BajaNomad

Mexican foreign secretary announces new office to oversee U.S.-Mexico border

Anonymous - 4-23-2004 at 12:32 AM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20040422-1643-mexi...

By Arturo Salinas
April 22, 2004

TIJUANA, Mexico ? Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez on Thursday announced the creation of a new federal "northern border office" to oversee the line separating the United States and Mexico.

Visiting this rough city of more than a million across from San Diego, Derbez said the office would be headed by Arturo Gonzalez, the former head of Mexico's National Federation of Chambers of Commerce.

It will replace a presidential commission that had been charged with overseeing border affairs and was headed by Ernesto Ruffo, former governor of Baja California State.

The foreign secretary also met with businesses leaders from Tijuana and the nearby border city of Mexicali, who complained about lengthy, security-related delays at the San Ysidro Point of Entry into San Diego that they claimed have eased only slightly since the tense weeks following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks....