This arrogant woman has no idea that Americans have for decades been exposed to more Mexican "culture" in the U.S. than anyone can stand.....in our schools, in our welfare systems, in our public housing, in our jails and prisons....Americans don't need to know anymore about "Mexican Culture"...we have had enough of our fill already........

New Mexican consul's goals


Download story podcast

10:00 PM PST on Friday, January 2, 2009

By DAVID OLSON
The Press-Enterprise

As Consul Carolina Zaragoza Flores sat in her new office at the Mexican consulate in San Bernardino, a few hundred people crowded into the lobby and foyer outside.

They were there to pick up documents, apply for identification cards or seek other Mexican-government services. Some had been waiting more than two hours.

One of the goals Zaragoza has had since taking office as Mexican consul on Dec. 1 is reducing wait times and improving services for Mexican nationals. She also hopes to increase cultural exchanges between the Inland area and Mexico.

To make lines at the consulate move more quickly, Zaragoza plans to move four employees from a mobile consulate into consular offices in downtown San Bernardino.

The mobile consulate now provides certain consular services throughout the Inland area, usually for several days in a row. With four of the mobile consulate's eight employees moving to the main office, Zaragoza will limit the mobile consulate to visits to outlying areas, such as the Coachella Valley and Blythe, eliminating stops near San Bernardino. In addition, the mobile consulate will only make visits on weekends, when demand for mobile services is highest, she said.

The San Bernardino consulate covers Riverside and San Bernardino counties, which are home to almost 1.6 million people of Mexican ancestry, almost 40 percent of the population, according to 2007 Census estimates.
Story continues below
Greg Vojtko / The Press-Enterprise
"Culture, like music, has no borders," says Mexican consul Carolina Zaragoza Flores of the cultural exchange she would like to promote. "It's important that people who live ... in the same area get to know each other."

Zaragoza, 50, has worked as a diplomat for 26 years. She came to San Bernardino after serving as a deputy consul in Houston and consul in Raleigh, N.C. She previously held posts in the Sacramento and St. Louis consulates.

Zaragoza replaces Carlos I. Giralt Cabrales, who spent 5 ½ years in San Bernardino before leaving in April for a post in the foreign-affairs ministry in Mexico City. JeremÃ*as Guzmán Barrera, who served as acting consul in San Bernardino before Zaragoza arrived, returned to his position as deputy consul.

Zaragoza is already meeting with county, city, police, education, immigration and business officials.

She is also preparing for Inland celebrations in 2010 to mark the bicentennial of the battle cry of the Mexican war for independence from Spain, and for the centennial of the beginning of the Mexican revolution. The commemorations could include exhibits in Inland museums or other institutions, she said.

The exhibits would be part of a broadened cultural exchange that Zaragoza is planning. She hopes to have more displays of Mexican painting, sculpture and photography in the Inland area, and to help arrange for Inland artists' work to be displayed in Mexico. Zaragoza also envisions exchanges of professors, and lectures by Mexican historians and artists in the Inland area.

"It's a way to understand Mexican culture more deeply," she said. "These are ways to promote the image of Mexico through culture and art. ... It's important that people who live together in the same area get to know each other better."

The exhibits would expose non-Mexicans to Mexican culture and help the hundreds of thousands of descendants of Mexican immigrants in the Inland area to have stronger links to their ancestors' homeland, Zaragoza said.

"Culture, like music, has no borders," she said.

Reach David Olson at 951-368-9462 or dolson@PE.com

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stor ... e84f6.html