HOPE, Ark. - The Consul of Mexico will speak Sept. 27 during an Hispanic Heritage Month assembly and reception at Beryl Henry Elementary School.
Counsul of Mexico Rodolfo Quilantan-Arenas, from Little Rock, will speak at the 9 a.m. student assembly as a special appearance in conjunction with the development of a Latino Heritage Museum in Hope.
The assembly will be followed by a public reception from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for parents and the community to meet the consul.
In June, he presented Spanish-language textbooks to the Hope Public School District and the Hempstead County Library. The textbooks for grades K-6 involve reading, math and science study and are intended to allow Hispanic parents to help their students in those subjects while fostering literacy in their native language.
A native of Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, Quilantan-Arenas has been in the Mexican Foreign Service since 1985 and served in Antwerp, Belgium; Milan, Italy; Los Angeles, Calif.; Guayaquil, Ecuador; and Brownsville, Texas, prior to his appointment to Little Rock. He has also served as a legal affairs advisor to the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Quilantan-Arenas holds a bachelor of law degree from the Autonomous University of Coahuila and a master of law degree in American law from the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque. He also holds a master's degree in military administration for national defense and security from the National Defense College in Mexico City.
Quilantan-Arenas has written on foreign politics, diplomacy and the protection of Mexican nationals. He is also the author of two books, "The Death Penalty and Consular Protection" and "Mexico in the Culture."
(Ken McLemore is communications director at Hope Public Schools. He can be contacted at [email protected] or 501-519-0530.)