Mexican ambassador is keen to explore Lamport link to Wexford
IN recent years, plenty has been written about the links between Wexford and Mexico - most notably through Wexford native William Lamport, who provided the inspiration for masked swashbuckling cult hero Zorro. Local councillor Leonard Kelly had the opportunity to discuss these links in detail recently as he met with Mexican Ambassador to Ireland Miguel Malfavon at the Mexican embassy in Dublin.
Coincidentally, Ambassador Malfavon had only visited Wexford the day prior to Cllr Kelly’s arrival and was already sold on the beauty of the model county and interested in carving out links with his home country.
‘The previous day the Ambassador had visited Hook Head and Loftus Hall,’ Cllr Kelly said. ‘It was fortunate timing and he was really impressed with Wexford and thinks it’s a lovely place. I would hope that the ambassador would see fit to visit Wexford town at a later date with a view to exploring further avenues to develop links between Wexford and Mexico.’
The interaction with the ambassador came about when Anthony Long of Zafiro Tours got in touch with the Wexford councillor to discuss Wexford-Mexican links. This culminated in last week’s meeting with the ambassador which was captured by TV Azteca from Mexico. The film crew also visited Wexford where they got a walking tour and visited the Irish National Heritage Park.
While Wexford did have ‘Zorrofest’ in recent years, Cllr Kelly says it is his hope that new life can be breathed into establishing a festival or event to celebrate the like of William Lamport.
‘Mexico is a massive country and there is huge tourism potential there,’ he said. ‘Some kind of event around the link with Mexico and William Lamport could really help to grow the links between the two countries.’