Mexican deputy consul moves to Panama, ends six years of service in the Valley
CALEXICO — The journey of Mexican Deputy Consul Mario Beltrán-Mainero came to an end in the Imperial Valley, marking six years of serving the Consulate of Mexico in Calexico with outstanding service, making great relationships with authorities and serving the community.
“I’ve always liked to experience new things and get to know different places and people,” Beltrán-Mainero said. “Doing professional public relations with a variety of people has always been very interesting and fulfilling for me.”
Beltrán-Mainero represents Mexico abroad as a diplomat, who was born and raised in Mexico City. His first official post as a diplomat was at the Consulate of Mexico in Calexico, which is a representation of the Mexican government in the Imperial Valley. Initially, he was in charge of community affairs and media and later on he became the deputy consul, who is also in charge of the political and economic affairs.
Calexico might seem like a small diplomatic representation,” Beltrán-Mainero said, “but there’s a lot of things to do there because we’re in a binational community.”
He shared that many of the topics he used to be in touch with were migration, but also interaction between Mexicali and the Valley. Political, economic, educational and cultural were other topics he was in touch with while working as a liaison for the Mexican government.
Moving to Panama and working as an attaché for international cooperation and cultural affairs in the Mexican Consulate in Panama is his next step in life. This means that one of his tasks will be in charge of the professional exchanges between Panama and Mexico including scientific, educational, technical, research and development, science and agricultural expertise.
“I will be in charge of anything that benefits society in general,” Beltrán-Mainero said. “If Mexico has something to share with Panama regarding how to apply agrarian law, then experts come to Panama and they teach the people who need to know how to apply such laws and the judicial system, for example.”
“I’m going to be involved in strengthening and also adding to these exchanges that Mexico and Panama already have,” he said.
Following the paths and taking advantage of his experience in Calexico he will also bring Mexican culture to Panama and will be in charge of cultural affairs.
“In Calexico, we did a lot of exhibitions related to Mexican art and Mexican artists,” Beltrán-Mainero said. “I’m going to be doing that (in Panama). I will also bring some cultural activities to Panama related to Mexican culture.”
Working in an embassy instead of a consulate will also be something new for the diplomat, who shared that a consulate is mostly focused on helping the national community abroad while an embassy’s main goal is to foster binational relations with the host country focusing more on the government relationship.
“That’s going to be a good challenge,” Beltrán-Mainero said, “and something that I’m going to be learning.”
Beltrán-Mainero is excited about his new role as he will be dealing with government officials from Panama and also people from other embassies in order to foster and strengthen cooperation in scientific educational matters.
Although Beltrán-Mainero’s journey’s next steps are exciting, he will miss the Valley — a place where he made many deep connections professionally and personally.
“I will definitely miss the people mostly,” Mario Beltrán-Mainero said. “It’s a very warm community. They’re really into helping their community and helping each other and being kind to each other.”
Next steps for the Consulate of Mexico in Calexico
Brenda García Reséndiz is the acting Deputy Consul while the institution still awaits the next deputy consul who is coming from El Paso, Texas and hasn’t been officially notified yet.
Reséndiz also shared that this is a common movement that happens in foreign services not affecting the Consulate in other roles and not having any interruptions.
“We don’t have the specific dates yet because it’s up to Mexican authorities in our headquarters in Mexico City,” Reséndiz said, “but I think it would be around April or May.”
“He has a lot of experience in border consulates,” Beltrán-Mainero said. “He’s a guy with a long trajectory in consular affairs. I think he’s going to be doing a good job while in Calexico.”