Peruvian Consulate up and running; nation becomes 3rd with diplomatic offices in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The new Peruvian Consulate office in Utah is operable and already inundated with requests for services from the sizable contingent of Peruvians living in the state.

"The population is very big. The Peruvian community is large," perhaps numbering 45,000 to 50,000, maybe more, said Czibor Chicata-Sutmöller, the new consul.

Chicata-Sutmöller, speaking Monday from the new consulate space in a downtown Salt Lake City office building, received accreditation from the U.S. State Department for the diplomatic posting in February. In late May, Peruvian authorities settled on space at 111 E. Broadway in the heart of Salt Lake City for the consul offices, and a flag-raising ceremony to kick off operations is scheduled for July 27.

"Peru is very excited with our relations with Utah," said David Utrilla, a longtime Peruvian-American in Utah with dual citizenship who previously served as honorary Peruvian consul in Utah, a volunteer post. The July 27 ceremony — one day before Peruvian Independence Day, July 28 — is open to the public and will be held at the Salt Lake City Public Safety Building, 475 S. 300 East, because it's a larger space. Activities will start at 10 a.m.

A growing base of Peruvians in Utah — now the second largest Latino contingent in Utah after Mexicans and Mexican Americans, according to Chicata-Sutmöller's estimates — factored in the decision to launch a full-time consulate here, the third in the state. Mexico and El Salvador are the only other countries with consulates in Utah.

Utrilla, who operates a translating business, was limited in what he could do as an honorary consul given the growing demand for services, he said. Chicata-Sutmöller, meantime, said it's the Peruvian government's policy to open more consulates in the United States, particularly the West, as the nation's population of expatriates here increases. Another consulate recently opened in Phoenix, Arizona, he said, with 15 diplomatic offices now scattered around the United States.

Ahead of the move to the Salt Lake City office space, Chicata-Sutmöller said the consulate was offering mobile consular services around Utah, and demand for services is already strong. The office — with five to seven workers when fully staffed — can process applications for power of attorney authority in Peru, issue passports and Peruvian identity cards, and document births of children to Peruvian parents, among other things.

'Very friendly with migrants'

Chicata-Sutmöller said the population of Peruvians in Utah and other places around the globe has surged in the last two to three years with increased migration. He said a sense that Utah is a welcoming place brought some here.

"We understand the local authorities have been very friendly with migrants, generally speaking," said the consul, a career diplomat who previously served in Chile, Bolivia and Germany.

Need for workers in the agricultural sector and factories has also lured some Peruvians here, he said.

Utrilla, who served for 15 years as honorary consul, said need for shepherds to work sheep ranches brought some of the first Peruvians to Utah decades ago. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a large contingent of adherents in Peru and that relationship, too, has factored in Peruvian population growth here.