When Donald Tapia’s tour of duty as United States Ambassador to Jamaica ended in 2021 he obviously pledged that he would continue using his influence and contacts to help the island he now refers to as “home”.

“I’m still involved, in the back room you might say, in trying to help Jamaica grow… What I’ve been doing is staying in touch with Ambassador [Audrey] Marks and as several things come up we try to help Jamaica develop, to bring jobs,” Tapia told the Jamaica Observer while on a short visit to the island two weeks ago.

Marks is Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States.

Tapia, who was in Jamaica to attend a fund-raiser staged by Portland Western Member of Parliament (MP) Daryl Vaz and his wife Ann-Marie, the MP for Portland Eastern, said he was using the opportunity to talk to local business about the possibility of partnering with American multi billionaire Larry Van Tuyl on an investment project that was floated during Tapia’s tenure in office, which began in 2019.

The proposed project, he told the Sunday Observer, was a storage facility on approximately 600 acres of land off the north/south highway where goods being shipped into this region though the Panama canal would be placed then distributed, on order, to destinations in the United States.

“Larry Van Tuyl was interested in investing on that land. What he’s looking for is a joint venture, and while I’m here on the island I will be talking to a couple of people to see if we can put that back together for some storage units because you have the port here and the main thing would be bringing material here,” Tapia explained.

The former diplomat, who is originally from Detroit, Michigan, but has developed deep roots in Arizona, said he had also helped to develop a link between the Jamaica Government and experts at Arizona State University on cyber security. “That seems like it’s moving very well,” he said, adding that the project got funding from the US Government.

Additionally, Tapia said, he played a role in Jamaica exploring water development and conservation with the university as it “has a reputation for outreach to different countries… in those areas”.

“So we helped them bring people here to take a look, I believe they were here just last month on more like a search and development mission,” he said.

“We had to have a national, large university with resources and people, so, because I come from Arizona it was very easy for me to pick up the phone and call the president and engage him with the Jamaican people,” Tapia said.

Outside of networking for Jamaica Tapia, who will celebrate his 85th birthday next January, said he is involved in the housing sector in the US.

“Personally I’m building some duplexes outside of Fort Myers, Florida. They’re low cost housing because I believe that right now, with inflation as high as it is, people are not going to be able to afford homes [at the high end],” he said.

That activity, though, has not diminished his abiding love for Jamaica, for which, during his tour of duty, he lobbied and got assistance in many areas, among them two field hospitals at the height of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“It was a great experience returning to Jamaica and I truly believe, when I got off the aeroplane, it felt like I was home again,” he said. “I enjoyed my tenure in Jamaica. I visited every parish and met many Jamaicans along the way. When we visited a town I would stop the car, get out and talk to people. The people of Jamaica have been so kind to me.”