Mexico
Country in the North American continent, bounded north by the USA,
east by the Gulf of Mexico, southeast by Belize and Guatemala, and southwest
and west by the Pacific Ocean. It is the northernmost country in Latin
America.
Government
Mexico is a federal republic of 31 states and a federal district, based
in Mexico City. The constitution dates from 1917 and is broadly based
on the US model. Legislative power rests with a two-chamber national
congress of senate, chamber of deputies, and directly elected president.
The senate has a six-year term and the deputies serve for three years.
The president serves a six-year term and chooses the cabinet. The senate
has 128 members, each state and the federal district being represented
by four senators. Three of these are elected by majority election and
the fourth by proportional representation. The chamber has 500 members:
300 representing single-member constituencies and 200 elected by proportional
representation so as to give due weight to minority parties. Members
of congress are elected by universal suffrage. Each state has an elected
governor and chamber of deputies, elected for a six-year term.
History
The Aztecs moved south into the Valley of Mexico in the 12th century,
and in around 1325 started to build their great capital of Tenochtitlán.
They came to dominate the surrounding tribes, creating a large empire
in central Mexico. Aztec civilization collapsed within two years of
the coming of the Spanish conquistadores under Herná n Cortés in 1519.
The last Aztec king, Montezuma II, was killed in 1520, and, with the
assistance of the peoples who had been subjugated by the Aztecs, Cortés
captured Tenochtitlán in 1521.
The indigenous population was reduced from 21 million in 1519 to 1
million by 1607, with many deaths from Old World diseases to which they
had no resistance. Spanish colonial rule and independence In 1535 Mexico
became the viceroyalty of New Spain, and was governed by a viceroy and
council for nearly 300 years. Colonial rule became increasingly oppressive,
and the struggle for independence began in 1810. A confused and prolonged
war of independence culminated in 1821, when a conservative faction
in Mexico declared the country's independence from an innovating liberal
government in Spain.
One of the conservative military leaders, Agustín de Iturbide, made
himself emperor in 1822, establishing the short-lived Mexican Empire
of 1822-23.
Iturbide's enforced abdication precipitated 50 years of conflict and
civil war between liberals demanding the abolition of military, clerical,
and guild privileges and conservatives defending them. Dominating this
period was the dictator Antonio Ló pez de Santa Anna.
Political instability and economic backwardness exposed Mexico to the
intervention of the USA, which annexed Texas in 1835. This brought about
the Mexican War 1846-48, in the course of which Mexico suffered further
losses to the USA, including New Mexico and California, in return for
a negligible indemnity. Santa Anna was overthrown in 1855 by Benito
Ju árez, whose liberal reforms included many anticlerical measures.
In 1861, enticed by the offer of 30% of the proceeds, France planned
to intervene in the recovery of 79 million francs owed to a Swiss banker
by former Mexican president Miguel Miramón, who had been overthrown
and exiled by Juárez in 1860. Seeking to regain power, in 1862 Miramón
appealed to Empress Eugé nie, consort of Napoleon III, saying that steps
must be taken against Juá rez and his `anti-Christian´ policies. Eugénie
proposed Maximilian, the brother of Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria,
as monarch of Mexico. Napoleon III agreed, since the plan suited his
colonial ambitions, and in 1864 Maximilian accepted the crown offered
him by conservative opponents of Juárez. Juárez and his supporters continued
to fight against this new branch of the Habsburg empire, and in 1867
the monarchy collapsed and Maximilian was executed.
Juarez returned to the presidency (1867-72), and attempted unsuccessfully
to turn the impoverished indigenous peoples into prosperous small farmers,
but he was unable to bring stability to Mexico. Only the ruthless opportunism
of Porfirio Díaz - who was dictator of Mexico 1877-80 and 1884-1911
- made political stability and economic expansion possible. However,
his handling of the economy made him deeply unpopular, and only a small
landowning and industrialist class benefited from his programme.
The gap between rich and poor widened, and the result of festering
resentments was the explosion known as the Mexican Revolution. The Revolution,
which started in 1910, was precipitated by the liberal movement led
by Francisco Madero, which triggered off unrest among the peasants (led
by Emiliano Zapata), artisans, and the expanding urban working class.
By 1911 Madero had ousted Díaz and reestablished a liberal regime, but
was himself assassinated in 1913.
The Revolution brought changes in land ownership, labour legislation,
and reduction in the powers of the Roman Catholic Church. Following
Madero's death Victoriano Huerta seized power, but was forced to resign
in 1914 by the USA, where it was widely believed that he had pro-German
sympathies. The same was also suspected of Francisco ` Pancho´ Villa
(1877-1923), who established a revolutionary government in the north
of Mexico. In 1915 Venustiano Carranza established a regime more acceptable
to the USA than that of Huerta, and in 1916 Carranza gave the US army
permission to pursue Villa into Mexico after a raid across the US border.
US forces withdrew early in 1917, having failed to kill Villa. Relations
with the USA remained poor following the interception by British Naval
Intelligence of a message in early 1917 from the German foreign minister
Alfred Zimmermann to the German ambassador to Mexico, which suggested
that Mexico ally itself with Germany and reconquer the territory lost
to the USA in the 19th century. Although Mexico denied any involvement
in this proposal, it helped to precipitate the USA's entry into World
War I. Carranza stayed in power until his murder in 1920, which was
followed by three years of civil war.
After the civil war Mexico experienced gradual agricultural, political,
and social reforms. In 1927 military leaders responded to economic dislocation
and political instability by forming a single political party, the Mexican
Revolutionary Party, which was renamed the Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI) in 1946. The broadly based PRI has dominated Mexican politics
ever since, pursuing moderate, left-of -centre policies, and carefully
exploiting the revolutionary myth.
The Revolution had clearly lost its impetus until 1934, when the new
president, Lázaro Cárdenas, confronted by a wave of discontent among
the peasants and urban workers, announced a drastic reform programme,
including measures for oil nationalization, land redistribution, and
industrial expansion. In 1938 all foreign-owned oil wells were nationalized,
but compensation was not agreed until 1941. During the Spanish Civil
War Mexico exported considerable amounts of arms and ammunition to the
Spanish Republican government.
The government of Manuel Avila Camacho (president 1940-46) realized
the danger to Mexico implicit in the aggressive designs of the Axis
powers, and readily responded to the various proposals made by the USA
in 1941 for closer cooperation and the settlement of outstanding differences.
The murder in Mexico in 1940 of Leon Trotsky, who had been granted asylum
some years previously, involved the government in difficulties with
the communists, who were assumed to be involved in the assassination.
In June 1942 Mexico formally declared war on the Axis powers as a response
to Axis sinkings of Mexican ships, and a squadron of the Mexican air
force fought in the Pacific theatre in 1945.
None of the successors of Cardenas maintained the speed of social change
that he instigated in the 1930s, although economic expansion from
1945 to the 1970s was dramatic. But prosperity was confined to
a small upper class and an expanding urban middle class, while
conditions amongst the underprivileged groups generally failed
to improve. Resentments exploded in a wave of peasant, trade-union,
and student unrest in the 1960s, which was ruthlessly repressed,
and large sections of the population remained alienated. President
Luis Echeverria, on assuming office in 1970, emphasized the uniqueness
of the Mexican Revolution and promised a nationalistic capitalism,
a tolerance of limited opposition, and a degree of sympathy towards
the reforms instituted by the democratically elected Marxist president
of Chile, Salvador Allende. In practice, however, the only opposition
party to be permitted to flourish was the extreme right-wing National
Action Party (PAN). Mexico nevertheless continued to present a
democratic face to the world, and in 1974 broke off diplomatic
relations with the Spanish government of Gen Franco because of
the undemocratic manner in which Basque rebels were treated.
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Not a single listing, but outstanding info available
on buying/owning/selling real estate in Mexico. Excellent links
to language and culture sites.
Spanish, 
