Ostensibly, the piece in the local daily was about the coming oil and gas boom in oil and petroleum in northern Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico and the opportunities for investment for U.S. companies there.
But if that's the way it started, it quickly became a plug for Ambiotec's Carlos Marin and the plan by the United Brownsville cabal to push for local resources to promote their "bi-national" plan which they want to control.
Herald reporter Steve Clark interviewed J. Carlos Marron, senior investment and trade commissioner for ProMéxico, who was accompanied by accompanied by Mexican Consul Rodolfo Quilantán and Marco Saldivar, president of AEM Brownsville-South Padre Island.
AEM is a non-profit trade association for Mexican nationals interested in doing business in the United States, though it also facilitates U.S. investment in Mexico.
Carlos Marin, head of the Ambiotec Group, the architect of the $1 million Imagine Brownsville plan which has morphed into United Brownsville and its offshoots, is identified as being the owner of "an infrastructure planning, engineering and management firm, and Brownsville’s leading torchbearer for a bi-national regional approach to economic development."
And just like the old chamber of commerce tourist brochures lauding the area's "semi-tropical year-round temperatures and traditional southeast trade winds," Marin spoke of the advantages of the Matamoros-Brownsville areas such as "the Port of Brownsville’s deep-water shipping capacity, with plans in the works to make the channel even deeper; existing advanced offshore oil platform engineering and construction capacity at the port; and the fact that the region is “located at the epicenter of vast onshore and offshore oil and gas reserves.”
That statement probably made the newsroom shake. One could almost see the co-eccentric boom radiate from the daily's offices at Van Buren and spread throughout the region.
Of course, we'll need his guiding hand – as well as the self-appointed United Brownsville Coordinating Board – to show us the way to economic Nirvana.
It's a wonder that Marin didn't tell Clark that all the answers on how to get to the Emerald City are contained in the strategic plan and that the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation – which paid for a third of the $452,000 "comprehensive plan."
He also didn't get a chance to tell the daily that the GBIC had already dished out $185,000 to Oscar Garcia Jr., the son of one of the three coordinating board members, to tell them how to "implement" some of the "findings" of the plan. Garcia was vice-chair of the Public Utility's Board when they approved paying for the study, only to bolt to San Antonio-based Jacob's Engineering just in time to cash in on the $185,000 contract to "implement" it.
In the section titled "Limited Partnerships and Connections With Mexico," the plan states that "there is no active partnership with Pemex to keep abreast of the exploration trends in the Mexican waters of the Gulf of Mexico, or to think about ways to more effectively improve refining, marketing, and distribution activities within the region."
"...There are no refineries in the Brownsville region...nor are there any oil refineries in Tamaulipas, although there is a natural gas refinery."
The plan goes on to suggest that "better partnerships could help each side think about the potential investments needed, how to plan and implement them. and how they could improve the economic vitality of the region as a whole."
This is where Marin, the maquiladora industry and his United Brownsville compadres fit in quite nicely. Now all they need is our money to make their dreams come true.
Coming in the next United Brownsville-Marin act: How to fleece the rubes and leave them feeling warm and fuzzy.
5 comments:
Since the pipelines supporting the expansion of exploration of gas and oil in Mexico go through Hidalgo County to Corpus Christi; the lines of transport have been defined and Brownsville was obviously not a player. Perhaps at some point the port may be a player, but not unless the channel and port are deeper. Brownsville is behind the power curve already and the development of infrastructure in the upper valley is already under construction. Again, United Brownsville is "eager" to get the crumbs of this new Mexican venture.
No oil refineries in Tamaulipas, you might want to ask the people in Ciudad Madero about that since the refinery is on fire and has been in news.
The fact that the wealthy Mexicans live in Brownsville should tell you all you need to know about "border" development.
The previous poster is absolutely correct about the port. If anything, the port will lose the Keppel shipyard business to Ciudad Madero. Corpus Christi and Ciudad Madero are oil and gas ports with billions of dollars in infrastructure in place.
The Brownsville Herald is the worst waste of paper in the world. It's hard to believe that they don't know that they have zero credibility.
Great pic of baby Marín as a baby toddler. A great swimmer. He gain his skills swimming across the Rio Bravo fleeing the beer cartels .
ur right big pipeline project going up in hidalgo county over by la joya penitas area. port of brownsville you got campymarano running the show so you get what you pay for y el guey wants a raise or me vo para san antonio texas, adios mother fufis
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