Mexican Legislator, Scholar Named Head of Consulate in L.A.

Mexican congressman Romeo Flores Caballero, a highly regarded scholar who as a child accompanied his family on treks north to the agricultural fields of Texas, has been named to head the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, according to consular officials here.

Flores, 52, a close friend of President-elect Carlos Salinas de Gortari, is widely known and respected in Southern California academic circles and is regarded as an expert in U.S.-Mexico relations.

Educated at an American university, he has also taught and traveled extensively in the Southwestern United States and has said that his experience as member of an “undocumented” family of farm workers has helped him to identify intimately with the concerns of Mexican-Americans.

Flores’ appointment to the Los Angeles post--considered second in importance only to the ambassadorship to the United States--is awaiting ratification by the Mexican Congress. If he wins approval, as is generally expected, Flores will arrive in Los Angeles by mid-September, said consular officials here.

According to a report in the local Spanish-language press, some members of Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party described the appointment as “a reward” for Flores’ hard work on behalf of Salinas during the recent Mexican presidential election.

While he did “a good job” in the last election, Flores said in a telephone interview Wednesday that “consideration for an appointment of the seriousness of the one in Los Angeles goes far beyond any single job. It is based on a compilation of the many big and small things one has done in one’s life.”

Flores said he earned a master’s degree from the University of Texas, paying his way working as a groundskeeper and washing dishes in the school cafeteria. In 1968, he also earned a doctorate in Latin American history at the university.

A member of the PRI since 1951, Flores has held numerous government posts, many dealing with education, U.S.-Mexico relations and the border.

Before his election to Congress in 1985, he headed the department of education for several years in his home state of Nuevo Leon. Previously he served as a top administrator at the prestigious Colegio de Mexico. Among his varied teaching posts, have been stints at UCLA and at the University of Nebraska. He has also published several books, including some dealing with the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I think he will certainly stress the academic and the importance of communication between scholars from the two countries,” said James Wilkie, a UCLA history professor who worked with Flores to organize the 1973 International Congress of Mexican History in Santa Monica.

He called Flores’ appointment “a natural,” given “his expertise in Mexico-U.S. relations.

“He started out as a scholar . . . with only a brief political interlude,” Wilkie added. “This appointment brings him back to his educational, cultural and academic roots.”

UCLA history professor Juan Gomez-Quinones, who also recalls Flores from his teaching days at the campus, said that considering the immense population the Mexican Consulate is assigned to serve in Los Angeles, the Mexican government’s financial support of this key post is inadequate.

While lauding Flores’ background, Gomez-Quinones added: “It’s not a question of whether a man has the necessary sensitivity and commitment, but whether he has enough personnel to deal with the responsibilities of the job.

“What I’d want to know is whether he has the latitude . . . to go beyond the limits usually imposed on consular officials. And whether he will have more resources and staff to do the job.”