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| Capital | Mexica, DCF | ||||
| Largest city | Mexico City | ||||
| Other cities | Monterrey, Mexica, Guadalajara, Puebla, La Paz, Acapulco, Chihuahua, Nezahualcoyótl, Victoria, Tampico, Cabo San Lucas | ||||
| President | Felipe Calderon (NAP) | ||||
| Vice President | Cuauhtemoc Micheltorena Lozano (PC) | ||||
| Area | 1,972,550 km² | ||||
| Population | 132,065,781 (2009 est.) | ||||
| Independence | September 16, 1810 | ||||
| Currency | Mexican Peso (MXN) | ||||
The United Mexican States, commonly referred to as Mexico, is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the former United States, and on the south by the Republic of Yucatan and Guatemala. Mexico has become one of the world's largest economic and military powers after the ANZC and the South American Confederation.
It harbors the largest group of American refugees in the world, which has had a profound effect on Mexican politics and culture. Mexico also is influential in the politics and culture of the various nation-states in the southwest and Gulf regions of the United States.
Mexico is a strong ally of both the ANZC and the SAC, sometimes playing a mediator-type role regarding disputes between the two governments, and plays an active role in the League of Nations.
History
- See main article: History of Mexico
Government
The United Mexican States are a federation whose government is representative, democratic and republican based on a presidential system. The constitution establishes three levels of government: the federal Union, the state governments and the municipal governments. All officials at the three levels are elected by voters through first-past-the-post plurality, proportional representation or are appointed by other elected officials.
The federal government is constituted by the Powers of the Union, the three separate branches of government:
Legislative: the bicameral Congress of the Union, composed of a Senate and a House of Representatives (formerly the Chamber of Deputies), which makes federal law, declares war, imposes taxes, approves the national budget and international treaties, and ratifies diplomatic appointments.
Executive: the President of the United Mexican States, who is the head of state and government, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Mexican military forces. The President also appoints the Cabinet and other officers. The President is responsible for executing and enforcing the law, and has the authority of vetoing bills.
Judiciary: The Supreme Court of Justice, comprised by eleven judges appointed by the President with Senate approval, who interpret laws and judge cases of federal competency. Other institutions of the judiciary are the Electoral Tribunal, collegiate, unitary and district tribunals, and the Council of the Federal Judiciary.
All elected executive officials are elected by plurality (first-past-the-post). Seats to federal and state legislatures are elected by a system of parallel voting that includes plurality and proportional representation. The House of Representatives of the Congress of the Union is conformed by 300 deputies elected by plurality and 200 deputies by proportional representation for which the country is divided into 5 electoral constituencies or circumscriptions.
The Senate is conformed by a total of 128 senators: 64 senators, two for each state and two for the Federal District, elected by plurality in pairs; 32 senators assigned to the first minority or first-runner up (one for each state and one for the Federal District), and 32 are assigned by proportional representation for which the country conforms a single electoral constituency.
According to the constitution, all constituent states of the federation must have a republican form of government composed of three branches: the executive, represented by a governor and an appointed cabinet, the legislative branch constituted by a bicameral congress and the judiciary, which will include called state Supreme Court of Justice. They also have their own civil and judicial codes.
Military
The military consists primarily of an Army, a Navy, an Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, and various associated subgroups.
President de la Madrid's negotiations with US President Reagan included the procurement of vital military information, presumably to defend the nation and the American diaspora and keep the peace in the region.
Some American military personnel chose to stay behind in Mexico, serving as advisors to the Mexican military and also to help represent the interests of American refugees. Their knowledge and advice was invaluable as Mexico began aggressively expanding its military throughout the '80s and '90s.
While Reagan couldn't give many ships or equipment to Mexico, what he could do is give it the knowledge to build their own fighters, tanks, ships and carriers. Working with that knowledge (and secretly with the military leadership of the APA in Oceania and its successor, the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand), by 1998 Mexico's military branches had approached the quality of the pre-Doomsday United States. Though its ships and planes were fewer than pre-DD America's, Mexico was nevertheless well-equipped to keep the peace in the region.
By the 21st century, Mexico was considered to have the fourth-strongest military of the known world, behind those of the ANZC, Brazil and the UAR.
By treaty, Mexico is obligated to help defend West Texas; with the approval of the APA, and the various Texan nations, the Mexican military has also performed numerous fly-overs of the American southwest and assisted in several joint missions with Texan survivor nations since Doomsday.
The Mexican military worked on several secret and semi-secret projects from 1984 on. One of the most important was the development of a Nimitz-class supercarrier - and in 2009, the ARM Cuauhtemoc, was unveiled to the public at the Guyamas, Sonora Naval Shipyards. Another supercarrier is currently being built at the Tampico, Tamaulipas Shipyards, to help guard the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and the Atlantic; it is scheduled to be finished by 2017.
The military is tasked for helping keep the peace throughout the nation in times of distress and strife (it has been assigned to attack drug gangs) and also keeping the peace along the borders with the former U.S. and the breakaway state of Yucatan.
Law enforcement
Public security is enacted at the three levels of government, each of which has different prerogatives and responsibilities. Local and state police department are primarily in charge of law enforcement, whereas the Mexican Federal Police is in charge of specialized duties. All levels report to the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (Secretariat of Public Security). The General Attorney's Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) is the executive power's agency in charge of investigating and prosecuting crimes at the federal level, mainly those related to drug and arms trafficking, espionage, and bank robberies. The PGR operates the Federal Investigations Agency (Agencia Federal de Investigación, AFI) an investigative and preventive agency.
Economy
Mexico is THE economic power in North and Central America and the Caribbean. It is one of the world's leading producers and exporters of oil, primarily to the Western Hemisphere, then to Hawaii and the ANZC. Mexican private companies have made significant investments throughout the survivor states in the American southwest and mid-south regions and also in Cuba; former Florida; and in the East Caribbean Federation.
The peso is tied to the Brazilian real.
Demographics
Although Latinos continue to comprise a majority in the nation (62 percent), the immigration of American residents on Doomsday affected the percentages in a drastic way. Caucasians are the largest minority, an estimated 19 percent of the population as of 2010. People of African descent (mainly African-Americans) comprise 11 percent of the population. Other minorities include people of Native American descent (3 percent) and Asian descent (3 percent).
Culture
Architecture
More to come....
Movie industry
Mexico's post-Doomsday film industry is comparable to its counterparts in South America and the ANZC both in quality and quantity of films produced (although it ranks behind Brazil and the ANZC in terms of blockbusters).
Many observers have termed the current age of Mexican cinema the Second Golden Age (the first having been in the 1940s and 1950s). Inspired by their country's rich history in cinema, as well as the great pre-Doomsday American and European directors, Mexican filmmakers have produced popular and well-received films in virtually every genre.
Mexican actors and actresses have become internationally famous. The most well-known is actress Salma Hayek, who began her career performing in telenovelas and soon moved on to become one of the premier post-Doomsday starlets.
The Guadalajara International Film Festival is Mexico's answer to the Cannes Film Festival (which, of course, was lost to Doomsday).
Music
More to come....
Fine arts
More to come....
Literature
Literature in Mexico started with Mexican drawings representing stories and events.
During Spanish rule, Mexico was known for its Baroque literature. One of the era's greatest writers was Sor (Sister) Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Ramon Velarde (1888-1921) is considered Mexico's national poet.
Octavio Paz (1914-1998) is perhaps Mexico's best known contemporary writer, known post-Doomsday for his writings regarding the effects of what he called the Third World War (Doomsday) on Mexican society and politics. He argued for American refugees to be treated with respect and kindness and as equal to Mexican nationals. Though he was not the first author or public figure to argue for Mexican government embracing the best ideas of U.S. democracy and freedom, his gradual advocacy of the movement made him one of its leading figures. Paz died of cancer in 1998.
Communications and mass media
Mexican broadcasting is dominated by privately-owned companies, though the government does sponsor its own network, Instituto Mexicano de la Television (IMET). Two of Mexico's major television networks are Televisa and TV Azteca. Televisa is also the largest producer of Spanish-language content in the world and the world's largest Spanish-language media network. Both networks also own subsidiaries that broadcast in English: Televisa English and ATN (American Television Network).
Soap operas (telenovelas) are translated to many languages and seen all over the world; actors like Verónica Castro, Lucía Méndez, Lucero, and Thalía are worldwide stars.
Some Mexican TV shows are modeled after U.S. shows like Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud and Saturday Night Live. Nationwide news shows like Las Noticias por Adela on Televisa resemble a hybrid between Donahue and Nightline. Local news shows are modeled after counterparts from the U.S. like the Eyewitness News and Action News formats.
Mexico has the highest use of televisions per capita outside South America and the ANZC. The most influential networks are TV Azteca and Televisa. Mexican programming, most notably telenovelas (soap operas) and variety shows, are shown on tape-delay on the various North American and Caribbean channels. Cable television is in the major cities, and operators are planning to expand their services throughout the country.
In Mexico, radio was one of the most important news outlets after Doomsday. Stations in Monterrey and other northern Mexican cities not affected by the electromagnetic pulses over the United States helped provide news and information for residents and refugees alike, even with government and military restrictions imposed on broadcasters. Mexican regulators quickly allowed these stations to increase their transmitting power to the maximum wattage, as long as their signals did not interfere with other Mexican stations. Many years later, licensing of shortwave stations and transmitters in central Mexico beamed to the United States and Caribbean was granted. Caribbean service began immediately. Actual service into North America began in West Texas. The public broadcaster, Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (IMER), maintains shortwave services in English, Spanish and French to North America and the Caribbean.
The newspaper industry weathered Doomsday fairly well. Newspapers in border states were important resources of information on the refugee crisis for nationals and refugees alike. Some newspapers were influential in helping break news about the abuses by small portions of the Mexican military, and the even rarer, but shocking, atrocities performed on some refugees by Mexican nationals and military.
Today, the most read and influential newspapers are La Jornada, El Norte, El Universal, and Reforma, each which publish daily editions in Mexica, D.C. and Mexico City and a weekly nationwide edition that also can be purchased in Texas, Hattiesburg, Dinetah, Cuba, the East Caribbean Federation, and Costa Rica.
Sports
Association football remains the top sport here. The top division of its domestic league, the Primera Division, is considered the third best in the world, after the top divisions in Brazil and the UAE.
The Primera Division consists of 18 teams playing in three groups of six teams apiece, and is split into two seasons - the apertura (opening) season, from August through December, and the clasura (closing) season, from January through May. The clubs that competed in the 2010 apertura and 2011 clasura seasons are:
- America (Mexico City)
- Atlante (Cancun)
- Atlas (Guadalajara)
- Guadalajara (Guadalajara)
- Cruz Azul (Mexico City)
- Chiapas (Tuxtla)
- Mexica CF (Mexica DC)
- Monarcas Morelia (Morelia)
- CF Monterrey
- Pachuca (Pachuca)
- Puebla (Puebla)
- Queretaro (Queretaro)
- Pumas (Mexico City)
- San Luis (San Luis)
- Santos Laguna (Torreon)
- Tigres de la UANL (Monterrey)
- Toluca (Toluca)
- Acapulco FC (Acapulco)
The Mexican national team is one of the global powerhouses post-Doomsday, though considered a step behind Brazil and the UAR.
Baseball is a close second in popularity. The Mexican and Nacional Ligas are considered to be the successors to the United States's Major League Baseball, and have the top talent in the world besides Cuba. Their preseason training begins in February, with exhibition play in March and the regular season running from April through September. The postseason is contested in October.
The franchises, by league, are:
Mexican Liga
- Campeche Pirates
- Guadalajara Leones
- Mexica Tigers
- Mexico City Reds
- Puebla Parrots
- San Luis Potosi Athletics
- Tabasco Olmecs
- Veracruz Red Eagles
Nacional Liga
- Acapulco Dodgers
- Monterrey Sultans
- Mexico City Rangers
- Minatitlan Oilers
- Oaxaca Warriors
- Quintana Roo Tigers
- Toluca Giants
- Tampico Cubs
Other sports that have gained interest are boxing, basketball and American football, in large part because of the presence of many American refugees. Boxing already enjoyed tremendous participation and interest before Doomsday, and the entrance of Americans into the country increased that interest further.
American football has been played on the intercollegiate level in Mexico since its beginnings in the country. Many American refugees came from states where intercollegiate football was held in the highest regard, and have transferred their loyalty to the Mexican universities. The two primary associations are ONEFA (Organización Nacional Estudiantil de Futbol Americano) and CONADEIP (Comisión Nacional Deportiva de Instituciones Privadas). Member schools compete against each other and against schools from American and Canadian survivor states in American football, basketball, soccer, baseball and other sports.
A professional American football league (commonly known as the Gridiron Liga Mexicana in Spanish and Mexican Football League in English) was founded in 2007. The nine teams that have competed in the league's first four seasons are:
- Acapulco (2007; folded after season)
- Chihuahua (2007-present)
- Guadalajara (2007-present)
- Mexica Toros (2007-present)
- Mexico City (2007-present)
- Monterrey Dragons (2007-present)
- Monterrey Cowboys (2008-2009; moved to Puebla for 2010 season)
- Puebla (2010-present)
Mexico has also recently joined the International Rugby Board in rugby union and the International Ice Hockey Federation in ice hockey. American expatriates formed a thriving amateur ice hockey federation in the early 1990s, and a semi-pro league took the ice in November 2009 for its first official season.
Golf is more of a popular participatory sport, but native Lorena Ochoa has the distinction of being the world's top professional female golfer.
Racquetball, polo, tennis and taekwondo are notable minor sports.
Although more theater than sport, lucha libre is almost as popular among spectators and the public as football.
International relations
Mexico is a member of the League of Nations. It finds itself in the unique position of being allies of both the ANZC and the SAC.
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