Mexico finds money for Las Vegas consulate

Benjamin Grove and Timothy Pratt

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 | 10:41 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The government of Mexico has found the money to establish what local Hispanic leaders say is a much-needed Las Vegas consulate.

Mexican officials have wanted to open a consulate in the fast-growing city with a surging Mexican population, but had stalled the project as leaders searched for a way to pay for it.

Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Castaneda in May announced that 23 of 45 consulates in the United States would face budget cuts and new consulates in Las Vegas and Yuma, Ariz., would not be opened.

But the office of Mexican Ambassador to the United States Juan Jose Bremer on Monday morning notified Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., that the project had a green light, Reid spokesman Nathan Naylor said. Later in a meeting Monday afternoon, Reid told Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who was visiting Capitol Hill, about the consulate.

"Today, about one in five Nevadans is of Hispanic descent, and about 80 percent of those Hispanics are of Mexican ancestry," Reid said in a written statement. "A consulate will provide crucial help for both immigration matters and the tourism industry. This will be a great addition to the city of Las Vegas."

An estimated 300,000 Mexican tourists visit Las Vegas each year. Of the Hispanics living in Nevada, 285,764, or 72.5 percent, are of Mexican descent, according to the census.

The Mexican Embassy will file official paperwork with the U.S. State Department to make the formal request for a consulate. Mexican officials then will look for a place to build a consulate.

"I would like it to be in the downtown area," said Goodman. "This would give it a real presence and allow it to best serve its functions of helping with economic development, aiding Mexican tourists and helping with immigration matters," he said.

A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington today said the program does not have a fixed timeline and had no information about possible sites.

Nevada politicians, including Goodman, state Sen. Jon Porter, and Nevada's four-member delegation in Congress have been lobbying Mexico for months to open a consulate in Las Vegas, offering to help find real estate for the project, if needed. Reid met with Bremer in March. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., met with Mexican President Vicente Fox in April and reiterated support for the consulate.

In the same meeting, Ensign outlined to Fox a proposal to fund the construction of the consulate through donations of Las Vegas-area Mexican-Americans, said Eddie Escobedo, author of the proposal and editor of the local Spanish-language newspaper, El Mundo.

Escobedo said he hopes some version of the idea is still possible and that involving the community in the construction of the consulate could create an example for other Mexican-American communities. Supporters say a consulate could help legal immigrants with citizenship paperwork, promote business trade in both countries and aid troubled tourists.