Mexican Consul Sees His Role as More Than Just Ceremonial

Jose Angel Pescador Osuna will conduct the most patriotic ceremony of the year as Mexican consul general in Los Angeles on Sept. 15 at 11 p.m., when he commemorates the cry of independence given in 1810 by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in the town of Dolores, Mexico, marking the beginning of the end of Spanish domination in that country.

A bell will toll, and on the front steps of City Hall Pescador Osuna will pronounce the traditional words of the ceremony: “Long live Mexico, long live Hidalgo, long live Morelos, long live Allende, long live the independence, long live freedom!”

Then he will take the tricolored Mexican flag and swing it to one side to begin the singing of the national anthem: “Mexicans, as you hear the call to war. . . .”

“For the celebration of the patriotic holiday commemorating the 180th anniversary of our independence, this year we have prepared a very sober and simple ceremony, in which there will not be many speeches,” said Pescador Osuna, a former mayor of Mazatlan in Sinaloa state.

Pescador Osuna, 45, has been in charge of the General Consulate of Mexico in Los Angeles for the past seven months. During that time, Pescador Osuna said, he has stressed the educational and cultural aspects of his consular mission.

“We have initiated a series of visits to schools to explain Mexico’s importance and to celebrate patriotic holidays other than May 5 and Sept. 16, such as Feb. 24, which is Flag Day, and March 21, which is the birthday of Benito Juarez (a president of Mexico in the mid-19th Century),” he said.

Pescador Osuna is an economist an educator. In 1964, he obtained a teaching credential in elementary education; in 1970, he graduated in economics from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, and later he received a master’s degree in education and economics at Stanford University. That background is useful in his current position.

“Another of my priorities here in Los Angeles has been to promote the economic development of Mexico,” he said. He has worked with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Latin Business Assn. and the Mexican Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, he added.

According to Pescador Osuna, the responsibilities of Mexican consuls in the United States have become broader than they used to be, and his duties now include more activism. “The protection of our compatriots is fundamental. We are not waiting any more for the complaints to reach us.”

The consul said that, although he sometimes disagrees with U.S. authorities, he maintains good relations with law enforcement officials and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.