Mexico

• high, rugged mountains;
• low coastal plains;
• high plateaus;
• desert

total:

78.22 cu km/yr (17%/5%/77%)

per capita:

731 cu m/yr (2000)

• scarcity of hazardous waste disposal facilities;
• rural to urban migration;
• natural freshwater resources scarce and polluted in north, inaccessible and poor quality in center and extreme southeast;
• raw sewage and industrial effluents polluting rivers in urban areas;
• deforestation;
• widespread erosion;
• desertification;
• deteriorating agricultural lands;
• serious air and water pollution in the national capital and urban centers along US-Mexico border;
• land subsidence in Valley of Mexico caused by groundwater depletion

note: the government considers the lack of clean water and deforestation national security issues

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

noun:

Mexican(s)

adjective:

Mexican

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.94 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.82 male(s)/female

total population:

0.96 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

degree of risk:

intermediate

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne disease:

dengue fever

water contact disease:

leptospirosis (2009)

conventional long form:

United Mexican States

conventional short form:

Mexico

local long form:

Estados Unidos Mexicanos

local short form:

Mexico

name:

Mexico City (Distrito Federal)

geographic coordinates:

19 26 N, 99 08 W

time difference:

UTC-6 (1 hour behind Washington, DC during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins first Sunday in April; ends last Sunday in October

note: Mexico is divided into three time zones

• Convergence for Democracy or CD [Luis WALTON Aburto];
• Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI [Humberto MOREIRA Valdes];
• Labor Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez];
• Mexican Green Ecological Party or PVEM [Jorge Emilio GONZALEZ Martinez];
• National Action Party (Partido Accion Nacional) or PAN [Gustavo MADERO Munoz];
• New Alliance Party (Partido Nueva Alianza) or PNA/PANAL [Jorge Antonio KAHWAGI Macari];
• Party of the Democratic Revolution (Partido de la Revolucion Democratica) or PRD [Jesus ORTEGA Martinez]

• Businessmen's Coordinating Council or CCE;
• Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic or COPARMEX;
• Confederation of Industrial Chambers or CONCAMIN;
• Confederation of Mexican Workers or CTM;
• Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce or CONCANACO;
• Coordinator for Foreign Trade Business Organizations or COECE;
• Federation of Unions Providing Goods and Services or FESEBES;
• National Chamber of Transformation Industries or CANACINTRA;
• National Peasant Confederation or CNC;
• National Small Business Chamber or CANACOPE;
• National Syndicate of Education Workers or SNTE;
• National Union of Workers or UNT;
• Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca or APPO;
• Roman Catholic Church

chief of mission:

Ambassador Carlos PASCUAL

embassy:

Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 Mexico, Distrito Federal

mailing address:

P. O. Box 9000, Brownsville, TX 78520-9000

telephone:

[52] (55) 5080-2000

FAX:

[52] (55) 5511-9980

consulate(s) general:

Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Matamoros, Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, Tijuana

consulate(s):

Merida, Nogales

• three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red;
• Mexico's coat of arms (an eagle with a snake in its beak perched on a cactus) is centered in the white band;
• green signifies hope, joy, and love;
• white represents peace and honesty;
• red stands for hardiness, bravery, strength, and valor;
• the coat of arms is derived from a legend that the wandering Aztec people were to settle at a location where they would see an eagle on a cactus eating a snake;
• the city they founded, Tenochtitlan, is now Mexico City

note: similar to the flag of Italy, which is shorter, uses lighter shades of red and green, and does not have anything in its white band

agriculture:

13.7%

industry:

23.4%

services:

62.9% (2005)

lowest 10%:

1.5%

highest 10%:

41.4% (2008)

• corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, beans, cotton, coffee, fruit, tomatoes;
• beef, poultry, dairy products;
• wood products

general assessment:

• adequate telephone service for business and government;
• improving quality and increasing mobile cellular availability, with mobile subscribers far outnumbering fixed-line subscribers;
• domestic satellite system with 120 earth stations;
• extensive microwave radio relay network;
• considerable use of fiber-optic cable and coaxial cable

domestic:

• despite the opening to competition in January 1997, Telmex remains dominant;
• Fixed-line teledensity is less than 20 per 100 persons;
• mobile-cellular teledensity reached 75 per 100 persons in 2009

international:

• country code - 52;
• Columbus-2 fiber-optic submarine cable with access to the US, Virgin Islands, Canary Islands, Spain, and Italy;
• the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) and the MAYA-1 submarine cable system together provide access to Central America, parts of South America and the Caribbean, and the US;
• satellite earth stations - 120 (32 Intelsat, 2 Solidaridad (giving Mexico improved access to South America, Central America, and much of the US as well as enhancing domestic communications), 1 Panamsat, numerous Inmarsat mobile earth stations);
• linked to Central American Microwave System of trunk connections (2009)

• large number of television stations and more than 1,400 radio stations, most are privately owned;
• the Televisa group once had a virtual monopoly in TV broadcasting, but new broadcasting groups and foreign satellite and cable operators are now available (2007)

• gas 16,594 km;
• liquid petroleum gas 2,152 km;
• oil 7,499 km;
• oil/gas/water 4 km;
• refined products 7,264 km;
• water 33 km (2010)

total:

17,166 km

country comparison to the world: 16

standard gauge:

17,166 km 1.435-m gauge (22 km electrified) (2010)

total:

366,095 km

country comparison to the world: 17

paved:

132,289 km (includes 6,279 km of expressways)

unpaved:

233,806 km (2008)

total:

60

country comparison to the world: 65

by type:

bulk carrier 4, cargo 3, chemical tanker 12, liquefied gas 4, passenger/cargo 11, petroleum tanker 22, roll on/roll off 4

foreign-owned:

5 (Denmark 2, Greece 1, South Africa 1, UAE 1)

registered in other countries:

18 (Antigua and Barbuda 2, Honduras 1, Marshall Islands 4, Panama 6, Portugal 1, Spain 2, Venezuela 1, unknown 1) (2010)

• Secretariat of National Defense (Secretaria de Defensa Nacional, Sedena): Army (Ejercito), Mexican Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Mexicana, FAM);
• Secretariat of the Navy (Secretaria de Marina, Semar): Mexican Navy (Armada de Mexico (ARM), includes Naval Air Force (FAN), Mexican Marine Corps (Cuerpo de Infanteria de Marina, Mexmar or CIM)) (2011)

• 18 years of age for compulsory military service, conscript service obligation - 12 months;
• 16 years of age with consent for voluntary enlistment;
• conscripts serve only in the Army;
• Navy and Air Force service is all voluntary;
• women are eligible for voluntary military service (2007)

males age 16-49:

28,815,506

females age 16-49:

30,363,558 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

23,239,866

females age 16-49:

25,642,549 (2010 est.)

male:

1,105,371

female:

1,067,007 (2010 est.)

• abundant rainfall in recent years along much of the Mexico-US border region has ameliorated periodically strained water-sharing arrangements;
• the US has intensified security measures to monitor and control legal and illegal personnel, transport, and commodities across its border with Mexico;
• Mexico must deal with thousands of impoverished Guatemalans and other Central Americans who cross the porous border looking for work in Mexico and the United States;
• Belize and Mexico are working to solve minor border demarcation discrepancies arising from inaccuracies in the 1898 border treaty

• major drug-producing and transit nation;
• world's second largest opium poppy cultivator;
• opium poppy cultivation in 2009 rose 31% over 2008 to 19,500 hectares yielding a potential production of 50 metric tons of pure heroin, or 125 metric tons of "black tar" heroin, the dominant form of Mexican heroin in the western United States;
• marijuana cultivation increased 45% to 17,500 hectares in 2009;
• government conducts the largest independent illicit-crop eradication program in the world;
• continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America, with an estimated 95% of annual cocaine movements toward the US stopping in Mexico;
• major drug syndicates control the majority of drug trafficking throughout the country;
• producer and distributor of ecstasy;
• significant money-laundering center;
• major supplier of heroin and largest foreign supplier of marijuana and methamphetamine to the US market (2011)