Mexico City, Mexico — Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena has inaugurated a new Mexican consulate in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The new Mexican consulate office was made official Saturday in the presence of numerous dignitaries.
“With this new representation of Mexico in the United States, we want to be present in their lives and support them in everything they need. We will provide them with a Foreign Ministry that is close to the people because you are our best ambassadors abroad,” she said during her Saturday inauguration speech.
On Saturday, Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena formally inaugurated the Mexican consulate in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It is Mexico’s 53rd consular office in the United States.
This new representation of the Government of Mexico is designed to serve up to 50,000 people annually and will offer more than 40 procedures and services for a population of more than 230,000 Mexican people who live in the 13 counties of central and northern New Jersey.
Before leaders of the Mexican community in New Jersey, SRE officials and local and state U.S. authorities, the head of Mexican diplomacy thanked those present for all the effort, dedication and work carried out in recent months for the creation of the consulate.
“This is their house. This place belongs to Mexicans. The consulate will be a meeting place to touch base with their country where they will not only have documentation services, but also services in health, sports, culture, financial education and more,” said Bárcena Ibarra.
Photo: Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores September 23, 2023.
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs highlighted the presence at the event of Ana Lilia Rivera, President of the Senate board of Directors as well as several legislators from the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico, who assured “they will carry the voice of the Mexican community of New Jersey before the Legislative Branch.”
She recognized the support of the Mayor of New Brunswick, Jim Cahill, who was fundamental for the inauguration of the consular representation.
Secretary Bárcena endorsed President López Obrador’s commitment that the attention of the Mexican community in the world is a priority of our foreign policy and concluded her intervention with the phrase: “A dream that we dream alone is just a dream. A dream we dream together becomes a reality.”
Consul Mariana Díaz, who will be in charge of the new headquarters of the Government of Mexico, celebrated the deep significance that a woman, Chancellor of Mexico, has inaugurated a consulate headed by another woman. “This is the face of my country’s Feminist Foreign Policy,” she said.
The Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, added that the office will be a lever that will allow increased commercial exchange between New Brunswick, New Jersey and Mexico.
He assured that in addition to increasing economies, the consulate will be an example that both countries can do more to create the most competitive but also the most humane region in the world.
Head of the North American Unit, Roberto Velasco, mentioned that after a long time, Mexico settled a debt with the growing Mexican community in New Jersey. “This is a space that we open by and for you, in addition to your hand (…) We widely recognize everything you do every day and your great contributions for Mexico and the United States, we will be defending you closely at all times.”
Concluding the event, Chancellor Bárcena delivered the first consular documents issued in this representation to the Mexican community. He delivered a power of attorney, a birth certificate and a passport to a four-year-old minor with a Mexican father and an American mother as well as a consular registration to a non-binary person and a consular registration to an elderly woman originally from Oaxaca.
