Guatemalan Consulate Opens In Tucson Months After Expected

By Kate Sheehy
December 08, 2014
The
Kate Sheehy
The First Lady of Guatemala visited Arizona in July.

TUCSON – Over the weekend dignitaries of the Guatemalan government, including its First Lady, celebrated the opening of a consulate in Tucson. There has been buzz about a local office since the summer brought a surge of migration from Central America. 

As part of a massive wave of migration to the Southern border, hundreds of women and children, mostly from Guatemala, arrived in Tucson over the summer.

“During the crisis of children and women that came, we saw that it was very important to open a consulate and we made it a priority,” Jimena Diaz said.

Diaz is the Consul General for Guatemala in Phoenix. Diaz said the consulate staff in Tucson will be in a better position to work with Border Patrol and attend to migrants who are hurt or abused in the desert. She said they will also monitor treatment of those in detention centers in Arizona. The office will be able to process passports to help with applications for President Barack Obama’s executive action.  

Steve Kozachik is a Tucson City Council member. He said an office should have been set up months ago when community leaders, volunteers and humanitarian workers were leading the effort to temporarily care for an influx of migrants. 

“The Guatemalan Consulate showing up now is, in my world, a day late and a dollar short,” Kozachik said. 

Diaz said the delay in opening an office was due to a lack of funding. She said a couple of officials had been working in borrowed office space in Tucson since September. There will be a staff of three in the consulate: a consul general, a vice consul and a psychologist. 

The consulate is located in the Pioneer office building downtown at 100 N. Stone Avenue. Diaz said she expects the first day of business to be Tuesday.