The official name is the United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos).
Located in the southwestern part of North America. Area 1,972,550 km2, incl. OK. 5.4 thousand km2 are islands in the Pacific Ocean. Population 103.4 million people (2002). The official language is Spanish. The capital is Mexico City (20 million people). Public holiday – Independence Day September 16 (1810). The monetary unit is the peso.
Member of the UN and its specialized organizations (FAO, ILO, IMF, WB, UNIDO, WHO, etc.), APEC, EBRD, Leningrad NPP, LAI, Non-Aligned Movement, OAS, OECD, etc.
Population of Mexico
According to Countryaah, the population in 1980 was 69.4 million people. In terms of population growth (over 3.5% per year), Mexico has long occupied one of the first places in the world. Between 1990 and 2002, population growth declined to an average of less than 2%. Birth rate 22.3%; mortality 4.2%, infant mortality 16.0 pers. per 1000 newborns (2002). Average life expectancy is 72 years, incl. 75 women, 69 men. Gender and age composition: 0-14 years old – 32.8% (men 17.3 million, women 16.6 million); 15-64 years old – 62.7% (31.5 million, 33.2 million); 65 years and older – 4.5% (2 million, 2.6 million). Urban population 75.2%. The retirement age is 65 for men and 60 for women. At the age of 15 years and older, 91.2% of the population is literate, incl. 92% men and 87% women. 60% of the population are mestizos, 29% are Indians (Aztecs, Mayans, Huastecs, Totonacs, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Tarascans, etc.), 11% are Europeans.
History of Mexico
Mexico is a country of ancient civilizations – the Olmecs, Mayans, Toltecs, Aztecs, etc. After the conquest by Spain in the 16th century. Mexico was her colonial possession for almost three centuries, being part of the vast Viceroyalty of New Spain. On September 16, 1810, an anti-colonial uprising began in Mexico, led by the priest M. Hidalgo. After the defeat of the rebels, the liberation struggle was headed by Kh.M. Morelos. On September 28, 1821, the independence of Mexico was proclaimed, and in 1824 the Constitution was adopted, according to which the country became a federal republic. After the War of Independence, Mexico entered a period of military mutinies and coup d’état. Taking advantage of its political instability, the United States annexed Texas in 1845 and seized more than one-half of its territory from the country between 1846 and 1848. In 1854–60, a civil war was going on in Mexico between the liberals and the conservatives, which ended in the victory of the liberals. In 1859 the government of B. Juarez (1858–72) adopted the Reform Laws (separation of church and state, nationalization of church property, etc.). In con. 1861 – beginning. 1862 the country was subjected to armed intervention by Spain, Great Britain and France, who came to the aid of the conservatives. In 1863, French troops managed to capture the capital. Mexico was proclaimed an empire. However, as a result of the struggle of the Mexican people, the interventionists, having suffered heavy losses, left the country in 1867. In 1877, the dictatorship of P. Diaz was established in Mexico. In 1910, a popular movement began against the dictatorship of P. Diaz. It resulted in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–17, in which all sectors of society participated, including. the peasantry – in the liberation armies led by F. Villa and E. Zapata. The revolution ended with the overthrow of the P. Diaz regime. On February 5, 1917, the Constitution was adopted.
The government of President L. Cardenas (1934-40), a representative of the nationalist wing of the National Revolutionary Party, carried out a number of important democratic and socio-economic transformations (agrarian reform, nationalization of the railways and the oil industry, restrictions on foreign capital in the electric power industry and banks, creation of a public sector in economics, etc.), which had a significant impact on the development of Mexico.
In the following decades, up to 1980s The Mexican government pursued a policy of active state intervention in the economy and strengthening the public sector, which was combined with some reforms in the social sphere based on the ideas of revolutionary nationalism, the “complicity” of entrepreneurs, workers and the state in the interests of national development. Such a policy ensured successful economic growth in the conditions of comparative political stability of the country for many years. However, economic development was accompanied by the merging of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) with the state bureaucracy, the strengthening of the influence of big national capital and its ties with TNCs, and the growth of external debt. All this led to the deepening of social contradictions and the radicalization of the masses. In 1968, student performances swept across the country, supported by many sections of society. On October 2, 1968, a demonstration of students was shot in Mexico City with the help of troops.
The government of Mexico de la Madrid (1982-88), in order to overcome the economic crisis and solve the problems of external debt, made a turn towards an open and modernized economy based on the ideas of neoliberalism. The government’s course towards privatization and liberalization has accelerated the processes of inflation, devaluation, rising prices, unemployment and impoverishment of the masses. The opposition has stepped up. The weakening of the corporate political structure began to take real shape. In 1987, a number of statesmen withdrew from the PRI and formed the Democratic Current (DK), headed by K. Cardenas, a former governor. As a result of the merger of a number of left-wing parties, the Mexican Socialist Party (PSM) was formed. In the presidential elections on July 6, 1988, for the candidate of the center-left coalition, the National Democratic Front (FND, formed on the basis of the CD and many left-wing organizations) – PSM K. Cardenas voted sv. 31% of voters. As a result of the general elections, the PRI actually lost its monopoly on power. In 1989, the Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD) was formed on the basis of the FND-PSM. The government of C. Salinas de Gortari (1988-94) set a course to accelerate liberal reforms in the economic, social and political spheres on the basis of “social liberalism”. In January 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, the United States, and Canada entered into force. As the social costs of the neoliberal course grew, destabilizing tendencies intensified, incl. in an extremist way. January 1, 1994 in the state of Chiapas, armed rebels from the so-called. The Zapatista National Liberation Army captured several municipalities, demanding “land, work, dwellings, freedom, democracy, justice and peace. They also opposed NAFTA. In March 1994, PRI presidential candidate L.D. was assassinated. Kolosio, which extremely destabilized the situation. On September 28, 1994, PRI Secretary General H.F. Ruiz Massieu. In December 1994, a deep financial crisis broke out in Mexico, which was resolved only in 1996. The government of E. Zedillo (1994–2000) continued its course towards liberal reforms, but in the new realities that required the stabilization of society, the main attention began to be paid to democratic reforms in the political sphere. The President initiated the holding of preliminary elections by all members of the party of candidates for the presidency of the PRI, as well as its candidates for the Congress of the Union and for governors. On the basis of an agreement reached between the President and the leaders of the parties represented in Congress, in October 1996, an electoral law was passed, according to which for the first time in the history of Mexico. The federal electoral institution became independent from the executive branch in the coordination and financing of the electoral process, and mechanisms were created to conduct transparent and clean elections. In 1997-99, in an atmosphere of active civil society, federal and local elections were held, as a result of which the PRI lost its absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies. The first elected head of government of the Federal District (capital) was the candidate of the PRD K. Cardenas. There was a trend of change of power in the country at all levels.
The general election on July 2, 2000 marked a turning point in Mexican history. For the first time in 70 years, the candidate from the opposition PRI Alliance for Change (including the National Action Party (PAN) and the Ecological Green Party) Vicente Fox Quesada was elected president of the country. PRI lost its monopoly on the post of head of state and an absolute majority in both houses of the Congress of the Union. The Fox government set a course for liberal reforms based on the idea of “economic humanism” – a combination of market mechanisms with public administration in the social sphere – and the reform of state institutions. The state security structures were reorganized, the Anti-Corruption Control Office was created, the law on publicity and the law on the rights and culture of the Indian population were adopted, etc.
