Sweetening things up

The relationship between Baton Rouge and Córdoba, Mexico began years ago when Javier Perdomo’s brother Rodolfo came to Baton Rouge to study at LSU. The elder Perdomo lived, worked and raised a family in Baton Rouge. He developed many connections with people from all sectors and from that point on a lasting relationship between the two cities was formed, explains Monika Olivier, president of the Baton Rouge Center for World Affairs. Since that time Baton Rouge and Córdoba have been involved in a number of business trade arrangements and have engaged in several reciprocal cultural and educational trips and visits between the two cities.

A few thousand miles, a controversial border and a language barrier separate Baton Rouge from its sister city of Córdoba, residing in the Mexican state of Vera Cruz along the Gulf of Mexico.

They’re both important players in the worldwide sugar industry, which is what brought Javier Perdomo to the Capital City.

Perdomo, along with his wife Claudia and their three daughters (Claudia, 18, Macarena, 14, and Andrea, 11), temporarily moved to Baton Rouge in August. They spent several months here while he made business contacts with Louisiana sugar growers. They returned home in December.

After more than a decade of quarreling over the sugar trade outlined in the North American Free Trade Agreement, which allowed Mexico to ship up to 276,000 tons of sugar duty-free to America every year, trading is about to open even wider. In 2008, all duties are removed, and Mexico will be allowed to flood the U.S. with its subsidized sugar, a fact that could have dramatic effects on Louisiana’s sugar growers.

The U.S. market is severely oversupplied, but must accept the unneeded sugar from Mexico, honoring its commitments to trade under NAFTA. Perdomo hopes to lighten this blow by working with, instead of against, Louisiana sugar growers to strengthen ties between the two countries, as well as the cities of Baton Rouge and Córdoba.

“My family made wonderful friends in Baton Rouge,” Perdomo says. “Everybody was so friendly and welcoming. It is my hope that the friends and contacts made will strengthen the businesses in both Mexico and Louisiana. There is no reason why the two cannot work together.”