Merida, Yucatan July 1, 2021. The United States Consulate General in Merida said farewell to Consul General Courtney Beale, who departed Merida today. During her time as Consul General, she worked to strengthen economic ties, invest in security and justice, and increase educational and cultural exchanges between the United States and the Yucatan Peninsula. After three years, she returns to Washington, DC for another diplomatic appointment at the State Department’s headquarters.
“It has been a great honor for me to serve as Consul General in Mérida for the last three years. Our priority has been to deepen the collaboration between the United States and the Yucatan Peninsula. We continue to strengthen our relationship for the benefit of our countries”.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Consul Courtney Beale supported Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo with donations worth half a million dollars of personal protective equipment to seven public state hospitals and laboratories throughout the three states. She also supported other programs to reactivate the economy through entrepreneurship, educational exchange programs, English language teaching, safety and security, and more.
In a display of our enduring friendship and the important bilateral partnership with Mexico, Consul Beale celebrated the start of the construction of the new consulate in Merida in 2020. Throughout this project, an estimated $150 million will be invested in the local economy, and the project will employ an estimated workforce of more than 1,000 American, Mexican, and third-country nationals throughout construction. When it opens in a few years, the new consulate will be able to offer improved consular services.
Today, Beale officially ends her term as Consul General in Mérida for her new position in Washington D.C. Consul Caroline Amberger, the Consular Section Chief, will serve as the Acting Consul General until Dorothy Ngutter arrives as the new Consul General in August.
“On behalf of my family and I, thank you all very much for your warm friendship. Merida and the Yucatan Peninsula have a very special space in our hearts ” said the Consul as she departed.
