conventional long form: United Mexican States
conventional short form: Mexico
local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
local short form: Mexico

MX

federal republic

Mexico

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

16 September 1810 (from Spain)

Independence Day, 16 September (1810)

5 February 1917

mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law
system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction, with reservations

18 years of age; universal and compulsory (but not enforced)

chief of state: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1
December 1994); note - the president is both the chief of state and
head of government
head of government: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1
December 1994); note - the president is both the chief of state and
head of government
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president with consent of the Senate
elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term;
election last held 21 August 1994 (next to be held 2 July 2000)
election results: Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon elected president;
percent of vote - Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (PRI) 50.18%,
Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 17.08%, Diego FERNANDEZ DE
CEVALLOS (PAN) 26.69%, other 6.05%

bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la
Union consists of the Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats; half
are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms, and half 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)
elections: Senate - last held 6 July 1997 for one-quarter of the
seats; Chamber of Deputies - last held 6 July 1997 (the next
legislative elections will coincide with the presidential election 2
July 2000)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by
party - PRI 77, PAN 33, PRD 16, PVEM 1, PT 1; note - the distribution
of seats as of October 1999 is as follows - PRI 75, PAN 31, PRD 16, PT
1, independents 5; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party -
PRI 39%, PAN 27%, PRD 26%; seats by party - PRI 239, PRD 125, PAN 121,
PVEM 8, PT 7; note - the distribution of seats as of October 1999 is
as follows - PRI 237, PRD 125, PAN 120, PT 7, PVEM 6, independents 5

Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de
Justicia, judges are appointed by the president with consent of the
Senate

Convergence for Democracy or CD [Dante
DELGADO Ranauro]; Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI [Dulce
Maria SAURI Riancho]; Mexican Green Ecological Party or PVEM [Jorge
GONZALEZ Torres]; National Action Party or PAN [Luis Felipe BRAVO
Mena]; Party of the Democratic Center or PCD ;
Party of the Democratic Revolution or PRD ;
Party of the Mexican Revolution or PARM ; Party of the
Nationalist Society or PSN ; Social Alliance
Party or PAS ; Social Democratic Party
or PDS ; Workers Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA
Gutierrez]

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; Revolutionary Workers Party or PRT; Roman Catholic Church

APEC, BCIE, BIS, Caricom
(observer), CCC, CDB, EBRD, ECLAC, FAO, G-3, G-6, G-11, G-15, G-19,
G-24, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer),
IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC,
IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, NAM (observer), NEA, OAS, OECD,
OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

chief of mission: Ambassador Jesus REYES HEROLES Gonzalez Garza
chancery: 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006
telephone:  (202) 728-1600
FAX:  (202) 728-1698
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 Juan (Puerto Rico)
consulate(s): Albuquerque, Brownsville (Texas), Calexico (California),
Corpus Christi, Del Rio (Texas), Detroit, Douglas (Arizona), Eagle
Pass (Texas), Fresno (California), McAllen (Texas), Midland (Texas),
Orlando, Oxnard (California), Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), St.
Louis, Salt Lake City, San Bernardino, San Jose, Santa Ana
(California), Seattle, Tucson

chief of mission: Ambassador Jeffery DAVIDOW
embassy: Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 Mexico,
Distrito Federal
mailing address: P. O. Box 3087, Laredo, TX 78044-3087
telephone:  (5) 209-9100
FAX:  (5) 208-3373, 511-9980
consulate(s) general: Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana
consulate(s): Hermosillo, Matamoros, Merida, Nuevo Laredo, Nogales

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