MEXICAN CONSUL EMBARRASSING HIS OWN COUNTRYMEN

By Juan Montoya
None other than Father Alejandro Solalinde, who received the 2012 National Human Rights Award, called public officials like local Mexican consul Rodolfo Arenas Quintalan "un agachado," someone subservient (supine) to the United States government who would not speak out against the abuses endured by Central and South American migrants as they try to make their way north through Mexico and into the United States.
Solalinde, a Catholic priest and immigrant rights activist in Ciudad Ixtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico, coordinates the Pastoral de Movilidad Humana Pacífico Sur del Episcopado Mexicano and is the director and founder of Hermanos en el Camino, a shelter and center for immigrants passing through southwest Mexico.

He has become a key international human rights figure and spokesperson for migrants. His work highlights the need for widening the debate on immigration in the United States.

And at a time when the U.S. Congress is holding congressional hearings on comprehensive immigration reform, his presentation at the UTB forum on "Migrant Smuggling and Human Trafficking In Drug War Times: A Dangerous Journey" hosted by the UTB's Government Department and moderated by Asst. Professor Dr. Guadalupe Correa, chair of the department, highlighted the current hypocrisy by both the Mexican and U.S. governments to the problem.

Although Correa and the UTB invited Mexican Consul in Brownsville Rodolfo Arenas Quintalan – whose responsibility it is to safeguard the interests of Mexican migrants facing problems in the United States – to participate in the forum, as usual when controversial matters arise, he was a no-show.

Quintalan's absence speak volumes about his claims that both the U.S. and Mexican governments have exhibited a slow acceptance of and essential hypocrisy for all the complaints about the mistreatment of Mexican immigrants in the United States, Central and South Americans face far worse as they travel across Mexico.

Quintalan should know. After all, the massacre of 72 migrants whose bodies were found in August 2010 on a ranch in the northern border state of Tamaulipas, was right in his own back yard.

Then, the following April, the authorities found 193 bodies in mass graves not far away, many believed to be migrants kidnapped from buses traveling toward the border shared by Mexico and the United States. 

According to the New York times, "experts believe that as many as 22,000 migrants are kidnapped a year, based on testimony compiled by the National Human Rights Commission in Mexico."

Just yesterday (April 23), a local Mexican newspaper indicate that thousands of undocumented immigrants continue to be deported at record rates into the cities of northern Mexico, creating a crush on local resources and becoming ready targets for human smugglers and migrant predators.

Among those who did attend the conference were members of the Border Patrol, Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officials,scholars, media, experts sin immigration, Alba Casares, the the consul of Guatemala, and a host of students and college instructors.

However, the voice of the Mexican government in the person of Quintalan was notable for its absence.

It was,a critic said, as if Mexico had no voice.

"He prefers attending the social events instead of those where really pressing and critical matters are debated," said a participant at the forum. "When the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce calls for him to be present at some black-tie social affair, he makes time to be there. On such important matters as this, he doesn't."

Now going into three years as the local Mexican consul in Brownsville, Quintalan has made his mark by instituting a patters on nepotism, confrontations with the local media, insulting Matamoros officials, and generally disdaining participation on comments on the burgeoning problem of illegal migration and deportations.

An anecdote will suffice.

During his first participation in the Hands Across the Border ceremony during Charro Days when dignitaries from Mexico and the United States shake hands in a gesture of friendship on the Mexican-bound lane at Gateway Bridge, an embarrassing episode occurred. At the same time that the two parties were engaging in the ceremony, a large number of Mexican undocumented immigrants ere being deported on the other US-bound lane.

When asked about the simultaneous – and contradictory events taking place at the same site for everyone to see – he said he had not been aware of the deportations as everyone else had been.
His arrogance against his own countrymen does not stop there.
Recently, an elderly Huichol was seeking a permit to come to Brownsville and Quintalan put h8im through the wringer until he could do nothing else bu to arrange for one after several local officials had to go to the Mexican consul and personally intervene in the Native American's behalf.
He also took credit for the coming of AeroMexico Airlines to Brownsville when it was a well-known fact that it was the former Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada who entered into lengthy negotiations with them before they agreed to make Brownsville one of their destinations. He however, deems the likes of current Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez to be in his social level and does not fail to make his appearance at social events hosted by the new mayor.
In fact, he is a regular at events hosted by the local U.S. immigration enforcement groups and socialite occasions more than he is at forums such as the UTB event.
Why the government of Mexico continues to foist this type diplomat on the residents of this border is beyond comprehension. How long this will continue is anybody's guess, but if the time comes when personnel is rotated in the consular corps, it can't come soon enough in Quintalan's case.