On her first day at work in September, Susan Abeyta, the new U.S. consul general in Guadalajara, stepped out of the well-secured building on Calle Lopez Cotilla to greet and meet Mexicans waiting in line to be processed for tourist visas to visit the United States. A few days later the Consulate teamed up with American Airlines to give away a free plane ticket to one lucky – and surprised – visa applicant.
These are small details but ones that emphasize how the U.S. State Department has sought to strengthen grass-roots connections with Mexico in recent years.
The U.S. tourism sector suffered financially immediately following 9/11 as visitors stayed away in droves, partly put off by tougher restrictions placed on travel by federal authorities and a perception that tourists were less welcome than before.
The Obama administration has made renewed and concerted efforts to encourage tourism, Abeyta told the Reporter in a recent interview.
“Canada and Mexico provide most of the visitors to the United States. We especially want our neighbors to come and enjoy our country.”
Contrary to some Mexicans’ belief that the majority of applications for visitors’ visas are denied, Abeyta said the rejection rate at the Guadalajara Consulate is around 15 to 18 percent.
“The quality of the applicant pool here is very high,” she said.
An applicant’s ties to Mexico are crucial in the decision whether to grant a visa or not. “If it appears that the person is not actually going for the purpose stated then the officer cannot approve the visa,” Abeyta said.
She emphasized that denial of a visa doesn’t mean that the person cannot apply again. “Someone who is 18 years old and has yet to find his or her own way and doesn’t know what they’re going to do with their lives can come back. Their situations can change. It’s not for the rest of their lives.”
‘A good fit’
Born to a U.S. Army father in Germany, Abeyta returned to that country after obtaining her B.A. from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. She received her M.A. in Philosophy from the Ludwig-Maximillians University in Munich and lived in Europe for eight years, becoming “very interested” in the Soviet Union through meeting Russian emigres in Germany. Back home and looking a for a job, she sensed her skills set and the U.S. diplomatic service would make “a good fit.”
Abeyta’s forte is consular work. A former consular section chief at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey, she also served as consul general in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 2005 to 2008. Other tours include Moscow, Mexico City and Bogota. Her language skills are impressive: she’s fluent in Spanish, German, Russian and Turkish.
US community
Abeyta’s strong consular background is good news for the thousands of retired Americans living in the large Guadalajara consular region that includes the states of Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Colima and Nayarit.
She has already attended several expatriate community events and is impressed by the energy of Americans who have uprooted and relocated in this country. She said she is especially impressed by their enthusiasm for Mexico and believes they act not only as “ambassadors” for the United States but also this country.
“They do a lot by letting their families know what a wonderful experience they are having here. I think our compatriots are some of the best spokespeople for all that Mexico offers.”
Stressing that the welfare of U.S. citizens is the State Department’s “highest priority, wherever we are,” Abeyta said the agency’s regular Mexico travel advisories are important and “required of us” by law.
“The purpose of this document is to provide a very objective picture of what’s going on here. (Recently) it’s become more specific so that people don’t just reject travel out of hand.
“We want people to consider where they would go and realize that Mexico has many places that receive tourists all the time and where people come and go without incident.”
The State Department issued the most recent updated version of its advisory at the end of November, cautioning against “nonessential” travel to specific areas within 19 of Mexico’s 32 states due to continued narcotics-related violence, particularly in zones near the U.S. border.
Abeyta said the warnings are “objective as possible” and written in “plain English” without any editorializing. “If people read this warning I think they will get a better picture (of security in Mexico) than they sometimes do from the press.”
Abeyta pointed out that U.S. diplomatic personnel are also limited from traveling in certain areas of Mexico.
“If there are restrictions placed on us then it’s our duty to let the American public know that.”
Asked to clarify the term nonessential travel, Abeyta explained, “It’s basically for the individual to decide but nonessential would not be a simple holiday. It might be that someone doing research would find it pretty essential to travel to certain areas of Mexico. But they would have to decide very carefully how they would travel. Would they drive? Would they fly?”
Despite the much-publicized drug-related violence in some parts of Mexico, crimes committed against foreign residents are still rare but Abeyta stressed her team’s commitment to providing support to U.S. victims and those who choose to follow up serious crimes in the Mexican legal system.
“In some cases it comes down to individual choice whether a person wants to go through with the procedures to file a denuncia (legal complaint) and give testimony. It takes a tremendous amount of time, willingness and some of these people are very traumatized by their experience and just want to leave.
“We do provide citizens with guidance about what steps they can take if they want to pursue prosecution. We don’t act as an attorney but depending on the case we will accompany the person to the Ministerio Publico (District Attorney’s Office) and assist them at various stages.”
Abeyta said she encouraged all Americans either living or visiting the region who are the victims of crime to report incidents to the Consulate General.
Social media
Noting that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has placed great emphasis on developing social media during her spell in office, Abeyta said as well as “saving tremendous resources” the new technologies have “allowed us to maintain contact with people that we couldn’t otherwise do.”
Although more and more of the Consulate’s business and procedures can be accomplished through the Internet, Abeyta acknowledged that some citizens may still prefer face-to-face contact in certain situations and hailed the Consulate’s outreach programs and system of wardens, who she said “serve as our eyes and ears” in emergency situations.
“We’re lucky to be able to send an officer to Lake Chapala each month,” she said. “And you can still communicate with us by phone, letter, appointments – those methods have not gone away. You can still come into see us.”
Abeyta also encouraged Americans living here, either full- or part-time, to register with the Guadalajara Consulate. “It’s hugely helpful, for example, if someone’s in a hospital after a serious accident. We don’t violate their privacy but if they’re registered we know how to contact their families.” (U.S. citizens can register at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or http://guadalajara.usconsulate.gov.)
Building bridges
One of the parts of her job that gives Abeyta the most pleasure is seeing first-hand how programs to build bilateral bridges can cement relationships and advance cultural understanding.
During her first week here Abeyta was invited to join a group that supports victims of cancer. She met with eight women – victims of cancer and those who work with them – who had just returned from the United States to meet and talk to their counterparts there. “It was a fabulous experience to realize that there are so many people who may be very busy but are willing to help their communities.”
Perhaps unknown to most Americans, the U.S. State Department runs dozens of programs to encourage bilateral interchange throughout the world. “It’s amazing how much I am always running into people who have had a life-changing experience by either going to the United States as a student or spending three or four weeks in one of our programs.
“A lot of people don’t realize just how important it is to the United States to encourage exchange of students – in both directions. I would say this experience strengthens the individual’s ability to lead a more successful life.”
With its embassy, seven consulates general, two consulates and 14 consular agencies, Mission Mexico is the largest U.S. consular operation in the world. After Iraq, the State Department has more boots on the ground in Mexico than any other country in the world: 1,700 people — more than 60 percent of whom are Mexican.
Abeyta’s kingdom at the Guadalajara consulate consists of 80 local employees and 35 U.S. officers representing the Departments of State, Commerce, Agriculture and Homeland Security, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Social Security Administration.
Said Abeyta: “We now have so many areas in which our societies intersect. We have a huge expatriate community in Mexico and many visitors. You can reckon that on any given day there are around one million Americans in Mexico. Then we have a huge community of dual nationals for whom we provide a lot of services.”
And with the relationship only likely to get bigger in the near future, it goes without saying that Abeyta’s hands will be pretty full over the next three years.
SUSAN ABEYTA ON LIVING ABROAD, MEXICO
What advice do you have for foreigners moving to a country to live for the first time?
They should try to learn the language and establish some personal connections with people from the host country.
What has surprised you most about Guadalajara?
How diverse and cosmopolitan it is despite not being the capital city. But it also has a very strong identity, probably stronger than Mexico City.
One thing you would change about Guadalajara?
The traffic but that’s for Guadalajara to decide. However, I’ve been in cities that have much worse: Istanbul, Bogota, Buenos Aires.
Favorite Mexican food?
Chilaquiles.
Drink?
I’m getting to appreciate Mexican wines and of course tequila is very good, although I can take it only in very small amounts.
Favorite Mexican places to visit (from your previous tour)?
Oaxaca, Morelia, Zacatecas.
Is there an expression in Spanish that you like and that sounds much more suited to its mother tongue than when translated into English?
“Mi casa es tu casa” (My house is your house). It’s a beautiful hospitality that is built into conversations. I love that.
Is your husband (a retired foreign service officer) happy playing second fiddle, work-wise?
He loves traveling with me and he loves Mexico. He’s of Spanish heritage and this is like coming home to him.
What makes the perfect U.S. foreign service officer?
Flexibility, an openness to dialogue, an understanding of U.S. policy and a real desire to improve relations with our host country.