Mexico

The rugged mountains of Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental contain deep, steep-walled can­yons carved by swiftly flowing streams. Some regions are so wild that they have not been explored on foot. The mountain range borders the western edge of Mexico's wide Central Plateau.

Ruins of an ancient Maya temple stand at Palenque in the state of Chiapas. The temple was built in about A.D. 650, during a period when great Indian civilizations thrived in Mexico.

Mexico City is the capital of Mexico and the nation's leading centre of culture, industry, and transportation. It is one of the world's largest metropolitan areas in population.

Mexico is the northernmost country of Latin America. It lies just south of the United States. The Rio Grande forms about two-thirds of the boundary between Mex­ico and the United States. Among all the countries of the Western Hemisphere, only the United States and Brazil have more people than Mexico. Mexico City is the capi­tal and largest city of Mexico. It also has one of the world's largest metropolitan area populations.

To understand Mexico, it is necessary to view the na­tion's long early history. Hundreds of years ago, the Indi­ans of Mexico built large cities, developed a calendar, invented a counting system, and used a form of writing. The last Indian empire in Mexico—that of the Aztec—fell to Spanish invaders in 1521. For the next 300 years, Mex­ico was a Spanish colony. The Spaniards took Mexico's riches, and the Indians remained poor and uneducated. But the Spaniards also introduced many changes in farming, government, industry, and religion.

During the Spanish colonial period, a third group of people developed in Mexico. These people, who had both Indian and white ancestors, became known as mestizos. Today, the great majority of Mexicans are mestizos. Some of them think of the Spaniards as intrud­ers and take great pride in their Indian ancestry. A num­ber of government programmes stress the Indian role in Mexican culture. In 1949, the government made an In­dian the symbol of Mexican nationality. The Indian was Cuauhtemoc, the last Aztec emperor. Cuauhtemoc's bravery under torture by the Spanish made him a Mexi­can hero.

Few other countries have so wide a variety of land­scapes and climates within such short distances of one another. Towering mountains and high, rolling plateaus cover more than two-thirds of Mexico. The climate, land formation, and plant life in these rugged highlands may vary greatly within a short distance. Mexico also has tropical forests, dry deserts, and fertile valleys.

Manufacturing, agriculture, mining, and tourism are all important to Mexico's economy. Leading manufac­tured products include cars, cement, chemicals, cloth­ing, processed foods, and steel. Crops are grown on only about an eighth of Mexico's land. The rest of the land is too dry, mountainous, or otherwise unsuitable for crops. However, Mexico is one of the world's lead­ing producers of coffee, cacao beans, maize, oranges, and sugar cane.

Mexico is rich in minerals. It is the leading producer of silver in the world. The country also has large depos­its of copper, gold, lead, salt, and sulphur. Petroleum production has long been important in Mexico. During the 1970's, vast, newly discovered deposits of petroleum greatly increased the importance of the country's petro­leum industry. More than 6 million tourists visit Mexico each year.

The Mexicans gained independence from Spain in 1821. A social revolution began in 1910, when the peo­ple of Mexico started a long struggle for social justice and economic progress. During this struggle, the gov­ernment took over huge, privately owned farmlands and divided them among millions of landless farmers. The government established a national school system to pro­mote education, and it has built many hospitals and housing projects.

Since the 1940's, the government has especially en­couraged the development of manufacturing and petro­leum production. But all these changes have not kept up with Mexico's rapid population growth, and the country faces increasingly difficult economic and social prob­lems. More than a third of the people still live in pov­erty, and the government keeps expanding its pro­grammes to help them.

Government

Mexico is a federal republic with an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch or court sys­tem. The executive branch, headed by a president, is the decision-making centre of the government. It estab­lishes government policies, proposes laws, and controls the distribution of federal tax revenues. Mexico has 31 states and 1 federal district. Each state has an elected governor and legislature. The president appoints the governor of the Federal District. All Mexicans who are at least 18 years old can vote.

National government. Mexico's president has tre­mendous influence over the government. All prominent political figures in the executive branch depend indi­rectly on the president for their jobs. The president in­troduces many pieces of legislation. Many presidents also have used constitutional amendments to support government policies.

The president appoints a cabinet that directs govern­ment operations. Important cabinet members include the secretary of government and the secretary of plan­ning and federal budget. The president is elected by the people to a six-year term and may serve only one term of office. If the president does not finish the term, the legislature chooses a temporary president to serve until a special or regular presidential election is held.

Mexico's legislature is called the General Congress. lt consists of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. The Senate has 64 members who are elected to six-year terms. The Chamber of Deputies has 500 members.

Three hundred of the deputies are elected from the country's electoral districts. The remaining 200 seats are filled by deputies who do not represent a particular electoral district. Members of the Chamber of Deputies serve three-year terms. Members of the General Con­gress can serve more than one term, but they may not serve consecutive terms.

Local government. State governors are elected by the people to six-year terms and state legislators to three-year terms. The president can remove governors from office with the approval of the Senate. Each state is divided into municipios (townships). Each municipal has a president and a council elected to three-year terms.

Less than 10 per cent of all tax revenues go directly to state and local agencies. State agencies depend on the national government and local authorities on state agencies, for funds to carry out public works projects.

Politics. Mexico's dominant political party is the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party), also known as the PRI. The PRI considers itself to be the official promoter of the economic and social goals of the Mexican Revolution. The party was established in 1929 as the Partido NacionalRevolution (National Revolutionary Party).

Until 1988, the PRI enjoyed nearly absolute domination Mexican elections. But in 1988 elections, the PRI suffered a setback when opposition candidates won almost the seats in the Chamber of Deputies, and nearly the presidency. In 1991 elections, however, PRI regained a large majority in the Chamber of Deputies. The strongest opposition parties are the Par­ade Action Nacional (National Action Party), and the Partide de Is Revolution Democratica (Democratic Revolutionary Party).

Courts. The highest court in Mexico is the Supreme Court of Justice. It has 21 members and several alternatives, all of whom are appointed by the president. The Supreme Court selects members of a circuit and district court system. The highest court in each state is a Superior Court of Justice.

The courts rarely declare a law unconstitutional and generally support the president's policies. But Mexicans may use the courts to protect their individual rights through an amparo (protection) procedure. In amparo cases the courts may decide that a law has resulted in unfair treatment and that an exception should be made, but the law in question is not changed. However, most Mexicans cannot afford to use the legal process.

Armed forces. About 140,000 men and women serve in Mexico's army, navy, and air force. The army is the largest branch of the armed forces. It has about 100,000 members. Mexican men are required to serve part-time for a year in the army after reaching the age of 18.

People

Population. For the total population, see the Mexico in brief table with this article. Mexico's population is in­creasing about 2 per cent a year, as a result of a tradi­tionally high birth rate and a sharply reduced death rate. About 55 per cent of Mexico's population is under 20 years of age. Since the early 1950s, improved living con­ditions and expanded health services have cut the death rate by about two-thirds. The relatively young popula­tion and its high rate of growth have placed tremendous pressure on such services as education, health care, and social security.

The strain on basic services is especially serious in urban centres. Many cities lack adequate housing, clean drinking water, and public transport. Since 1970, the most rapid population growth has occurred in the states of Mexico, Morelos, Campeche, and Quintana Roo.

The high rate of population growth has contributed to a shortage of jobs in Mexico. During the 1980's, far more people entered the labour force than retired, while the economy experienced little growth. This situa­tion has led to a high rate of unemployment. It has also stimulated increasing migration of Mexicans to the United States.

Ancestry. The great majority of the Mexican people are mestizos (people of mixed white and Indian ances­try). Their white ancestors were mostly Spaniards who came to what is now Mexico during and after the Span­ish conquest of 1519-1521. Their Indian ancestors were living in the region when the Spaniards arrived. Blacks and some Asians are also part of the Mexican populatioin. The nation has some Indians and whites of un- mixed ancestry. But most Mexicans think of themselves ^as mestizos. Being a mestizo is generally a matter of na­tional pride. Most of Mexico's political, business, intel­lectual, and military leaders are mestizos.

Being an Indian in Mexico depends chiefly on way of life and point of view. For example, Mexicans are con­sidered Indians if they speak an Indian language, wear Indian clothes, and live in a village where the people call themselves Indians. This is true even if they are actu­ally mestizo or white. In some regions, such as Oaxaca and Yucatan, Indian culture influences the lifestyle of the mestizo population.

Language. Almost all Mexicans speak Spanish, the official language of Mexico and nearly all other Latin- American countries. Many words that are used in Eng­lish came from Mexico. They include canyon, corral, desperado, lariat, lasso, macho, patio, politico, rodeo, and stampede. See Spanish language.

Most Mexican Indians speak Spanish in addition to their own ancient language. Flowever, more than 5 mil­lion Mexican Indians primarily use an Indian language in daily life. The major Indian languages include Maya, Mixtec, Nahuatl, Otomi, Tarascan, and Zapotec.

Way of life

The way of life in Mexico includes many features from the nation's long Indian past and the Spanish colo­nial period. But Mexico has changed rapidly during the 1900's. In many ways, life in its larger cities has become similar to that in the neighbouring United States. Mexi­can villagers follow the older way of life more than the city people do. Even in the villages, however, govern­ment economic and educational programmes are doing much to modernize the people's lives. These pro­grammes are bringing the Indian villagers into the gen­eral life of Mexico, and making them think of themselves as Mexicans rather than Indians.

Mexican households consist of an average of five or six people. In many homes, several generations of the same family live together. Many women in the cities have jobs, and the women who live in farm areas often help cultivate the fields. Farm boys work in the fields, and many young people in the cities have part-time or full-time jobs.

City life. About three-quarters of the people of Mex­ico live in cities and towns with populations of at least 2,500. The most urban areas of the country include the Federal District and the states of Nuevo Leon and Baja California Norte. Mexico City, the country's capital and largest city, has more than 8 million people. The city's metropolitan area has a population of about 15 million, making it one of the most populous urban areas in the world. Five other cities in the country have more than 1 million people. These cities are, in order of size, Guada­lajara, Netzahualcoyotl, Ecatepec, Monterrey, and Puebla. About 45 other cities in Mexico have more than 200,000 people.

Many Mexican cities and towns began as Indian com­munities. After the Spaniards arrived, they built the main church and the chief public and government buildings around a plaza (public square). The plaza is still the cen­tre of city life, even in large cities. In the evenings and on Sunday afternoons, the people gather in the plaza to talk with friends or to listen to music.

The city centres are filled with high-rise buildings, and modern houses and apartment buildings occupy the suburbs. But older parts of towns and cities have »of homes built in the Spanish colonial style. Most or these houses are made of stone or adobe (sun-dried day brick. Small balconies extend from some windows. A Spanish-style house also has a patio (courtyard), which is the centre of family life. This gardenlike area of the house may have a fountain, flowers, vines, and pots of blooming plants.

All of the large Mexican cities have grown very rap­idly because people have moved there from the rural areas to find jobs and a better life. As a result, many cit­ies suffer from serious social and environmental prob­lems. Houses in many of the poor sections are made of scraps of wood, metal, and whatever other materials can be found. Most of them lack electricity and running water. The large number of cars and trucks cause fre­quent traffic jams. Air pollution is very bad in Mexico City, and it causes many people to suffer from respira­tory and eye diseases.

Many people who move to cities have no regular jobs. Others do not earn enough to support themselves. Entire families must work—sometimes at two or three jobs—in order to survive. Many poor people with no skills find jobs as street vendors, construction workers, or street cleaners. Others make a living by washing clothes and cleaning houses. After they have lived in the city for a while, many of the poor find better-paying jobs in factories.