Country name:
conventional long form: United Mexican States
conventional short form: Mexico
local short form: Mexico
local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Government type:
federal republic
Capital:
Mexico (Distrito Federal)
Administrative divisions:
31 states (estados, singular - estado) and 1 federal district*
(distrito federal); Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California
Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Colima,
Distrito Federal*, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco,
Mexico, Michoacan de Ocampo, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca,
Puebla, Queretaro de Arteaga, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi,
Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz-Llave,
Yucatan, Zacatecas
Independence:
16 September 1810 (from Spain)
National holiday:
Independence Day, 16 September (1810)
Constitution:
5 February 1917
Legal system:
mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law system; judicial
review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction,
with reservations
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal and compulsory (but not enforced)
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Vicente FOX Quesada (since 1 December
2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of
government
election results: Vicente FOX Quesada elected president; percent of
vote - Vicente FOX Quesada (PAN) 42.52%, Francisco LABASTIDA Ochoa
(PRI) 36.1%, Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 16.64%, other 4.74%
elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term;
election last held 2 July 2000 (next to be held NA July 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president; note - appointment of
attorney general requires consent of the Senate
head of government: President Vicente FOX Quesada (since 1 December
2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of
government
Legislative branch:
bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la Union consists of the
Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats; 96 are elected by popular
vote to serve six-year terms, and 32 are allocated on the basis of
each party's popular vote) and the Federal Chamber of Deputies or
Camara Federal de Diputados (500 seats; 300 members are directly
elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms; remaining 200
members are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote,
also for three-year terms)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by
party - PRI 60, PAN 46, PRD 15, PVEM 5, PT 1, CD 1; Chamber of
Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PRI 224,
PAN 153, PRD 95, other 28
elections: Senate - last held 2 July 2000 for all of the seats (next
to be held NA 2006); Chamber of Deputies - last held 6 July 2003
(next to be held NA 2006)
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (judges are
appointed by the president with consent of the Senate)
Political parties and leaders:
Convergence for Democracy or CD [Dante DELGADO Ranauro];
Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI [Dulce Maria SAURI
Riancho]; Mexican Green Ecological Party or PVEM [Jorge Emilio
GONZALEZ Martinez]; National Action Party or PAN [Luis Felipe BRAVO
Mena]; Party of the Democratic Revolution or PRD [Amalia GARCIA
Medina]; Party of the Nationalist Society or PSN [Gustavo RIOJAS
Santana]; Social Alliance Party or PAS [Guillermo CALDERON
Dominguez]; Workers Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
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 Union
of Workers or UNT; Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers or
CROM; Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants or CROC;
Roman Catholic Church
International organization participation:
APEC, BCIE, BIS, Caricom (observer), CDB, CE (observer), EBRD,
ECLAC, FAO, G-3, G-6, G-15, G-19, G-24, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,
ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, NAM
(observer), NEA, OAS, OECD, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UN Security
Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMOVIC,
UNU, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Juan Jose BREMER Martino
FAX: [1] (202) 728-1698
consulate(s): Albuquerque, Brownsville (Texas), Calexico
(California), Corpus Christi, Del Rio (Texas), Detroit, Douglas
(Arizona), Eagle Pass (Texas), Fresno (California), Indianapolis
(Indiana), Las Vegas, McAllen (Texas), Midland (Texas), Omaha,
Orlando, Oxnard (California), Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon),
Presidio (Texas), Raleigh, Saint Louis, Salt Lake City, San
Bernardino, Santa Ana (California), Seattle, Tucson, Yuma (Arizona)
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas,
Denver, El Paso, Houston, Laredo (Texas), Los Angeles, Miami, New
Orleans, New York, Nogales (Arizona), Phoenix, Sacramento, San
Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Juan (Puerto Rico)
chancery: 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006
telephone: [1] (202) 728-1600
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Antonio O. GARZA
embassy: Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 Mexico,
Distrito Federal
mailing address: P. O. Box 9000, Brownsville, TX 78520-0900
telephone: [52] (55) 5080-2000
FAX: [52] (55) 5080-2005, 5080-2834
consulate(s) general: Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana
consulate(s): Hermosillo, Matamoros, Merida, Nuevo Laredo, Nogales
Flag description:
three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red;
the coat of arms (an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its
beak) is centered in the white band