While members of the Aurora City Council discussed a potential 'Sister Cities' partnership between Chihuahua, Mexico and Aurora, tensions began to flare as members voiced opposition to the measure based on crime levels in Chihuahua and Mexico as a whole. Two members appeared to laugh and turn off their cameras while a representative of Sister Cities International spoke.
Aurora City Council members discussed pursuing a new sister city relationship in Mexico earlier this week, but the conversation took a sharp turn when two conservative councilmembers criticized the Mexican city for its crime levels —which the proposal’s sponsor called out as a dog whistle for racism.
Councilmember Juan Marcano, the proposal's sponsor, on Monday praised Aurora Sister Cities International and its Mexico Committee for organizing quickly and building relationships with the government in Chihuahua, Mexico. The city is within the Mexican state of the same name, which borders New Mexico and Texas.
CEO of Aurora Sister Cities International Karlyn Shorb said there has been a desire to create a relationship with a sister city in Mexico for years. The Mexican community is the largest immigrant community in Aurora, she said.
The organization’s Mexico Committee formed roughly four months ago and quickly established a relationship with the administration in Chihuahua, she said.
Chihuahua native and co-chair of the Mexico Committee Ana Valles outlined not only the economic opportunities but the cultural connection between Colorado, Aurora and Chihuahua.
About 30% of Aurora residents are of Hispanic or Latino decent and the majority of that population has Mexican heritage, she said. Most Colorado residents with Mexican heritage can trace their roots to Chihuahua, and the Mexican consulate in Denver provided data showing 22% of people who got a consulate document from the state in 2021 hailed from the state of Chihuahua, outpacing any other Mexican state.
The cities have multiple similar industries, such as manufacturing and retail, that are ripe for collaboration, she said.
Councilmember Francoise Bergan asked several questions about the benefit of pursuing a sister city relationship in general but also with Chihuahua.
“I have long questioned sister cities from an economic development return on investment perspective,” Bergan said.
City leaders have visited several countries but have never returned with an economic plan or development that benefits Aurora, she said.
Shorb disputed that sister city relationships have not yielded an economic impact in Aurora, naming two restaurants that located in the city as a result of the Korea Committee’s work. One was a large chain that came to Aurora first and then expanded throughout the metro area, she said. Chicago has a proven track record of forging a successful relationship with Mexico City that produced city-to-city trade agreements, she said, a unique strategy that Aurora might emulate.
“I think there’s a huge potential with Mexico, because the community is so large,” she said.
Marcano responded to Bergan’s concerns by saying the city has squandered leads on economic development opportunities brought about by sister city relationships because it did not bring the right staff on past visits to sister cities who could follow up on those discussions. It’s been an point of frustration for sister cities, he said.
Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky was the first to raise the issue of crime in Chihuahua. She read from travel websites that stated the risk of travel there was “high,” and went on to say drug cartels “are helping to run this city.”
“I know we’re not perfect. I know we have our crime rate that we need to work on,” she said. “Thank God, as of now, we don’t live under cartel rule.”
Jurinsky questioned whether councilmembers would be willing to overlook Aurora’s crime rate if they are also “willing to overlook the crime rate there.”
As Shorb spoke about the value of working with Chihuahua from a business and cultural perspective, Jurinsky turned her attention away from the speaker, looked to the side, began laughing and then turned her camera off. Jurinsky later told the Denver Gazette she laughed after looking at her cell phone meaning she was not laughing at Shorb.
Council holds study sessions remotely.
“I’m sure they struggle with their own perceptions of violence, as we do here in our own community,” Shorb said.
People who travel regularly for work understand the challenges of traveling globally and know how to avoid risky activity while abroad, she said. The sister city relationship can also foster an exchange of law enforcement best practices for addressing crime, she said.
“We are going to face those challenges anywhere we travel around the world. That shouldn’t prevent us from creating a friendship, in fact it should probably encourage it,” she said.
Shorb invited Valles to address the topic as a native of Chihuahua, but Valles was interrupted before she could respond.
Bergan rebuked comparing crime rates between Chihuahua and Aurora, saying it was a “night and day” difference.
“We don’t have kidnappings in Aurora. We don’t have beheadings by cartels,” Bergan said.
Councilmember Alison Coombs pointed out that Aurora does, in fact, have kidnappings.
Valles later spoke up to say that she acknowledges there is crime in Chihuahua, as any large city experiences. Committee members travel there and have friends and family who live there. They can speak to councilmembers about what traveling to the area is like, she said.
She added that crime has decreased in the city by 6%, that the local administration is working on the issue and would provide adequate security for councilmembers.
Marcano called the councilmembers’ comments illogical, and said a sister city relationship is not a conduit for the issues they raised. Other countries have travel advisories against the U.S., he reminded council, for the nation’s problems with racial tensions, mass shootings and law enforcement’s treatment of marginalized communities.
“I’m really disappointed by some of the very weird things that were just said, and frankly, I think it’s exceptionally racist as well,” he said.
Bergan refuted equating their concerns with crime as racism and asked how the city could guarantee councilmembers’ safety if they visited. Marcano said the racist messaging could be read in-between the lines of their comments and that bringing up crime rates was irrelevant.
“This is what I expect from Republicans,” he said.
Jurinsky said in her final comments on the topic that, ”being the, I guess, racist Republican I am, who employs people of all different backgrounds,” she has an employee from Chihuahua who does not wish to return out of safety concerns.
