The prominent Mexican businessman passed away on Monday, June 25th, 2018, in Mexico City. Jaime Bermúdez Cuarón was the leading promoter of economic development in Ciudad Juarez and was frequently recognized for turning the city into one of the largest maquiladora hotspots in Mexico.
Considered the founding father of the maquiladora industry in Juárez, Jaime Bermúdez Cuarón transformed the agricultural fields into industrial complexes that strongly enhanced the Mexican export industry.
An engineer by profession, Bermúdez always had the idea of expanding his family’s cotton business. He founded the company that would later become an empire: Desarrollos Inmobiliarios Bermúdez S.A. de C.V., with assets that now include industrial parks, offices, cement plants and shopping centers, according to the Mexican newspaper, El Financiero.
But transforming Juarez was no easy task. It required the vision of a businessman who could see beyond the decay of a border city. Bermúdez saw opportunity in the growing number of unemployed and knew that citizens only needed an opportunity to break out economically.
The strategic location of Ciudad Juarez was a great advantage and Bermúdez took on the task of attracting foreign investment by promoting throughout the United States the virtues of the Chihuahuan border. He eventually accomplished this in 1967 by drawing in the first manufacturer to the region: Acapulco Fashions.
A year later, RCA Corp. Multinational built a plant with more than 10 thousand square meters designed for the assembly of televisions. RCA Corp. has continued its operations to this day and has been the long-standing success that has helped to attract additional investors, which has resulted in a boom of industrial parks that are now an integral part of the Ciudad Juarez economy – directly impacting thousands of families.
Bermúdez also collaborated with the National Border Program (PRONAF) to improve the economic development of the region. The businessman then entered politics and served from 1986 to 1989 as the Municipal President of Ciudad Juarez.
While he defined himself more as a businessman than as a politician, he mentioned that he took the position because he believed that, “We must work for a prosperous future for this country, and both government officials and businessmen have an important role in this effort.”
El Grande Group pays homage to a great visionary who promoted the economic development of Mexico and its families.