Great Foreign Service Is Just a Short Walk Across the Border

It might seem strange but one of the oldest, most historically rich, and simply useful posts in the U.S. Foreign Service is within sight of Brownsville, Texas. 

Don't look too closely at what the city's Spanish name means, and please read this article in the current State Magazine: Matamoros - Building American prosperity and protecting American citizens for two centuries. 

There is so much to know about that post that the article doesn't even go into Matamoros' role in the U.S. Civil War, a time when the contraband trade flowed from north to south because Matamoros was the only port available to the Confederacy that was not blockaded by the Union Navy, or its diplomatic role vis-a-vis the Republic of Texas when the later was a separate country.

You can't miss with that post, although one does have to sympathize with junior officers who find themselves doing 'foreign' service at a place where they can swing over to the USA to get groceries or to fill up their cars.   

Design Contract Awarded for New Consulate General Matamoros

The river (creek? puddle?) separates Matamoros, Mexico, from Texas

Well, I'm happy to see that the press release about a new Consulate complex for Matamoros got released after all. Sure enough, U.S. Consulate General Matamoros will get a new office building around the same time that CG Nuevo Laredo does.

The Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) has awarded a contract to Richärd+Bauer of Phoenix, Arizona as the design architect for the new U.S. Consulate General in Matamoros, Mexico. Richärd+Bauer will develop the schematic design for the new facility.

The multi-building complex will be situated on an eight-acre site in the central district neighborhood of Jardin, and will include an office building, U.S. Marine Security Guard residence, a support annex, utility building, and facilities for the Consulate community. A design/build construction award for the project, to complete the design and build the facility, is anticipated in fiscal year 2015.

The U.S. has had continuous consular operations in Matamoros since the 1830s. The city itself has a wild history, playing key roles in both the Mexican Revolution (1826) and the Texas Revolution (1836), after which it declared itself an international free trade zone, leading to boom years when it was the only open port serving the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.

Matamoros, like Brownsville, is one of the most dangerous towns on the border, and the Consulate regularly sends out warnings about things like on-going gun battles. Check out CG Matamoros' twitter feed and marvel at the pace of gunfire and kidnappings going on just south of the border.

I don't know whether a new Fortress Embassy will help that security environment much, but it couldn't hurt.

New Fortress Consulate (Consulates?) On the Mexican Border

It's all just across that borderline

My good friends at the Office of Overseas Buildings Operations announced yesterday that they have awarded a design / build contract for a new borderline diplomatic facility - I mean, a diplomatic facility to be built on the U.S.-Mexican border - in fact, right smack on the border at U.S. Consulate General Nuevo Laredo:

The Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) announces the design/build construction award for a new U.S. Consulate General in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico to B.L. Harbert, International of Birmingham, Alabama.

The project will provide a new 5.6-acre Consulate campus just south of downtown Nuevo Laredo, on Paseo Colon. The campus will include a Consulate, a U.S. Marine Security Guard residence, a support annex, and facilities for the Consulate community. Ground breaking for the project is expected in early 2015, and completion of the project is anticipated in fiscal year 2017.

The Department sent out a second press release yesterday about yet another contract award, this one for a new Consulate General in Matamoros. However, by today that notice had disappeared from the page of January 2015 press releases. Presumably it was sent prematurely and then recalled (?). Anyway, I do hope the Department was not confused about which Mexican border post is which.

I always find the image of that borderline so haunting. The only song that does it justice is this one, performed here in a very nice Tejano style.



There are a few more verses to the song, but the last bits are rarely performed. The full lyrics are here, including the lines in Spanish ("en la triste oscuridad ...") and this one: "but hope remains when pride is gone, and it keeps you moving on ..." Written by a gringo, by the way.

That song is just plain one of the most moving ones I've ever heard. 

Yesterday in Matamoros, Afghanistan

H/T to the Brownsville Herald for this report from the edge of the war zone - that is, from the northern side of the Mexican frontier, from which they could hear the rifle fire and grenades during a day-long series of firefights in Matamoros yesterday.

Notice that the battle was as much between competing drug cartels as it was against them and Mexican government forces. The cartels blocked streets to keep military vehicles out while they went toe-to-toe with each other, even calling in reinforcements from nearby Reynosa.

Gunfire and roadblocks were reported Wednesday evening in Matamoros as armed gunmen with the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas organization clashed with the Mexican military in a three-way confrontation, sources stated.

One of the international bridges to Brownsville was closed.

Tractor-trailers were used to block off various avenues in Matamoros, including Lauro Villar, Avenida Solidaridad, Avenida del Nino and other main thoroughfares, in an effort to keep military vehicles from getting through, according to a Mexican law enforcement official who asked not to be named for security reasons.

A source with the Mexican military who asked not to be named said authorities closed off Los Tomates-Veterans International Bridge in response to the violence.

Mexican Marines, army troops and federal police officers were deployed throughout the city as they responded to the various firefights, the source said.

Military helicopters were seen flying over the city as they provided air support to troops on the ground.

According to a source with firsthand knowledge of criminal activity in Matamoros, the violence began when members of the Zetas were seen trying to enter Matamoros and Gulf Cartel members went to confront them. Mexican authorities reportedly arrived shortly afterward.

The source said that several Gulf Cartel strike teams from Reynosa, including teams known as Los Zeros, Los M’s and Los Lobos, were sent to Matamoros to reinforce the Gulf Cartel.

Some sources have said that the Zetas are trying to take advantage of a perceived power vacuum in the Gulf Cartel since the recent death of Ezekiel "Tony Tormenta" Cardenas Guillen, one of the leaders of the cartel.

Wednesday’s violence in Matamoros reportedly began on Avenida del Nino and moved to Lauro Villar, one of the city’s main streets. From there it spread to other areas.

Reports Wednesday evening were that a prominent member of the Gulf Cartel was either captured or killed, but that could not be confirmed.

Residents in some areas of Brownsville said they heard grenade explosions and gunfire from across the border.

A resident of Matamoros who goes to work at 8:30 p.m. said employees of the company where she is employed were called and told not to report for work.

It was not known how many people were killed or injured in the violence.

On Monday, authorities had announced the capture of five men after an intense firefight on the outskirts of Matamoros. In that encounter, four police officers were injured, according to an official press release.

On Wednesday, it was announced that a series of military operations last weekend resulted in the capture of 12 men, reportedly members of the Gulf Cartel or the Zetas, and the seizure of arms and cash.

Some of the fighting centered around Plaza Fiesta, a part of town where, I believe, many U.S. and local Consulate employees live. It never ceases to amaze me that there is a full fledged, but mostly unrecognized, war going on within earshot of the United States.