Mexico

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

• most of the population is found in the middle of the country between the states of Jalisco and Veracruz;
• approximately a quarter of the population lives in and around Mexico City

• tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and destructive earthquakes in the center and south, and hurricanes on the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coasts volcanism: volcanic activity in the central-southern part of the country;
• the volcanoes in Baja California are mostly dormant;
• Colima (3,850 m), which erupted in 2010, is Mexico's most active volcano and is responsible for causing periodic evacuations of nearby villagers;
• it has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations;
• Popocatepetl (5,426 m) poses a threat to Mexico City;
• other historically active volcanoes include
  • Barcena,
  • Ceboruco,
  • El Chichon,
  • Michoacan-Guanajuato,
  • Pico de Orizaba,
  • San Martin,
  • Socorro,
  • and Tacana
  ;
• see note 2 under "Geography - note"

• 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

• most of the population is found in the middle of the country between the states of Jalisco and Veracruz;
• approximately a quarter of the population lives in and around Mexico City

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.05 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1.03 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

0.94 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.84 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.8 male(s)/female

total population:

0.96 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

conventional long form:

United Mexican States

conventional short form:

Mexico

local long form:

Estados Unidos Mexicanos

local short form:

Mexico

etymology:

named after the capital city, whose name stems from the Mexica, the largest and most powerful branch of the Aztecs; the meaning of the name is uncertain

name:

Mexico City (Ciudad de Mexico)

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 has four time zones

etymology:

named after the Mexica, the largest and most powerful branch of the Aztecs; the meaning of the name is uncertain

history:

several previous; latest approved 5 February 1917

amendments:

• proposed by the Congress of the Union;
• passage requires approval by at least two thirds of the members present and approval by a majority of the state legislatures;
• amended many times, last in 2020

citizenship by birth:

yes

citizenship by descent only:

yes

dual citizenship recognized:

not specified

residency requirement for naturalization:

5 years

chief of state:

President Andres Manuel LOPEZ OBRADOR (since 1 December 2018); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government

head of government:

President Andres Manuel LOPEZ OBRADOR (since 1 December 2018)

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by the president; note - appointment of attorney general, the head of the Bank of Mexico, and senior treasury officials require consent of the Senate

elections/appointments:

president directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a single 6-year term; election last held on 1 July 2018 (next to be held in July 2024)

election results:

• Andres Manuel LOPEZ OBRADOR elected president;
• percent of vote - Andres Manuel LOPEZ OBRADOR (MORENA) 53.2%, Ricardo ANAYA (PAN) 22.3%, Jose Antonio MEADE Kuribrena (PRI) 16.4%, Jaime RODRIGUEZ Calderon 5.2% (independent), other 2.9%

highest courts:

Supreme Court of Justice or Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion (consists of the chief justice and 11 justices and organized into civil, criminal, administrative, and labor panels) and the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (organized into the superior court, with 7 judges including the court president, and 5 regional courts, each with 3 judges)

judge selection and term of office:

• Supreme Court justices nominated by the president of the republic and approved by two-thirds vote of the members present in the Senate;
• justices serve 15-year terms;
• Electoral Tribunal superior and regional court judges nominated by the Supreme Court and elected by two-thirds vote of members present in the Senate;
• superior court president elected from among its members to hold office for a 4-year term;
• other judges of the superior and regional courts serve staggered, 9-year terms

subordinate courts:

federal level includes circuit, collegiate, and unitary courts; state and district level courts

Note : in mid-February 2020, the Mexican president endorsed a bill on judicial reform, which proposes changes to 7 articles of the constitution and the issuance of a new Organic Law on the Judicial Branch of the Federation

• Citizen's Movement (Movimiento Ciudadano) or MC [Clemente CASTANEDA]
• Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) or PRI [Claudia RUIZ Massieu]
• Labor Party (Partido del Trabajo) or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez]
• Mexican Green Ecological Party (Partido Verde Ecologista de Mexico) or PVEM [Carlos Alberto PUENTE Salas]
• Movement for National Regeneration (Movimiento Regeneracion Nacional) or MORENA [Andres Manuel LOPEZ Obrador]
• National Action Party (Partido Accion Nacional) or PAN [Damian ZEPEDA Vidales]
• Party of the Democratic Revolution (Partido de la Revolucion Democratica) or PRD [Manuel GRANADOS]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Christopher LANDAU (since 26 August 2019)

telephone:

(011) [52]-55-5080-2000

embassy:

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

mailing address:

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

FAX:

(011) 52-55-5080-2005

consulate(s) general:

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

• 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 green and red, and does not display anything in its white band

Fitch rating:

BBB- (2020)

Moody's rating:

Baa1 (2020)

Standard & Poors rating: BBB (2020)

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

agriculture:

13.4%

industry:

24.1%

services:

61.9% (2011)

lowest 10%:

2%

highest 10%:

40% (2014)

• manufactured goods, electronics, vehicles and auto parts, oil and oil products, silver, plastics, fruits, vegetables, coffee, cotton;
• Mexico is the world's leading producer of silver

• telecom reform in 2013 enabled the creation of new broadcast television channels after decades of a quasi-monopoly;
• Mexico has 821 TV stations and 1,745 radio stations and 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;
• in 2016, Mexico became the first country in Latin America to complete the transition from analog to digital transmissions, allowing for better image and audio quality and a wider selection of programming from networks

number of registered air carriers:

16 (2020); inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 370

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

64,569,640 (2018)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

1,090,380,000 mt-km (2018)

total:

20,825 km (2017)

standard gauge:

20,825 km 1.435-m gauge (27 km electrified) (2017)

total:

398,148 km (2017)

paved:

174,911 km (includes 10,362 km of expressways) (2017)

unpaved:

223,237 km (2017)

total:

637

by type:

bulk carrier 6, general cargo 10, oil tanker 35, other 586 (2019)

major seaport(s):

Altamira, Coatzacoalcos, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo, Veracruz

oil terminal(s):

Cayo Arcas terminal, Dos Bocas terminal

cruise port(s):

Cancun, Cozumel, Ensenada

container port(s) (TEUs):

Manzanillo (2,830,370), Lazaro Cardenas (1,149,079) (2017)

LNG terminal(s) (import):

Altamira, Ensenada

• 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 Naval Infantry Corps (Cuerpo de Infanteria de Marina, Mexmar or CIM));
• Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection: Federal Police (includes Gendarmerie), National Guard (2019)

note: the National Guard was formed in 2019 and consists of personnel from the Federal Police and military police units of the Army and Navy

• the Mexican military inventory includes a mix of domestically-produced and imported equipment from a variety of mostly Western suppliers;
• since 2010, France, Spain, and the US are the leading suppliers of military hardware to Mexico;
• Mexico's defense industry produces naval vessels and light armored vehicles (2019 est.)

• 18 years of age for compulsory military service (selection for service determined by lottery), conscript service obligation is 12 months;
• 16 years of age with consent for voluntary enlistment;
• cadets enrolled in military schools from the age of 15 are considered members of the armed forces;
• women are eligible for voluntary military service (2012)

• 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 US;
• 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;
• Mexico is estimated to be the world's third largest producer of opium with poppy cultivation in 2015 estimated to be 28,000 hectares yielding a potential production of 475 metric tons of raw opium;
• 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