Miller Hull

Merida Yucatan; December 4, 2020.- Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal and the Consul General and Chief Official of the United States in Mérida, Courtney Beale, gave the flag to begin the construction works of the new facilities of the consular headquarters of the United States of America in the Yucatecan capital, a project that has an investment of more than 3,000 million pesos of private capital and that will generate more than 1,000 jobs in its construction and operation, thereby contributing to the economic reactivation and the creation of job sources in Yucatan.

During the ceremony, held at the Vía Montejo housing complex, Vila Dosal said that this work marks a new stage in relations between the neighboring country to the north and the states of the southeast, which comes at very important moments and encourages continue with the safe economic reactivation of the state, after 8 months of health emergency.

In his message, the governor explained that in addition to the Coronavirus contingency, during the last 5 months the Yucatecan territory suffered the ravages of 3 tropical storms “Amanda”, “Cristóbal” and “Delta”, as well as hurricanes “Gamma” and “Zeta”, natural phenomena that made this year the most unusual in terms of rainfall, since it has rained more than ever since it has been recorded.

“But here we are in Yucatán, united and working together, and of course the beginning of this construction, especially with the important investment it represents, is excellent news for all Yucatecans, which encourages us to continue working to get ahead. sooner in this economic reactivation ”, Vila Dosal pointed out to the mayor of Mérida, Renán Barrera Concha.

The governor recalled that this work is part of one of the 3 investments that were announced a few days ago, along with construction by Inmobilia Desarrollos de la Torre Dos and the construction of the Hyatt Place Hotel, where more than 4,500 million pesos will be invested and will generate more than 3,000 jobs.

In this sense, he explained that the demand for services that occurs in the Yucatan Peninsula, with the states of Campeche, Tabasco and Quintana Roo, today make the construction of this new headquarters necessary, so he was pleased that the American authorities have chosen our state to settle.

It should be noted that the new facilities of the United States Consulate in Mérida are part of the plan of the United States Government to build consulates in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua; Tijuana Baja California; Monterrey, Nuevo Leon; Matamoros, Tamaulipas; Hermosillo and Nogales, Sonora; and Guadalajara, Jalisco; as well as the construction of a new embassy in Mexico City.

In this regard, the Consul General, Coutney Beale, explained that the Yucatan Peninsula has historically been linked with the United States since before the construction of the highway that connects with Mexico City, for which she celebrated and highlighted this important relationship between friendship and closeness, with which he indicated continuity is given to this new building that represents the ties between Mexico and his country.

“This year has brought us many challenges, from the pandemic to hurricanes and tropical storms. I am proud that none of this has stopped in order to move forward. We continue working and we will continue working determined to build a better Consulate and a better future for our nations. Mexico is one of the United States’ closest and most valued partners, with a deep history and a shared future. Today we celebrate the beginning of the construction of a building that will serve as a testimony to celebrate our friendship and strengthen our diplomacy in the years to come ”, the US diplomat.

When talking about the competitive advantages that Yucatán and Mérida offer to investment, Vila Dosal highlighted the coordinated work between the Merida City Council and the State Government, which has given good results, since according to the latest Urban Competitiveness Index of the year 2020 of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), the Yucatecan capital is the best city to invest in all of Mexico and is the third most competitive in the entire country and the most competitive in the Yucatan Peninsula.

“This has been the result of the coordinated work of the 3 levels of Government and, today, we are creating the conditions to be able to detonate investments like these, and continue to make Mérida and Yucatán the most attractive investment pole in the entire southeast of Mexico; An example of this is that our state has been classified among the top 3 entities in the country with the most advances in regulatory improvement, according to data from the National Observatory for Regulatory Improvement, and Mérida, the first city in the entire country, also in the regulatory improvement issue, “he specified.

In addition, he emphasized that another of the fundamental characteristics of Yucatan is the issue of security and stressed that, since the beginning of this administration, more and better working conditions and training have been provided to the elements of the Ministry of Public Security (SSP) and, in addition, the infrastructure for surveillance and monitoring continues to be strengthened, through the Yucatán Seguro program, which has made it possible to have one of the safest states in the country.

“According to the National Public Security System, our state remained number 1 in security in the country, since from January to October of this year we were the state that achieved the greatest reduction in crime in the entire country, with a 51% less, 4 times more than the greatest decrease in another state, in the entire national territory ”, highlighted Vila Dosal.

To this is added that, for the fourth consecutive year, we occupy the first place in the Peace Index, which places us as the most peaceful state in all of Mexico, according to data from the Institute for the Economy and Peace; Also, CEO World Magazine considers Mérida as the safest city in all of Mexico; the second safest in the entire American continent, only below Quebec, Canada, and number 21 worldwide, the Governor remarked.

In addition to the relevant attention paid by the State Government to security matters, Vila Dosal mentioned that the institutions of law enforcement have also been strengthened, which is supported by a study carried out by Impunidad 0, which indicates that today, Yucatán has the best Prosecutor’s Office in the country, and this would not have been possible without the support of the United States Government, since through the Consulate, and thanks to this joint work, it was possible to internationally certify 4 laboratories of the State Attorney General’s Office , which were endorsed by the International Training Program for Criminal Investigation and by the National Accreditation Council.

For this reason, the president thanked Courtney Beale for the support provided in this type of certification, security and other initiatives by the United States Government, “so this beginning of work of this Consulate is a sample of our historic coordinated work and that we have paid special attention to generating the ideal climate for Yucatan to be a benchmark, both in the Peninsula and throughout the country, and which are very necessary to recover our economy.

Before concluding his participation, Vila Dosal insisted on his call to the entire population of Yucatán to avoid the holding of posadas and Christmas gatherings, beyond the family nucleus, since the economic reactivation and the health emergency still continue, for which he invited not to lower our guard and to abide with discipline the sanitary measures to work together for health and jobs.

To commemorate the beginning of these works, a Mayan ceremony was held, led by a traditional X’men, who asked all the cardinal points for the good omen of the works. The architectural design of the project for the new United States Consulate General in Merida is being carried out by Miller Hull Partnership of Seattle, Washington and BL Harbert International, LCC is the contractor in charge of the construction. The project is expected to be completed in 2023.

During the start of these works the president of the Governing Board and Political Coordination of the local Congress, Felipe Cervera Hernández, the representative of the Superior Court of Justice of the State, Migdalia Rodríguez Arcovedo, the Secretary of Tourism of Campeche, were present. Jorge Manos Esparragoza and director of the Tourism Promotion Council of Quintana Roo, Darío Flota Ocampo.

The heads of the General Government Secretaries, María Fritz Sierra; of Economic Promotion and Work (Sefoet), Ernesto Herrera Novelo and of Public Security, Luis Felipe Saidén Ojeda, as well as the director of the work, James Adams; BL Herbert Internacional LLC Project Manager, Juan Bazán; the inspector of the National Guard, Adiel Vázquez Estrada, the Captain of the Navy Secretariat, Jorge Rubén Salazar Martínez and the director of the Municipal Police of Mérida, Arturo Romero Escalante.

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