MEXICO CROSSROADS AND CROSSCURRENTS

MEXICO: CROSSROADS AND CROSSCURRENTS I. Mexico Today II. 2012—Apocalypse and Presidential Politics III. Legacy of Political Fragmentation IV. Mexico as Crossroads: Mexico and its Neighbors V. 2012?

MEXICO TODAY A. Background Official Name: Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (the United Mexican States) Government: A Federal Republic with a President and Congress composed of a Senate and Chamber of Deputies Universal suffrage at 18 years 31 States and the Federal District (maps – find one with states) Land area almost 800,000 square miles (3X the size of Texas) Almost 113,700,000 People (one fifth or 22 million living or near the capital of Mexico City) 60 % Mestizo (mixed Native American or Indian, European, probably with some African), 30 % Indian, 9 % White, 1% Other (some Asian) 76% Catholic Literacy %, 11 years compulsory school (although average attendance is lower) Life Expectancy, female: 79.4 years, male: 73.7 years

B. Economy 14 th largest economy in the world according to the IMF Workforce 47 million (some sources give higher number) with 14% working in agriculture, 24% industry, and 62% service (commerce, tourism, etc) Sectors as percentage of the value of economic activity: agriculture=5%, industry=31%, service=64% (major products: grains, livestock, fruits and vegetables, tobacco, coffee, cotton, mining—precious metals and rare earth minerals, chemicals, petroleum products, vehicles 44% of population lives in poverty GDP $1.567 trillion Per Capita GDP $9,395 ($13,900) Growth rate 2010=5.4%, 2009= -6.1%, 2008=1.3% $230 billion or 80% of exports go to US $163 billion or 50% of imports from US Over $21 billion was sent to Mexico in 2010 by migrants working in the US

MEXICAN POLITICAL PARTIES 2012 PAN, National Action Party, Josefina Vazquez Mota PRD, Democratic Revolution Party, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador PRI, Institutional Revolutionary Party, Enrique Pena Nieto PVEM, Green Ecological Party, allied with PRI PT, Workers Party, allied with PRD PANAL, New Alliance Party, formerly allied with PRI but recently left coalition Several smaller parties (eg Movimiento Ciudadano, allied with PRD)

III. Legacy of Political Fragmentation 1990s PRI loses power 1994 North American Free Trade Treaty (NAFTA) goes into effect 1994 NAFTA precipitates uprising in Chiapas, the poorest state in Mexico and the uprising spreads elsewhere 1994 Presidential election year, but PRI candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio assassinated, very weak Ernesto Zedillo takes his place Congressional elections, PRI loses control of Congress 2000, PRI loses presidency to PAN candidate Vicente Fox

Migration Statistics Latinos are about 50 million or 16% of the population of US In 2008, 12.7 million Latinos were Mexican or of Mexican descent. That is 25.4% of the Latino population and 4.23% of US population 11% of those born in Mexico now live in the US