U.S., Mexico celebrate Anzalduas opening

The Anzalduas bridge will help unite the two countries and integrate their economies, Mexican President Felipe Calderón said during the international bridge’s grand opening Monday in a ceremony held in the Mexican side of the new facility.

“Our economies are designed to complement each other,” Calderón said in Spanish. “One economy is intense in capital, the American. Ours is intense in workforce.”

The Anzalduas bridge inauguration is the first between the two countries in 10 years. The last one was inaugurated in 2000 between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, said Eugenio Hernandez Flores, governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

The bridge started operating December 15 to attract the Christmas shoppers and alleviate traffic congestion in the other two Reynosa International bridges — Pharr and Hidalgo. Anzalduas was closed Sunday afternoon to prepare for Monday’s grand opening and reopened at 4 p.m. that day.

During the ceremony McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez made clear that once finished with the construction of “this valuable asset,” both countries had a lot to do “not to waste it by under utilizing.”

Cortez urged leaders on both sides of the border to properly staff the bridge checkpoints, decrease waiting times for visitors to cross the bridge and consider moving up the deadline to allow commercial traffic.

“Efficiency for the legal ports of entries is essential, we are going to need the commitment of both governments not to waste this precious resource by not properly staffing all the inspection process,” said Cortez in the ceremony celebrated under a big tent with 700 guests from both sides of the border, including dignitaries all levels of government.

The McAllen mayor also urged U.S. authorities to not limit the number of visas to visitors wishing to enter the U.S. side.

Michael Barkin, U.S. Consul in Matamoros, disagreed with the mayor and said the U.S. consulates did not have visas quotas.

“The vast majority of people who applied for visas — far more than 50 percent — get visas approved, it’s in human nature that the people you hear from are the people who don’t get their visas,” Barkin said in an interview after the event.

“My intention is I would love to issue visas to everyone but we have to follow the law and the law says that people who aren’t qualified we are not allowed to give visas to,” Barkin said.

The Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations, Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, expressed opposition to the border wall during the ceremony. “Bridges bring us together, the walls separate, let’s build more bridges instead,” Espinosa Cantellano said in Spanish.

Anzalduas, built on the U.S. side with a partnership between the cities of McAllen, Mission and Hidalgo, will operate from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day.

This bridge will not only attract more commerce to the border businesses, it will bring more tourism to Dallas and San Antonio said Ron Kirk, U.S. trade Ambassador and highest US official who attended the event.

Mexican authorities said the two countries need to build even more bridges, otherwise the system will be saturated by 2014, said Juan Molinar Horcasitas, Mexican Secretary of Communications and Transportation.

This is 24th international bridge between Mexico and the United States, and the longest so far: 3.4 miles to avoid two flood ways, the Rio Grande and the Anzaldúas canal on the Mexican side. Mexico was in charge of building 1.57 miles of the bridge.

Authorities announced they expect to inaugurate the Donna-Rio Bravo bridge this summer.

Calderón received a brief tour of the bridge after the ceremony. The Mexican president was a passenger in an SUV that traveled to the U.S. part of the bridge, but the vehicle made a U-turn just before reaching the U.S. checkpoint.

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Martha L. Hernández covers Mission, western Hidalgo County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4846