As a respected Mexican diplomat for nearly six years, Luis Miguel Ortiz Haro spent hours each week listening to the problems of Orange County's poorest residents.
Now, as a new consul takes the helm of the Mexican consulate in Santa Ana, Ortiz Haro finds himself telling his own tale of woe.
Ortiz Haro, 47, a former elected official in Mexico City who had no previous diplomatic experience, was replaced last month in what Mexican officials described as a routine change of consular heads. But he was not offered another job or the chance to stay in office until his two daughters, 10 and 14, finish the school year.
He remains living in an apartment in Irvine, unemployed, with a borrowed 1993 Mercedes and his wife's cellphone.
In one of the most Spanish-speaking cities in the United States, Ortiz Haro won the hearts of Mexican nationals who reveled in his plain talk and liberal open-door policy. More than 400 people came to say goodbye at a five-hour party Jan. 30 at the consulate that took the tone of a funeral, as employees, immigrant leaders and heads of local organizations broke into tears during tributes to him. After Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006, Ortiz Haro had assumed his tenure would end. Consular positions are often changed following elections. Ortiz Haro said he would return to Mexico when the school year ends but had no specific work plans.
In Santa Ana, the new consul, Carlos Alejandro Rodriguez y Quezada, is forging relationships with immigrants who were reluctant to see Ortiz Haro go. With a more conventional style, he's unlikely to affectionately call female visitors mamacita, as Ortiz Haro did, but he is attending immigrant events and creating strategies to promote trade and tourism between Orange County and Mexico.
He has met with local officials, including Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and interim Orange County Sheriff Jack Anderson. Rodriguez y Quezada, 55, is a career diplomat who has worked in Mexico's Foreign Ministry since 1969. He has served in Cuba, El Salvador and Lebanon. Most recently, he was Mexico's ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro.
Following cues from Calderon, who wants to promote tourism and foreign investment in Mexico, the consul said he would conduct a business workshop at the end of March.
Inside the consulate, Rodriguez y Quezada has ended the informal atmosphere in which immigrants routinely stopped by to say hello and even dropped off tamales as gifts. Rodriguez y Quezada moved his office from the ground floor to an upstairs suite and told consulate employees not to wear jeans.
