Constructing a new facility to house the United States Consulate in Guadalajara will be a “priority” for Tayna Anderson, the city’s new U.S. consul general, who faced the local media barely 12 hours after her plane touched down at the Miguel Hidalgo Airport September 17.
The process will not be quick, however, and is likely to take longer than the three years of her tour of duty in Guadalajara, Anderson said.
The need to house the local diplomatic mission in a new space is urgent, she stressed, as the number of applications for travel visas is increasing all the time.
Anderson said there were “preferred sites” for the new building but would not elaborate further.
Acknowledging her limited knowledge of Jalisco and western Mexico, Anderson nonetheless said she felt like she was “coming home,” as she had specialized in Latin America as part of her studies in International Relations at Georgetown University.
Noting that she is coming to Guadalajara with “the firm intention of strengthening the relations between our nations,” Anderson said her stay in the region would be characterized by “collaboration, consultation and participation.”
Anderson stressed that under her mandate the Consulate will continue to work diligently to meet the needs of U.S. citizens who require services. “Americans who live here are very important for our work. It’s our primary objective to help them.”
Anderson also highlighted her intention to work closely with Mexican authorities to ensure that visa applicants aren’t victims of fraud, foster interchange initiatives such as 100,000 Strong in the Americas and promote human rights.
In answer to a question about Donald Trump, Anderson carefully noted that comments by U.S. presidential candidates do not reflect the position of the government of the United States. However, she said her personal preference was to refer migrants without documentation in the United States as “irregular” rather than “illegal.”
On behalf of the Consulate, Anderson offered her condolences for the recent incident in which six tourists from Jalisco died in an attack by the Egyptian armed forces.
The loss of life was especially poignant, Anderson said, since she worked as a press attache in Egypt for three years from 1998-2001 and knows the country well.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Anderson joined the foreign service in 1993. As well as Washington D.C. and Egypt, she has served in the Philippines, Tunisia, Oman, Morocco, Kuwait and Iraq. Her most recent assignment was as consul general in Barcelona, Spain.
Her Linked In site describes her as “a versatile manager and results-oriented supervisor with 20+ years of recognized achievement and creative, motivational leadership in international program design and execution, USG VIP and foreign media relations, strategic planning, and U.S. foreign policy formulation and implementation.”
Anderson is fluent in Arabic, Spanish and English, with formal training in Portuguese, Tagalog and French.
Prior to joining the foreign service, she worked for the Xerox Corporation, Philadelphia public radio station WRTI-FM, the Bread and Roses Community Fund and the American Friends Service Committee. She also has a Masters in International Strategic Studies from the National Defense University/National War College.