Portal:Mexico

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Introduction

Mexico (Spanish: México [ˈmexiko] (listen); Nahuatl languages: Mēxihco), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos, listen (help·info)), is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost 2,000,000 square kilometres (770,000 sq mi), the nation is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the 13th largest independent state in the world. With an estimated population of over 120 million people, the country is the eleventh most populous state and the most populous Spanish-speaking state in the world, while being the second most populous nation in Latin America after Brazil. Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and Mexico City, a special federal entity that is also the capital city and its most populous city. Other metropolises in the state include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, and Tijuana.

Pre-Columbian Mexico dates to about 8000 BC and is identified as one of five cradles of civilization and was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya, and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its politically powerful base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan (part of Mexico City), which was administered as the viceroyalty of New Spain. Three centuries later, the territory became a nation state following its recognition in 1821 after the colony's Mexican War of Independence. The post-independence period was tumultuous, characterized by economic inequality and many contrasting political changes. The Mexican–American War (1846–1848) led to a territorial cession of the extant northern territories to the United States. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, two empires, and the Porfiriato occurred in the 19th century. The Porfiriato was ended by the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system as a federal, democratic republic.

Selected general articles

The following is a list of flags used in the United Mexican States. Read more...
Energy in Mexico describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Mexico. Electricity sector in Mexico is the main article of electricity in Mexico.

In 2008, Mexico produced 234 TWh, from which 86 TWh are coming from thermal plant, 39 TWh from hydro-power, 18 TWh from coal, 9,8 TWh from nuclear power, 7 TWh from geothermal power and 0,255 TWh from wind power. Mexico is among the top oil producers and exporters in the world. Read more...
Science and technology have a long history in Mexico. Ancient Mexican civilizations developed mathematics, astronomy, and calendrics, and solved technological problems of water management for agriculture and flood control in Central Mexico. Following the Spanish conquest in 1521, New Spain (colonial Mexico) was brought into the European sphere of science and technology. The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, established in 1551, was a hub of intellectual and religious development in colonial Mexico for over a century. During the Spanish American Enlightenment in Mexico, the colony made considerable progress in science, but following the war of independence and political instability in the early nineteenth century, progress stalled. During late 19th century under the regime of Porfirio Díaz, the process of industrialization began in Mexico. Following the Mexican Revolution, a ten-year civil war, Mexico made significant progress in science and technology. During the 20th century, new universities, such as the National Polytecnical Institute, Monterrey Institute of Technology and research institutes, such as those at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, were established in Mexico.

According to the World Bank, Mexico is Latin America's largest exporter of high-technology goods (High-technology exports are manufactured goods that involve high R&D intensity, such as in aerospace, computers, pharmaceuticals, scientific instruments, and electrical machinery) with $40.7 billion worth of high-technology goods exports in 2012. Mexican high-technology exports accounted for 17% of all manufactured goods in the country in 2012 according to the World Bank. Read more...
The mafia arson attack on the Casino Royale in Monterrey killed at least 52 people in 2011.

Crime is among the most urgent concerns facing Mexico, as Mexican drug trafficking rings play a major role in the flow of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transiting between Latin America and the United States. Drug trafficking has led to corruption, which has had a deleterious effect on Mexico's Federal Representative Republic. Drug trafficking and organized crime have also been a major source of violent crime in Mexico.

Mexico has experienced increasingly high crime rates, especially in major urban centers. The country's great economic polarization has stimulated criminal activity mainly in the lower socioeconomic strata, which include the majority of the country's population. Crime continues at high levels, and is repeatedly marked by violence, especially in the cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, and the states of Baja California, Durango, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Michoacán, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo León. Other metropolitan areas have lower, yet still serious, levels of crime. Low apprehension and conviction rates contribute to the high crime rate. Since many crimes go unreported, the rates may be much higher than reported by the government. The murder rate in 2015 was 14 per 100,000. Most of the crime is committed by a small proportion of the population involved in the drug trade with about half of murders drug related. Read more...
In Mexico there are no explicit rights reseved to intersex persons, no protections from non-consensual cosmetic medical interventions on intersex children and no legislative protection from discrimination. Intersex persons may have difficulties in obtaining necessary health care. Read more...
Mexican states by HDI, 2008 (published in 2014)

The following table presents a listing of Mexico's 32 federal states, ranked in order of their Human Development Index, as reported by the United Nations in 2015 with data from 2008-2015.. None of the states has a low level of human development, while Mexico City is the only one in the very high development bracket. Read more...
Oportunidades (English: Opportunities; now rebranded as Prospera) is a government social assistance program in Mexico founded in 2002, based on a previous program called Progresa, created in 1997. It is designed to target poverty by providing cash payments to families in exchange for regular school attendance, health clinic visits, and nutrition support. Oportunidades is credited with decreasing poverty and improving health and educational attainment in regions where it has been deployed.
Key features of Oportunidades include:
- Conditional cash transfer (CCT): To encourage co-responsibility, receipt of aid is dependent on family compliance with program requirements, such as ensuring children attend school and family members receive preventative health care.
- "Rights holders": Program recipients are mothers, the caregiver directly responsible for children and family health decisions.
- Cash payments are made from the government directly to families to decrease overhead and corruption.
- A system of evaluation and statistical controls to ensure effectiveness.
- Rigorous selection of recipients based on geographic and socioeconomic factors.
- Program requirements target measures considered most likely to lift families out of poverty, focusing on health, nutrition and children's education.
Oportunidades has become a model for programs instituted in other countries, such as a pilot program in New York City, the Opportunity NYC, and the Social Protection Network in Nicaragua. Other countries that have instituted similar conditional cash transfer programs include Brazil, Peru, Honduras, Jamaica, Chile, Malawi and Zambia. Read more...
The Congress of the Union (Spanish: Congreso de la Unión), formally known as the General Congress of the United Mexican States (Congreso General de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of Mexico consisting of two chambers: the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies.

The Congress of the Union meets in Mexico City and consists of 628 members: 500 deputies and 128 senators. Read more...
The Viceroyalty of New Spain (Spanish: Virreinato de Nueva España [birei̯ˈnato ðe ˈnweβa esˈpaɲa]) was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. It covered a huge area that included territories in North America, Central America, Asia and Oceania. It originated after the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the main event of the Spanish conquest, which did not properly end until much later, as its territory continued to grow to the north. It was officially created on 8 March 1535 as a viceroyalty (Spanish: virreinato), the first of four viceroyalties Spain created in the Americas. Its first viceroy was Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco, and the capital of the viceroyalty was Mexico City, established on the ancient Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

It included what is now Mexico plus the current U.S. states of California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Florida and parts of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana; as well as the southwestern part of British Columbia of present-day Canada; plus the Captaincy General of Guatemala (which included the current countries of Guatemala, the Mexican state of Chiapas, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua); the Captaincy General of Cuba (current Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and Guadeloupe); and the Captaincy General of the Philippines (including the Philippines, Guam, the Caroline Islands, the Mariana Islands and the short lived Spanish Formosa in modern day northern Taiwan). Read more...
Traffic police

Law enforcement in Mexico is divided between federal, state, and municipal entities. There are two federal police forces, 31 state police forces (and two for the federal district) and one estimate suggests over 1,600 municipal police forces. There are 366 officers per 100,000 people, which equals approximately 500,000 in total, but systemic corruption is endemic and police forces are often poorly trained and underpaid. The average wage of a police officer is $350 per month, around that of a builder's labourer, which means that many police officers supplement their salaries with bribes. As of 2012, Mexico has a police force of over 544,000 people, making it the country with the fourth largest police force in the world, just behind China, India, and the United States.

The government has found itself struggling to provide police forces with sufficient pay and protection to make it worthwhile resisting the threats and blandishments of drug traffickers, though recent efforts to reform the federal police saw a tenth of the 30,000+ officers fired in the first eight months of 2010. There has been a tendency to increase the militarization of policing. In 2006, 45,000 troops of the Mexican Army were deployed to fight Drug cartels, with the number rising to 50,000 by October 2010. In Monterrey, police, soldiers, and prosecutors have conducted joint patrols, which have seen violence reduced. Read more...

Selected biographies

Hayek in 2012

Salma Hayek Pinault (/ˈhaɪɛk/; born Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez; September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American film actress, producer, and former model. She began her career in Mexico starring in the telenovela Teresa and starred in the film El Callejón de los Milagros (Miracle Alley) for which she was nominated for an Ariel Award. In 1991 Hayek moved to Hollywood and came to prominence with roles in films such as Desperado (1995), From Dusk till Dawn (1996), Dogma (1999), and Wild Wild West (1999).

Her breakthrough role was in the 2002 film Frida, as Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, for which she was nominated in the category of Best Actress for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globe Award. This movie received widespread attention and was a critical and commercial success. Read more...
Depiction of Mexican Navy Lieutenant José Azueta firing a French Hotchkiss machine gun in the defense of Veracruz during the Second U.S. intervention of the Mexican Revolution, painting at the Naval Historical Museum in Mexico City

Lt. José Azueta Abad (Acapulco, Guerrero; May 2, 1895 – Veracruz, May 10, 1914), usually known as José Azueta, was a Mexican Navy Lieutenant who became famous for his role in the United States occupation of Veracruz, where he was fatally wounded. He is one of the most revered national heroes in Veracruz. Read more...
Luis Enrique Erro

Luis Enrique Erro (January 7, 1897 – January 18, 1955) was a Mexican astronomer, politician, and educational reformer.

Born in Mexico City, Erro studied civil engineering and accounting, among other subjects. He occupied the post of head of the Department of Technical Education until 1934. He revamped Mexico’s system of technical education in 1932, when he established the Advanced School of Mechanical Engineers and Electricians (Escuela Superior de Ingenieros Mecánicos y Electricistas) and the Advanced School of Construction (Escuela Superior de Construcción). He also helped create the National Polytechnic Institute in 1936. Read more...
Gloria Trevi in 2006

Gloria Trevi (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈgloɾja ˈtɾeβi]; born Gloria de los Ángeles Treviño Ruiz on February 15, 1968) is a Mexican singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, television hostess, music video director and businesswoman. Read more...
Fears c. 1955

Thomas Jesse Fears (December 3, 1922 – January 4, 2000) was an American football split end for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL), playing nine seasons from 1948 to 1956. He was later an NFL assistant coach and head coach of the New Orleans Saints, and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins football team and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Read more...
Jorge Armando Arce Armenta (/ˈɑːrseɪ/; born July 27, 1979), best known as Jorge Arce, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2014. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the second boxer from Mexico to win world titles in four weight divisions (after Érik Morales, who first achieved the feat two months prior). In a storied career, Arce held the WBO light flyweight title from 1998 to 1999; the WBC and lineal light flyweight titles from 2002 to 2004; the WBO super flyweight title in 2010; the WBO junior featherweight title in 2011; and the WBO bantamweight title from 2011 to 2012. Additionally he held the WBC interim flyweight title from 2005 to 2006, the WBA interim super flyweight title from 2008 to 2009, and challenged once for the WBC featherweight title in his final fight in 2014.

Arce remains a favorite fighter among boxing fans and is also the older brother of title contender Francisco Arce Armenta. Arce's trademark ring entrance featured him wearing a black cowboy hat (earning him the nickname "The Mexican Cowboy") and sucking a cherry lollipop. Read more...
Sergio Basañez Rodríguez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈseɾxjo βaˈsaɲes]; born on May 4, 1970 in Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico) is a Mexican actor. Read more...
Sergio Emilio Charles Garduño (October 12, 1956 – December 28, 2012) was a Mexican Luchador or professional wrestler who is best known under his Ring name Emilio Charles Jr. He is the son of professional wrestler Emilio Charles. Over the years Emilio Charles Jr. has worked for virtually all major Mexican professional wrestling promotions including Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG). He is also one of the founding members of the wrestling group called Los Destructores (“the Destroyers”) along with Vulcano and Tony Arce. He was also a key member in the group Los Guapos (“the Handsome Ones”) as well as a group called Los Talibanes (the Taliban), both with longtime wrestling partners and friends Scorpio Jr. and Bestia Salvaje. Read more...
Díaz in 2015

Aarón Díaz Spencer (born March 7, 1982) is a Mexican actor, singer, and model. Read more...
Pedro Ferriz de Con (Mexico City, Mexico, December 12, 1950), is a Mexican radio and TV news anchor. During the 1990s, he worked for the Multivision Network. In January 2000, he left MVS and went to Grupo Imagen, where he hosted the morning newscast on XEDA-FM until August 25, 2014. He also hosted the evening newscast of Cadenatres from 2007 to 2012.

He currently manages a news website, where he also does a live daily webcast. Read more...

Did you know...

... that, as well as shooting at Pinewood Studios and on Skellig Michael, additional filming for Star Wars: Episode VIII will take place in Mexico?
... that George P. Hammond discovered new details about the desertion of Oñate's colony in New Mexico?
... that as CEO of Nestlé Mexico, Eugenio Minvielle Lagos pushed for the "pull strategy"?
... that parts of southern New Mexico and Chihuahua were covered by the former Lake Palomas, the remnants of which existed as recently as 500 years ago?
... that Jesús Sesma Suárez has represented San Luis Potosí and Jalisco in the federal Chamber of Deputies, and was a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District?
... that José Alfredo Torres Huitrón is the son of a former mayor of Ecatepec de Morelos, the city he represents in the Chamber of Deputies?

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Selected images

Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, oil on canvas, 1772
View of the Pyramid of the Moon and entrance to the Quetzalpapálotl Palace. During its peak in the Classic era, Teotihuacán dominated the Valley of Mexico and exerted political and cultural influence in other areas, such as in the Petén Basin.
Depiction of the founding myth of Mexico-Tenochtitlan from the Codex Mendoza
Mexican built Sierra-class corvettes
Morelos 3, the latest addition to the Morelos Satellite System
Topographic map of Mexico
Game at the Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey. Baseball is most popular in the North (particularly Northwest) and Southeast of Mexico.
Cave art painting occurred about 7,500 years old in Baja California Peninsula. Culturally and geographically very distinct from Mesoamerica, indigenous peoples inhabited the region since the end of the Pleistocene.
Population pyramid 2016
A proportional representation of Mexico's exports. The country has the most complex economy in Latin America.
President Peña Nieto with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President Barack Obama of the United States at the 2016 North American Leaders' Summit
Puebla de Zaragoza is the most populated city of Puebla
Benito Juárez, 26th President of Mexico and implanter of La Reforma
The territorial evolution of Mexico after independence, noting the secession of Central America (purple), Chiapas annexed from Guatemala (blue), losses to the U.S. (red, white and orange) and the reannexation of the Republic of Yucatán (red)
Guanajuato City became the world's leading silver producer in the 18th century as a result of the veta madre.
NAFTA signing ceremony, October 1992. From left to right: (standing) president Carlos Salinas de Gortari (Mexico), president George H. W. Bush (U.S.), and prime minister Brian Mulroney (Canada); (seated) Jaime Serra Puche (Mexico), Carla Hills (U.S.), and Michael Wilson (Canada)
Central Library of the National Autonomous University of Mexico
Talavera pottery
1945 Mural by Diego Rivera depicting the view from the Tlatelolco markets into Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the largest city in the Americas at the time.
Depiction of the Abrazo de Acatempan between Agustín de Iturbide, left, and Vicente Guerrero
Image of Hernán Cortés and La Malinche meeting Moctezuma II from the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, created c. 1550 by the Tlaxcalans to remind the Spanish of their loyalty and the importance of Tlaxcala during the conquest.
Federal Police headquarters in Mexico City
Francisco I. Madero with Emiliano Zapata, in Cuernavaca during the Mexican Revolution
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is the preeminent fine arts hall in Mexico.
Depiction of the casta system in Mexico. Painting of 1777.
Mexico-Tenochtitlan Templo Mayor ruins in downtown Mexico City.
Mexico map of Köppen climate classification
Mariachi group playing at the 10th anniversary celebration of Wikipedia in Guadalajara. Mariachi is a musical expression inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2011.
The Estadio Azteca, regarded as one of the iconic football stadiums in the world, hosted the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals
Street in the historic center of Morelia. Mexico has historical architecture in most of its towns being the country with the highest number of Colonial buildings and structures in all of the Americas and also placing a vast number of Pre-colonial monuments.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron saint of Mexico. This painting of her at the Basilica of Guadalupe is among her most notable depictions; scientists still debate if it should be dated 1531, the year of the first apparition, or the 1550s.
Detail of the 1947 mural of Diego Rivera that created La Catrina. The image of La Catrina is commonly seen reflected as part of the Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) celebrations throughout the country.
Students in a burned bus during the protests of 1968
Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico
Equestrian statue of Charles IV, Mexico City, Manuel Tolsá. The Spanish Monarch was the maximum authority in New Spain and ruled via a viceroy.
Offering of Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos).
Actress Dolores del Río, Hollywood star in the 1920s and 1930s and prominent figure of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s
Storming of the Teocalli by Cortés and his troops. Emanuel Leutze. Painting, 1848
Site of the Supreme Court of Justice
A Mexican Navy Eurocopter
The Baluarte Bridge is the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world, the fifth-highest bridge overall and the highest bridge in the Americas.

In the news

31 October 2018 – Legality of cannabis, Cannabis in Mexico: A complete ban on recreational use of marijuana is ruled unconstitutional by Mexico's Supreme Court, putting the responsibility of regulating its consumption on lawmakers. (Reuters)
28 October 2018 – New International Airport for Mexico City: A nation-wide referendum called upon by Mexico's president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador results in a majority of votes for the cancellation of the new airport and in support of upgrades to the current Mexico City and Toluca airports as well as the adapting of Santa Lucía Military Base's runways for civilian aircraft use. (The Wall Street Journal)
23 October 2018 –: Hurricane Willa hits the coast of Western Mexico. It is also expected to become a nor'easter after it passes through the United States. (Boston Globe)
21 October 2018 – 2018 Pacific hurricane season: Hurricane Willa strengthens to a category 4 hurricane off the Pacific Coast of Mexico. (CBS News)
19 October 2018 – Illegal immigration to the United States: Hundreds of Central American migrants taking part in a migrant caravan to the United States clash with riot police on the Guatemala–Mexico border. (BBC)
11 October 2018 –: The collapse of a shopping mall under construction in the Mexican city of Monterrey results in at least seven deaths and nine people missing. 15 others are injured. (AP via ABC News America)