The economic outlook to the west of this city is splendid. San Luis Río Colorado, Mexicali, Tecate and Tijuana manifest the extraordinary marriage between U.S. industry and the Mexican desert. To the east, the view is equally optimistic. Nogales, Agua Prieta and Naco, prosperous in their own right, open an eastward gateway to eternal boomtown, Ciudad Juárez.

      So what’s up in Sonoyta?

      If there was ever a pueblo-in-waiting for its day in the economic spotlight, Sonoyta is the candidate.

      Its population of 20,000 offers an ample labor pool (and one that, in contrast to other border cities, is largely rooted here and doesn’t leave to return home). The cost of living is about one-third less than those of other, more congested Mexican border towns.

      Education levels are standard-to-above average, with the community’s 5,000 school-aged students attending 29 schools. Medical facilities — two health clinics and a hospital — are adequate.  A modern port of entry, excellent roads and state-of-the-art communications would appear to offer virtually anyone considering moving to a Mexico manufacturing environment.

      Yet, no one – until now — has been willing to be push Sonoyta into the industrial age.

      What’s up?

            “I think Sonoyta has simply taken a second-seat to the development we see in Nogales and at other ports with an industrial tradition,” said Ignacio Escalante, president of Copreson, Sonora state’s foreign-investment arm. “It should not. We should be seeing vigorous, enthusiastic foreign or Mexican development sometime soon.” Adds Raúl Contreras García, Sonoyta’s mayor, “We think that whoever comes first is going to be rewarded, sweetly, and is going to be the detonator...

...Continued in the pages of Twin Plant News, Subscribe Today!