MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina to open new consulate in Playa del Carmen

The new consulate will have jurisdiction over the Mexican States of Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Campeche, as well as over the entire Belize

The Argentine Government is to open a new consulate in the Mexican beach resort of Playa del Carmen, as announced in the Official Gazette.

Decree 257/2021, signed by President Alberto Fernández, Cabinet Chief Santiago Cafiero and Foreign Minister Felipe Sola establishes the creation of the new diplomatic office in response to the number of Argentine citizens who have settled in the area over the past few years and replaces the 2015 resolution to open a similar office in Monterrey instead.

Some 15,000 Argentines are said to be living in Playa del Carmen, most of them between the ages of 25 and 30.

In addition to attending to the procedures of the citizens installed there, the diplomatic office will aim to achieve “a greater dissemination of the image of the Argentine Republic and promote new flows of commercial and cultural exchange.”

The new consulate will have jurisdiction over the Mexican States of Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Campeche, as well as over entire Belize, a small Central American bordering Mexico and Guatemala.

Playa del Carmen is located in the heart of the Riviera Maya area and stands out for its white-sand beaches, its splendid cenotes, its impressive adventure parks and exclusive resorts, all surrounded by the jungle.

This tourist destination is chosen by hundreds of Argentines every year. In 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, many of them were stranded without being able to return to the country.

Current Argentine ambassador to Mexico is Carlos Tomada, a former Labor Minister under Presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.