AURORA — This already ethnically diverse Colorado city is taking a big step toward becoming even more international with next month’s opening of a consulate for El Salvador — Aurora’s first outpost for a foreign nation and the first in the state outside Denver.
The consulate, announced last week, will be located in the old city hall building at the intersection of South Havana Street and East Florida Avenue.
Aurora has nearly 3,000 residents from the Central American nation, and Salvadorans represent the third-largest group of foreign-born residents in this city of nearly 350,000, behind only Mexicans and Ethiopians.
The new consulate, which will be El Salvador’s 18th in the United States, will serve not only Salvadorans living in Colorado but also those calling Nebraska, Wyoming and Kansas home. There are only six full-fledged consulates in Colorado — Canada, Peru, Japan, the United Kingdom, Guatemala and Mexico — and all are located in Denver, according to the Colorado Consular Corps.
“This is exciting news for the city of Aurora and for our residents from El Salvador and the residents from the entire region that it’s going to serve,” said Mayor Steve Hogan. “This will help to make Aurora the international city we all know it is — this is a very physical manifestation of what we have known for a long time.”
Hogan visited Antiguo Cuscatlán, a city near the capital, San Salvador, last year, and that city’s mayor, Zoila Milagro Navas, returned the favor by visiting Aurora for a Friendship City ceremony in city hall last summer.
The state’s demography office has found that 20 percent of Aurora residents are foreign-born — a greater portion than Denver — and is widely considered the most diverse city in the state.
“That was a very important element to take into account,” said Manuel Castillo, El Salvador’s new consul general in Colorado. “The integration of our community into the city and the willingness of the city to work with our community have allowed us to have a very good relationship.”
Castillo said the consulate, at first staffed by four people, will help Salvadorans with their passports, other legal documents and travel plans to other countries. It will also assist those facing criminal charges or deportation. Castillo said the consulate will open temporary offices, operating for a day or so a couple of times a year, in neighboring states to provide a more convenient location for Salvadorans living there.
“We do know there are people who need our services there,” he said.
Ricardo Gambetta, head of the city’s Office of International and Immigrant Affairs, said Aurora’s first consulate will better position the city as a place for international business.
“We want to continue to create international business relationships and this consulate opening fits into our plans,” he said. “For us, this is a big deal.”
It’s a facility Edgar Leon wished had been around 12 years ago, when he first moved to Aurora. The El Salvador native first came to the United States in 1990 and has since become an American citizen. He owns Aurora AutoPros, an auto repair business.
He said he had to travel to the nearest Salvadoran consulate in Las Vegas, or as far away as California, when he was in the midst of securing a green card.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for all of us Salvadorans,” he said. “It’s less of a hassle.”
Leon said having a foreign consulate in the middle of Aurora gives the city “another step up” in terms of being a “more internationally welcoming city.”
“It makes me happy that I live in a city that is appealing to different communities,” he said.
Gambetta said El Salvador is not the only country that has inquired about locating its next consulate in Aurora and he said “everything is on the table” in terms of playing permanent host to officials from other countries. Asked which nation might be next to plant its flag in Aurora, Gambetta wasn’t saying.
“Let’s try to take it one consulate at a time,” he said.
Aurora’s top five foreign-born populations (2014)
Mexico — 30,272
Ethiopia — 2,984
El Salvador — 2,454
Korea — 2,293
Vietnam — 2,151
Source: Aurora
