Storm Lake
mulls pact with Mexican county/city
Ayotlan/Santa Rita officials roll
out red carpet
By art cullen
Ayotlan
County, Jalisco, Mexico, proposed last week to
establish a formal sister-city relationship with Storm
Lake.
The plan
was outlined by Ayotlan officials for a delegation from
Storm Lake that visited the City of Ayotlan (pop.
15,000) and the City of Santa Rita (pop. 4,500). Public
Safety Director Mark Prosser briefly reported on the
plan at Monday’s city council meeting.
Ayotlan
County effectively already is a sister city to Storm
Lake and BV County. Hundreds of people from Santa Rita
live in Storm Lake and work in the meatpacking plants.
Thousands of people in Santa Rita know friends or
family in Storm Lake. The delegation saw at least a
half-dozen vehicles in Santa Rita with BV County
license plates.
The
delegation was led by City Councilwoman Sara
Monroy-Huddleston, accompanied by Public Safety
Director Mark Prosser and Code Enforcement Officer
Scott Olesen.
The
proposal suggests tourism promotion, cultural
exchanges, educational exchanges of students and
teachers, and agricultural exchanges.
Ayotlan
County (pop. 35,000) is about an hour’s drive
southeast of Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco. It is
a predominantly agricultural region that grows corn,
agave (ah-gah-bey) to make tequila, cattle, hogs and
poultry. It also is home to a garment industry under
attack by Chinese under-cutting, and an artisan trade
in religious artifacts such as rosaries.
“We
seek your friendship and desire to import your
culture,” said Ayotlan Mayor David Soto.
Storm Lake
Mayor Jon Kruse penned a letter of invitation for
Ayotlan officials to visit The City Beautiful. Prosser
delivered the letter to Soto in Ayotlan.
It’s
possible that an Ayotlan delegation could visit Storm
Lake next October, if not before. Officials expressed
interest in seeing the harvest.
Initial
contacts were made by the State of Jalisco to the Iowa
Department of Economic Development several months ago.
No
promises were made in Ayotlan. Storm Lake had a sister
city relationship with a county in Taiwan that has gone
into repose because there were few natural connections.
The city is being cautious about starting another.
“The
potential for exchange is great,” Prosser told
members of the Ayotlan Council during a workshop
meeting early last week.
“We
look forward to the opportunity this might bring for
us,” Mayor Kruse said Monday.
The Storm
Lake delegation was treated like royalty. Sunday
evening upon arriving in the town square about 10 p.m.,
a band played in the gazebo and 1,000 people crowded
the lawn.
“This
is all for you,” said Johanna Soto, the
mayor’s niece and interpreter.
The
delegation was led around the square to greet citizens
of Ayotlan and led off for a stay in Santa Rita.
Several tours were taken of businesses and cultural
attractions. Later in the week, the delegation was
toured around other areas of interest in Jalisco,
including a Catholic Church housing a shrine to Santo
Toribio, the patron saint of immigrants.
