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but whenBy NANCY STANFORD Caller City EditorLAREDO — Mexican President Luis Echeverria Alvarez is due at the border this weekend for dedication of the new Jua-rez-Lincoln International Bridge, but local officials are in a dilemma because they do not yet know when.Laredo Mayor J. C. Martin Jr. said this morning he was told by Mexican Consular officials that the visit likely will be Friday or Saturday, probably Saturday.“We’re a municipality and they are federal so we’re at different protocol levels, and we're in the dilemma,” he said.“We’re going into Thanksgiving and if we don’t hear something soon it is going to be rather difficult for us to respond appropriately, he added.Martin said the new $3-million bridge is ready for an interim opening now and cbuld handle car traffic, but the facilities are not sufficiently complete to handle pedestrian or truck traffic.Retail sales here have plummeted following Mexico's devaluation of the peso and the city wants the bridge opened to attract more visitors who might shop in Laredo.The part of the bridge on the United States side was built by the. City of Laredo and the part in Mexico by the government of Mexico; In addition, Laredo paid 70 per cent of the cost of building the center part of the span. The city will use federal funds to purchase land near the bridge to complete an expressway to it.The Laredo City Council approved the name Juarex-Lincoln, at a meeting yesterday, after council members were told that both the U. S. State Department and the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations approved theis a big questionchoice.The vote on the name was 7-1 with Councilman Pete Arguin-degui Jr. arguing that Lincoln's name should have been listed first. But other council members seemed resigned to the choice and argued against putting any more stress on relations with Mexico.Arguindegui argued that “we should have a say-so on this matter,” particularly since the city shared the cost, but that “it’s been a Mexico situation all the way.Chamber of Commerce President Alan Jackson responded that “bur problems are much greater than that and we would hate to aggravate things more.”During his visit, Echeverriaalso is scheduled to dedicate various public works projects in Nuevo Laredo, and Martin said festivities connected with his visit may center there rather than in Laredo,Martin said he learned through the. State Department that Echeverria had asked President Ford to attend the bridge dedication, but that Ford probably would send a representative.But we’ve heard nothing from them in Mexico,” Martin said. “It’s a dilemma for us not to know what the plan is. We’re ready to open half of the bridge — all the equipment is here — but what good is part of a bridge?Special Good Thru Tues., Nov. 30or ohioPADRE-STAPLES MALL 991-4628Longhorn jReg. *2.69 lb. I
Newspaper Details
Corpus Christi Times
Corpus Christi, Texas, US
Wed, Nov 24, 1976
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Texas A.
TX, USA 07 Nov 2023
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