HAS MEXICAN CONSUL QUINTALAN OUTWORN HIS WELCOME?

By Juan Montoya
The disclosure during Austin attorney Marc Rosenthal's trial that certain individuals working in the Mexican consulate's Brownsville office were referring cases to him for a fee has further increased calls for the Mexican  Foreign Relations office to withdraw consul Rodolfo Quilantan Arenas from the border.
Those revelations come on the heels of a federal magistrate decision in the southern U.S. Southern District federal court that the family of Juan Pablo Perez Santillan – the Matamoros man who was gunned down by agents firing from across the Rio Grande – could choose the legal representative they wanted without interference form Quilantán Arenas.
News reports from Matamoros indicated that the family had secured an order from a state judge ordering Quilantán and a Brownsville attorney not to approach the family of the slain man.
To say that Quilantan has had a rocky relationship with the local media would be an understatement. On  more than one occasion he has avoided the press, going as far as to break a reporter's tape recorder when he raised the electronic window to his car to avoid dealing with their questions.
In particular, we have learned from the accounts in the Mexican media that Quilantan has dodged questions relating to the massive deportation of Mexican citizens by U.S. immigration authorities which has flooded Mexican border cities with hundreds of deportees who have no place to  go.
Later, Tamaulipas Senator Manuel Cavazos Lerma forwarded copies of those news stories to Jose Antonio Meade Kuribreña, Mexico's Minister of Foreign Relations.
In a letter sent by Cavazos Lerma, the senator includes formal complaints from the Matamoros CANACO (Chamber of Commerce) and FENACO  ( La Federación de Cámaras Nacionales de Comercio, Servicios y Turismo) of Tamaulipas and asks the minister to assist them to resolve a "series of problems" that have arisen in relation to Quilantan.
Quintalan was notable for his absence when he failed to make the recent trip to Mexico City with the Mr. Amigo Association to formally invite actor Eduardo Yanes. Traditionally, the Mexican Consul has been the host to the group and accompanies them to invite that year's Mr. Amigo.
Later, when Matamoros mayor Alfonso Sanchez Garza asked his U.S. hosts to walk into Matamoros from the bridge, Quintalan was said to have refused to join them and told them he wished them luck.
"Mayor Sanchez Garza was livid," said a participant. "Here he was trying to present a good face of his city and country as their host and Quintalan was mocking him and them for going into Matamoros. That's considered almost committing treason to your country."

The Austin attorney said the family survivors were: "In their exercise of their right to chose their legal representation, the family of (Juan Pablo) Pérez Santillán elected to contract Rosenthal, even after (Quilantán) told them that Rosenthal was facing federal charges."

Various Mexican media such as Grupo Reforma have said the charge by the family against Quilantán indicates that the consul wanted them to another attorney even though that attorney had counseled the family against seeking criminal charges against the agents who are alleged to have killed their son and instead to settle for some sort of compensation.

The women – the mother and wife of the slain man – also allege that Quilantán made an effort to prevent them from changing their lawyer.

On Aug. 2, they presented a complaint before the Fiscalía de Partes, where they ask the Ministerio Público to order Quilantán and Stapleton or any other employee of the consulate from contacting them.

Through his spokesman, Quilantán said his duty as consul is to be familiar with any investigation occurring in the United States and to "facilitate" communication with Mexican federal agencies in case they require assistance.

Quilantán stated at the time that there was nothing illegal or immoral in his efforts to secure the wife an relatives for the dead man. Quilantán, thought a consulate spokesman, said he had acted "in good faith" to refer the family to a seasoned attorney from Brownsville.
Quilantán's denial that his actions were inappropriate and that he didn't try to pressure the family to hire the U.S. attorney to get some form of compensation from the U.S. government and not to pursue criminal charges against the agents were buttressed by a statement from the Mexican Consulate in Mexico City.
 "We deny the accusations," said Ricardo Alday González, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy of Mexico in the United States told the media. “There was no pressure, what communication there was was meant to inform the family so they would know that the person they were contracting to represent them is facing various federal charges."
The complaints against Quintalan – and also his spouse – have mounted. Critics contend that his wife is using the Brownsville consulate to sell Mexican artifacts for her own benefit and that she is really the power behind the throne.
"Whatever she wants, she gets," they said. "She's actually doing personal business out of the consul."
When former mayor Pat Ahumada and Port Commissioner Ralph Cowen in July 2010 in the aftermath of Hurricane Alex cooperated to secure four truckloads of goods to donate to victims in northern Mexico, they were surprised to find that none of the goods collected in South Texas ever got to their destination. No one, particularly the Mexican consul, could tell them what had happened to the donated goods of water, food and bedding.
"Mayor Ahumada wrote Quintlana a letter inquiring on their whereabouts," said Mexican businessman who was helping with the drive. "Neither Pat nor Ralph ever got a response from him. They simply vanished."