Fox promises consulate in LV

Thursday, April 19, 2001 | 10:59 a.m.

After months of determined lobbying by city, state and federal officials, Mexican President Vicente Fox has promised his country's next consulate built in the United States will be in Las Vegas, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., announced Wednesday.

Mexican officials hope to open the consulate a early as next fall, Ensign said.

Officials with the Mexican Embassy in Washington, who have said funding issues were the only hurdle to establishing a consulate in las Vegas, could not confirm Fox's pledge today.

The consulate could help legal Mexican immigrants in Las Vegas with various services, including visa and immigration issues. It also could help establish Mexican businesses in Nevada and Nevada businesses in Mexico.

Mayor Oscar Goodman has pledged to help Mexico find office space.

"This is an important step in helping to improve the quality of life for a sizeable and growing segment of our population," Goodman said Wednesday. "This really is a great public service, and I'm happy the consul has done this."

Mexico has 45 consulates in the United States, including one in Phoenix, which is angling for a second.

Ensign, who was in Mexico earlier this week with Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and other members of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Fox is determined to strengthen existing ties with America and forge new ones.

Ensign made the announcement Wednesday alongside Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., at a community forum for seniors at the Desert Vista Community Center in Summerlin. Ensign credited his colleague and local representatives for spearheading efforts to bring the Mexican Consulate to the city. State Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City, was one of the first to initiate contacts with Mexican officials.

"Everybody's been working on it," Ensign said. "All I did was give it a little boost along."

Reid met with Mexican Ambassador Juan Jose Bremer in March after more than four months of lobbying on behalf of the proposal. Porter won unanimous passage of a resolution April 4; he urged the U.S. State Department to approve the consulate plans. Porter estimated that about 300,000 Mexican tourists visit Las Vegas each year and that adding a consulate could help double that number.

The explosive growth being experienced by Southern Nevada has heightened the need for an in-state Mexican Consulate, Reid said. One out of every five Nevadans is of Hispanic descent and 80 percent of those are of Mexican ancestry, Reid said. Mexican nationals who need help in obtaining a visa, for example, must travel 160 miles to the consulate in San Bernardino, Calif. A consulate could also help establish more business trade between Las Vegas and Mexico, officials say.

"We have people needing to go and come back all the time," Reid told the Sun. "We also have the opportunity to increase our tourism if people can come and go more easily."

Reid invited Fox to visit Las Vegas and said he hopes Fox travels here soon.

Miguel Ferreira, a Las Vegas resident who said a lack of a consulate hampered his dream of opening a grocery supply business specializing in Mexican goods, praised both Fox and American legislators for pushing forward. In addition to helping people who want to do business with Mexico, a consulate would be an important resource for visitors, Ferreira said.

"This is a tourist town. We can't afford not to offer people immediate access to help," said Ferreira, a financial analyst. Sun reporter

Benjamin Grove contributed to this story.