The holder of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, announced transformations in consular services to protect Mexicans in the US and Canada.
The foreign minister specified that new legal defense actions in criminal matters will be added; information and attention to Mexican people abroad; appointment scheduling; simultaneous translation in indigenous languages; regulation of consular registration; continuous improvement in customer service; and increase in salary considerations for staff.
Said actions, he said, will take effect in the coming weeks in the consular offices of North America.
Ebrard stressed that these actions will be aimed at providing increasingly complete, modern, efficient and inclusive services, under the instruction of the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to provide consular protection to Mexicans abroad, a priority in the foreign policy.
"In the United States, each of these measures has a huge impact," added the foreign minister. “It has to do, not only with the daily life of our compatriots, but with our taking charge that they are part of the Mexican nation and we have to defend them and give them that support. They are part of the nation and that is why we are very happy to announce these measures.
For his part, the head of the Unit for North America, Roberto Velasco Álvarez, stressed that "there is no other country in the world that provides such a number of consular services outside its territory."
The Program for the Defense of Mexican Persons in the United States in Criminal Matters "PDM", will serve as a complement to the existing legal mechanisms and services in the consular network in the United States, it will provide consular protection to people facing serious criminal legal processes, given the complexity of the US system, and will seek to reduce the incidence of Mexicans serving sentences for crimes they did not commit and/or who have been victims of disproportionate sentences.
The PDM will serve Mexican people who are facing criminal proceedings for: a) serious crimes in which they have not admitted their guilt and where there are sufficient legal elements to presume their innocence; b) who have received disproportionate sentences for injustices of the system, and C) belong to vulnerable populations.
Starting in May, the Center for Information and Attention to Mexican People ?CIAM? in Canada it will be expanding its services to attend queries from Mexican people in that country.
CIAM provides a humane and reliable response to the information needs of Mexicans residing in the United States, and now in Canada, as well as those of their relatives in Mexico, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. week.
The information provided by this center includes the legal situation of people detained for immigration and criminal reasons, the status of minors in the custody of authorities, the location of people, information about labor rights, immigration news, assistance to victims of fraud or human trafficking. people, among others.
Meanwhile, the new WhatsApp dating service will facilitate access to consular services and prevent users from resorting to managers who advertise misleadingly. Thus, as of May 22, appointments at all Mexican consulates in the United States and Canada can be scheduled through WhatsApp. This service will be available at the number: 424 309 0009.
Simultaneous translation into indigenous languages will be given as of May 15, with which we can serve the population that requires it in any of the five main indigenous languages spoken in Mexico for all our services.
Simultaneous translation will be done with the help of a telephone service and will be available from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Central Time.
In addition, the new Consular Registration Regulations will eliminate the restriction to process the registration at the consular office corresponding to the person's address. That is, it will allow people to obtain this document at any consulate regardless of their place of residence in the United States.
For its part, the continuous improvement program will provide consular staff with tools to provide better service to the public, with sensitivity, kindness and respect for human rights.
The continuous improvement program will be complementary to the training that the Matías Romero Institute currently imparts to consulate staff; its application will begin in June and will be mandatory for all diplomatic and independent professional services personnel.
Finally, the salary increase for Professional Service Providers will make it possible to adequately compensate the personnel who serve the public, particularly those who receive lower earnings.
In this way, the considerations for Professional Service Providers will be increased in all the representations of Mexico in the United States and Canada, in percentages from 5.9 to 14 percent, considering as a reference the cost of living in the city, inflationary changes and official salaries. local.
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