Rubin Amaro with the Socorro Water Department, Socorro Mayor Ravi Bhasker, Casas Grandes Mayor Roberto Lucero and City Clerk Marc Anto￾nio Chavez Bustillos meet Tuesday.
Cathy Cook | El Defensor Chieftain

The City of Socorro was able to donate three police cars and an ambulance to an unofficial sister city, Casas Grandes, Mexico. Casas Grandes Mayor Roberto Lucero met with Socorro Mayor Ravi Bhasker Tuesday to accept the donation.

During the visit, Lucero offered to help Socorro create QR codes that could be used on city buildings to help share local history.

The two cities have a historic relationship, since the Paquimé archeological site in Casas Grandes is connected to El Camino Real, the historic royal road from Mexico City to Santa Fe that runs through San Acacia in Socorro County.

The cities have had a more direct relationship, helping each other out for the last 25 years. The cities’ mayors started meeting together when the City of Socorro was working on El Camino Real historic trail. Since then, Socorro has donated garbage trucks and police cars that it was replacing, like the four newest vehicles. The city has also donated a transport van that Casas Grandes uses to transport 11 handicapped children to hospital visits. The vehicles would have gone to salvage yards if they had not been donated.

“We thought that Mexico is part of our heritage here in this city,” said Bhasker, who has been in office for over 30 years.

There are also a number of Socorro residents with direct connections to Casas Grandes, like Rubin Amaro, who has worked for the city for 40 years. Amaro was born in Casas Grandes, but Socorro is his hometown after moving to the city in his teens.

The cities share a common culture, said Lucero.

 

Cathy Cook | El Defensor Chieftain Editor