After collecting the ashes, the married couple brought it home, where they placed it on an impromptu altar with beautiful white flowers and a collection of photos of Manuel and his deceased wife.


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Changes

All of the mourners observed social distancing as the eight mourners sat 1 meter from each other.

The family is Catholic and preferred that Manuel had traditional Catholic prayers, a funeral, and a mass.

Gustavo expressed his sadness for not being able to uphold their beliefs due to COVID-19.

These changes are also being experienced in different parts of Latin America. Valerios is no longer permitted in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Guatemala. Also, regular day-long affairs have been reduced to two hours in El Salvador.