The elections this year are one month earlier than usual. The reason is that the change of administration will take place on October 1st, when in the past the elections were held in July and the handover of power took place on December 1st.

Mexico’s political architecture

Mexico’s political structure is formed through a republic of 32 states inside a union bound by a common constitution.  Mexico’s republic used to comprise 31 states and a Federal District (Mexico City), although constitutional changes in 2016 transformed Mexico City into a state in its own right.

The Mexican federal government comprises an executive branch, a bicameral congress composed of a Senate in the upper house, a lower Chamber of Deputies, and an independent judiciary, headed by a Supreme Court.

Mexican states have their own constitutions; however, the states’ constitutions cannot contradict the federal constitution, and state governance must adhere to a republican congressional system, headed by a state governor.

Terms limits in public office

The elected president serves as the head of the executive branch, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president is elected for a non-renewable six-year term.

Each state governor is directly elected in the state they represent, and may not hold office for more than six years.

Congressional Representatives are elected for three-year terms in the case of the lower house and six years in the case of the Senate.

Mexican political candidates contest seats in a single-round plurality vote, sometimes referred to as a ‘relative majority.’  This means that the winning candidate is the one who polls more votes than any other in the contest, even if the sum of those votes does not muster a majority.

Three candidates running for president

The main interest in June’s elections is the presidential race, in which there are three candidates:

• Claudia Sheinbaum for the ruling Morena party, along with the small Workers Party (PT) and Green Party (PVEM).
• Xóchitl Gálvez is running for a coalition of the PRI, PAN, and PRD parties.
• Jorge Álvarez Máynez is the candidate for the smaller Citizens Movement party.

With less than a month to go before election day on June 2nd, Sheinbaum is leading in the polls, followed by Gálvez, with Álvarez Máynez a distant third.

Voting, and the transition period

Around 98.4 million people are eligible to vote in Mexico, and an additional 675,000 Mexicans living abroad are also being encouraged to cast their vote. Results of the election are expected to be known the same day as the voting.

Some time after polls have closed in Baja California, which is two hours behind Mexico City, the country’s electoral institute is expected to release the results of its quick count based on a nationwide sample of results from polling places.

This is not an exit poll, and in the past the institute’s quick counts have always been close to the final results. If the margin of victory of any one candidate is big enough, the institute will virtually announce the winner.

If not, it will wait until results are in from all polling places. The results are posted online as they come in, so by the early hours of Monday, June 3rd, a high percentage of results is available.

Historically, Mexico’s elections took place in July, and the incumbent administration would handover power on December 1st that year, and that was marked with a national holiday every six years. Political reforms intended to reduce the length of the “transition period” moved the election date to June, and changed the handover date to October 1st—effectively reducing the transition period by from five months, to four months.

For many, the anniversary provides a day-off work; this national holiday is observed on the nearest Monday to the date, creating a long holiday weekend in March.  For the political classes, it’s an opportunity for speech-making and scoring election campaign points; for the intellectual, a chance to reinterpret history — again?— or at least run some new or resuscitated ideas by the readers of opinion journals.

Benito Juárez was born on March 21, 1806 in San Pablo Guelatao, in the southern state of Oaxaca.  Around age 12, orphaned and knowing no Spanish, he went to the state capital, Oaxaca City, to live.  He studied at the Santa Cruz seminary, but abandoned the idea of the priesthood for a career in law.  After becoming a lawyer, he entered politics, first in his home state and then nationally.

Juárez is best known for the the Reform Laws of 1859, which established the separation of Church and State, expropriated church properties, and introduced civil weddings.  He led the liberals in the Reform War of 1858-1861, which pitted them against the conservatives.  The conservative forces were defeated, and Juárez called elections, which he won, assuming the presidency in 1861.

When the French took the city of Puebla in 1863 and installed Maximilian of Habsburg as emperor, Juárez moved north, organizing an offensive from Paso del Norte which was later renamed Ciudad Juárez.  With the defeat of Maximilian in 1867, Juarez returned to the capital, where his government embarked on programs of economic and educational development.  He was elected again in 1871, and died before completing his term.

His most famous saying is that “among individuals as among nations, the respect for the rights of others is peace.”  Many plaques and statues —including the one pictured above— quote this famous line.

A fair historical comparison for Juárez might be Thomas Jefferson or William Pitt, but in the popular mind’s eye Mexico’s only indigenous president is more spectacular—an Abraham Lincoln or a Lord Horatio Nelson.

In his bicentennial year in 2006, it was again fashionable to be critical, to uncover the man behind the myth, to question the political assumptions of the victory of the 19th century liberals over their conservative rivals.  Wasn’t Juárez perhaps more like a modern-day conservative?  As a full-blooded Zapotec Indian, didn’t Juárez do less for the indigenous of Mexico than might have been expected of such a one? Isn’t he wrongly portrayed as a ‘demigod’ when in fact he was just as human as the next person with his good points and his faults?

One would not be thought ignorant by one’s peers, but faced with such an array of polemical possibilities, and armed only with a smattering of history from the handiest sources, one often can’t help but suspect, nay hope, that ‘the real Juárez’ is the one of official textbooks—the Nelson who saw no ships, the Lincoln of “fourscore and seven years ago.”

There is no question of the Mexican origin of this saying, which refers to the most revered of the country’s presidents and is similar in meaning to “water off a duck’s back.”

Several explanations are offered for how the expression came to be used, of which the most likely appears to be that offered by the late anthropologist and historian Fernando Benítez, in his work Un Indio Zapoteco Llamado Benito Juárez.

According to Benítez, when Juárez was a boy, he was caught in a wind storm on a boat on a lagoon. Other boys swam to shore but the young Juárez stayed aboard, rode out the storm and came safely ashore with the boat the next morning. Hence the saying, something does to one “what the wind did to Juárez” – i.e. nothing.

Another explanation offered is that of a supposed portrait of Juárez, which shows a flag waving in the background, but Juárez’s robes not moving at all. Given the serious poses in which Juárez appears in most portraits, this explanation at least sounds feasible.

Others, totally unconvincingly, talk about wind storms in Ciudad Juárez, originally El Paso del Norte, and renamed in Juárez’s honor after he and his forces briefly took refuge there during the French intervention, or even to the many statues of the former president being unaffected by wind.

Mexico’s 1917 Constitution

Mexico’s Constitution was drafted in the colonial city of Queretaro, north of Mexico City.   It was legalized on February 5th, 1917, by the country’s Constitutional Congress. Venustiano Carranza was the first President to serve under the terms of the new constitution.

In years past, Mexico would have marked this holiday on February 5th but, in 2006, Congress approved an initiative whereby a number of official holiday dates would be observed on the nearest Monday to the official date, thus creating long holiday weekends.

100th Anniversary

2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Constitution and to commemorate the centenary, the Bank of Mexico issued a limited edition 20-peso coin and a limited edition 100-peso banknote which are introduced here.

On the centenary of the revolution in 2010, the bank issued a 100-peso commemorative banknote for that occasion: although they remain legal tender, they are rarely if ever seen in trade now, and have become a collector’s item.

The Mexican Constitution was drafted following the Mexican Revolution, led by Francisco Madero against the dictatorial regime of Porfirio Diaz (an era known in Mexico as “El Porfiriato”), in pursuit of political and agrarian reforms, and social justice.

Although it took several years for Mexico’s political upheaval to settle-down following the revolution —and subsequent enactment of the Constitution— to this day, the document continues to influence and shape Mexico’s social, political, and economic landscape.

Land ownership in Mexico

One of the key Articles of the Mexican Constitution to come to light in recent years is Article 27—which deals with the ownership of land in Mexico. Specifically, it states, foreigners may not own land within 100 km of a land border or 50 km of a sea border.

In a bid to open up land development to foreign direct investment the administration of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari introduced ‘Land Trusts’ (fideicomisos) in the 1990s; administered by banks, they provide foreigners with title of the land in all but name.  You can learn more about property ownership in Mexico in our free eBook about real estate in Mexico.

Before this law came to pass, foreigners who bought land near the border in Mexico used a ‘presta nombre’ (borrowed name)—a Mexican national whom the buyer could trust to hold title of the land, with a gentleman’s agreement existing between the buyer and the title holder.

For the native of Tabasco state, winning the presidency was something of a lifetime dream. After being mayor of Mexico City from 2000 to 2005, López Obrador — who is commonly referred to by his initials as AMLO — first ran for president in 2006.

He lost that time by a razor thin margin and claimed fraud. In 2012 he ran again, and again finished second. In 2018 he ran for a third time with his own party — MORENA — and this time won by a landslide, getting more votes than the other three candidates combined.

As a left-wing president, AMLO has caused some to worry that he could undo the economic stability that took Mexico so long to consolidate after the crises of the 1980s and mid-1990s.  Although some of his policies hark back to the past — for example, offering guaranteed prices to small farmers for crops they grow, or preferring state domination of the oil industry — he and his officials say they won’t be running up public debt or curbing the autonomy of the central bank, but will improve social programs and increase public investment by cutting government waste and eliminating government corruption.

The negative reaction in markets and on social media to his decision to cancel the new Mexico City airport, keep the existing airport in operation, and build runways at a military base north of the city could give the wrong overall impression about his popularity.

Flagship projects announced thus far include a 900-mile trans-peninsula passenger railway crossing the Yucatán dubbed Tren Maya, and a new oil refinery in the Gulf state of Tabasco.  The Tren Maya project has been criticized as expensive and probably unprofitable. But its critics don’t often mention that the regeneration of passenger railways was a key component of the previous government’s national development plan.

The new president also announced the introduction of a 25 km (16 mile) deep ‘economic free zone’ corridor to run along the entire length of the 1,954-mile land border with the United States, to take effect on the 1^st of January 2019. Sales tax (which is known as IVA and charged at 16% in Mexico) will be reduced to 8% in this zone and gasoline prices will match those in adjacent US border cities. (Gasoline prices in Mexico are nearly double those of the U.S.)

In tandem with the swearing-in of the new executive, the new administration revealed a new logo, colors and font for Government Ministries, which feature dark red and gold with bold lettering—a significant departure from the previous imagery that featured dark gray-on-white underlined by narrow red and green bands.

López Obrador sounds confident that his government platform will bear fruit for a broader section of the population, without upsetting the apple cart of economic stability forged by previous administrations. He has often said that what he wants is to be a good president, and that he will not be trying to change the rules to get re-elected.

Mexico’s long-standing opposition to re-election dates back to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz in the late 19th and early 20th century. It was a period of rapid development—including the country’s railways—but also of great inequality. Among López Obrador’s heroes from Mexico’s history is Díaz’s archrival Francisco I. Madero.

Mexico’s political structure is formed through a republic of 32 states inside a union bound by a common constitution.  Mexico’s republic used to comprise 31 states and a Federal District (Mexico City), although constitutional changes in 2016 transformed Mexico City into a state in its own right.

The Mexican federal government comprises an executive branch, a bicameral congress composed of a Senate in the upper house, a lower Chamber of Deputies, and an independent judiciary, headed by a Supreme Court.  States have their own constitutions; however, the states’ constitutions cannot contradict the federal constitution, and state governance must adhere to a republican congressional system, headed by a state governor, who may not hold office for more than six years.

The elected president serves as the head of the executive branch, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president is elected for a non-renewable six-year term.

Congressional Representatives are elected for three-year terms in the case of the lower house and six years in the case of the Senate.

Mexican political candidates contest seats in a single-round plurality vote, sometimes referred to as a ‘relative majority.’  This means that the winning candidate is the one who polls more votes than any other in the contest, even if the sum of those votes does not muster a majority.

The main interest in July’s elections was the presidential race, which was contested by four candidates: three representing political coalitions, and one independent. Two of the coalitions are anchored by long-established political parties and led by José Antonio Meade for PRI, and Ricardo Anaya for PAN; the coalition anchored by MORENA, a relatively new party, was formed and is led by former Mexico City mayor and three-times presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador; and the independent candidate is Jaime Rodríguez Calderón.  Margarita Zavala, former First Lady and wife of former Mexican president Felipe Calderón (2006-2012), also ran as an independent candidate, but announced her withdrawal from the presidential race on May 16.

Pre-poll surveys from across the political spectrum gave Mr. López Obrador a commanding lead over his rivals.

When voting closed across the country, official counts revealed that Andrés Manuel López Obrador would win by a landslide.  A short while after exit polls were published, his three adversaries held press conferences in which they conceded defeat to the leftist candidate who campaigned on tackling corruption, violence, and inequality.  As Mexico’s President-Elect, he will be sworn-in to office on December 1, 2018.

The official meaning of the word is one who makes or works with a shovel or spade – pala – but in Mexico it more often means a stooge, someone who acts in place of another, or pretends to be something he is not. Why palero is anyone’s guess (unless someone actually knows). One guess is that it implies stick man, or straw man—hombre de palo.

In Mexican politics, a palero used to be a candidate or party fielded by the single ruling party to create the impression of opposition. Or later, when there was actual opposition, one launched to divert votes from it. In modern political usage, palero can be used to try to discredit any candidate not liked, and is therefore more or less meaningless.

The real paleros crop up in the fairs and market places, working alongside the people who operate a game called “¿dónde quedó la bolita?“—where did the ball go?  This usually involves variations of a small foldaway table covered with a cloth on which three cups (some use plastic bottle tops) are placed, with a pea-sized ball under one of them. The person running the stall will visibly put the “bolita” under one of the cups and then start quickly and very ably moving the cups around. Your job is to keep your eye on the cup with the ball, and when they come to a halt say which one it’s under.

Barring sleight-of-hand, which can’t really be ruled out, your chances are one-in-three of choosing the right one, as following the cup hardly ever works. The bets are even, so if you bet 10 pesos, you get your 10 back and 10 more.  Therefore if you decide to have a go, you are playing against the odds.

The role of the paleros as hustlers appears to be twofold. First it’s to get people to play, as they are frequently seen winning. The other is to raise the stakes, as they appear to exchange reasonably large amounts of money.

These very mobile stalls invariably attract a lot of people, the curious, and of course the stooges who are always present.  Even people who know the score occasionally think they might have a chance to win, and so play.

In any case, if you do decide to play, or watch, also keep a close eye or hand on your wallet or purse, which can also disappear along with the bolita amid the hustle and bustle.

The 1917 Constitution was drafted quickly by a constituent assembly called by Venustiano Carranza, the head of the Constitutionalist faction during the revolution. It was promulgated on Feb. 5 of that year. Constitution Day is a national holiday, observed on the first Monday in February each year, although civic ceremonies marking the promulgation are still held on the 5th.

Among its better-known Articles, the Constitution extended restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church, stripping it of legal and property rights and denying ministers their political rights. It required that all schools be secular and banned any religious services outside of churches. Its anticlerical articles were among the most contentious, and later efforts by the government of Plutarco Elías Calles to enforce them led to the Cristero war of 1926-1929.

It provided for a major state role in the economy, including state ownership of oil and other resources, while establishing significant labor rights and land reform. It also included the restriction on foreigners from owning land along the coast or near the country’s land borders. (This followed a U.S. invasion of Veracruz during the period.)

The speed with which the constitution was drawn up and passed had to do partly with the hurry that Carranza faced to set up a legitimate government after years of civil war, and to keep down the factions that followed revolutionaries Francisco Villa and Emiliano Zapata.

The 1917 Constitution was Mexico’s third since the country gained independence from Spain in the early nineteenth century. The Constitution of 1824 declared the United Mexican States as a country free and independent of Spain. The 1857 Constitution implemented many liberal precepts, and contained some of the first restrictions on the church, but also included rights such as freedom of speech.

All three constitutions were written and promulgated during periods of unrest and political upheaval: the war of independence begun in 1810, the Reform War of 1857-1860 between liberals led by Benito Juárez and conservatives, and and the 1910-1817 revolution which followed the ouster of dictator Porfirio Díaz.

Times change, and so has the need to update the constitution.

Many of the restrictions on the church were eased in constitutional amendments made during the 1990s, which notably included amendments to enable foreign nationals to own property near coasts and borders, as well lifting some of the restraints on private investment in energy industries (the oil industry was expropriated in 1938, and electricity was nationalized in 1960). Further constitutional changes to allow foreign oil companies back into the country were made in 2013.

For 2017’s 100th anniversary of the 1917 Constitution, the Bank of Mexico issued new commemorative 100-peso bills and 20-peso coins. The government has published information related to Mexico’s constitutional history on a special section of its website.

Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) maintains an original and current version of the Constitution and a recent translation into English, as well as updated versions of all other legislation on the legislative section of its website.

That changed – sort of – in January 2016 with the promulgation of the Mexico City political reform. The Federal District, with its nine million or so inhabitants, officially became La Ciudad de México.

Mexico City will remain the seat of federal power and the nation’s capital, and although it will enjoy political benefits like freedom to set its own budgets and debt levels, and have its own constitution, it won’t actually become a full-fledged state.

Instead of “31 states and the Federal District”, the country now has “31 states and Mexico City”.

The city’s 16 areas previously known as delegaciones (delegations) headed by delegados become demarcaciones (demarcations) led by a mayor.

The capital’s iconic term “DF” has been replaced with the new “CDMX” logo which is now especially visible on the city’s public transport vehicles, including taxis.

Elections will be held in June 2016 for a constituent assembly: a body of 100 of whom 60 will be chosen by voters, and others by the federal congress, the city government, and the federal government. They will be responsible for drawing up and approving a Mexico City constitution by January 2017.

The change is something that certain political parties have been seeking for years, especially the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD), which has governed Mexico City since 1997 when capital residents for the first time got to vote for the mayor. Before then, the Mexican president would appoint the mayor of the Federal District, who was referred to as the regente, or regent.

The latest changes appear to be of less interest to the denizens than those made almost 20 years ago. Capital dwellers have been more concerned — and dismayed — by new city traffic regulations that raised fines for different violations to levels many consider unreasonable, given wage levels in the country.

There was a dearth of commentary, even on social media, about the political or democratic implications of the switch from Distrito Federal to Ciudad de México, but the Internet was abuzz with jokes and memes about what capital residents or natives would be called from now on.

Someone somewhere noted that the dictionary of the Real Academia Española — the ultimate authority on the proper use of Spanish — listed mexiqueño as the correct description of someone from Mexico City, where natives and residents are more commonly known by their nickname chilangos, as simply capitalinos, or defeños (of the DF). For many it’s anathema—mexiqueño sounds bad and is obviously way too similar to mexiquense which is what someone from the State of Mexico is called.

Someone else suggested that once the new constitution is drawn up and all the other legal and administrative procedures sorted out, a committee of some sort, presumably involving experts, could discuss and settle on an official name for Mexico City people. Sí güey, as a chilango might say.

See Also: Guide to Mexico City

When you live and work in Mexico you’ll encounter a country that has distinct traditions, culture, language and customs to those which you’re used to in your home country.

See Also: Social Etiquette in Mexico

Business Hours in Mexico

Mexico’s business hours vary depending on the type of commercial establishment.

Office hours in Mexico are becoming similar to US office hours. See Finding Jobs and Working in Mexico for details.

Generally, shops and department stores based at malls trade seven days a week and open later in the morning (around 11 a.m.) to stay open later into the night (most close around 9 p.m.); they often stay open later at weekends. Small corner shops and independent traders will open varying hours depending on their location (some may stay open 24 hours) and some close on Sundays.

Most diners stay open until around midnight (later at weekends); a few are open 24 hours. Restaurants tend to close around 11 p.m. on weeknights and 1 a.m. at weekends.  Fast food restaurants and take-away (e.g. pizza) stay open to around midnight on weekdays and a little later on weekends.

Coffee shops usually open early — especially in urban areas — and stay open to between 10 p.m. and midnight.

Supermarkets are usually open from 8 a.m. to midnight; a few stay open all night, but only in big towns and cities. At Christmas time, supermarkets extend their hours, usually operating 24-hour shifts to cope with the increased demand.

Bowling alleys, cinemas, and ice-skating rinks stay open until around 11 p.m., sometimes later at weekends.

Some of the convenience stores, like Seven-11, Circle K, and Oxxo stay open late into the night, and a few run 24-hour shifts.

Pharmacies are usually open until around 10 p.m., although every area has at least one pharmacy open 24 hours. In smaller towns and cities, pharmacies use a rotary system so that there is at least one local pharmacy open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Museums close at 5 p.m., unless there is a special event or exhibition on, in which case they may advertise extended opening hours.

Bars and cantinas may stay open all day and night, or close in the early hours, usually between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., depending on the establishment.

Night clubs in Mexico open their doors around 11 p.m. (at the earliest) and stay open throughout the night, until sunrise.

See Also: Mexico Business Hours in the Mexico Essentials Guide and
Business Etiquette in the Doing Business in Mexico Guide.

Public Holidays in Mexico

Mexico marks a number of important anniversaries and significant historical events with official public holidays.

From 2006, Mexico introduced the concept of long holiday weekends by taking three important holiday dates and making the official holiday the nearest Monday to the date. The concept is similar to Bank Holidays in the United Kingdom.

See also: Public Holidays in Mexico

Mexican Government Structure

The United States of Mexico is a republic governed by a congressional system where the President of the republic is both head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Mexico is a multi-party democracy where voters nationally elect a President to serve a six-year, non-renewable, term in office.

The Federation, made up of 32 States (including Mexico City) is divided into three branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial, as set out by Mexico’s Constitution.

The Executive branch is headed by the President, advised and supported by a nominated cabinet consisting of Secretaries of State.

The Legislative branch is exercised by the Congress, a bicameral house made up of Senators and the Chamber of Deputies.

The Judicial Branch is exercised by the judiciary, headed by Mexico’s Supreme Court.

Political Parties

Although there are a couple of dozen small political parties throughout Mexico, the three longest established parties are:

PAN – Partido de Accion National: Elected into power for the first time after 71 years of one-party rule, the PAN led Mexico for 12 years until the PRI re-took the Presidency in the 2012 elections.

PRI – Partido Revolucionario Institucional: The party formed a few years after the 1910 revolution and which held political power in Mexico for seven decades until the reign was broken in 2000 by the PAN, headed by former President Vicente Fox. The PRI re-won the Presidency in 2012 under the leadership of Enrique Peña Nieto.

PRD – Partido Revolucionario Democratico: Mexico’s youngest political party, formed in 1989, it gained tremendous political momentum in the 2006 elections and its representatives in the Congressional Chamber continue to wield significant political influence.

See Also:

Mexico’s Political Structure (wiki)

Mexico’s Political Parties (wiki)

Mexico’s Constitution (wiki)

Mexico’s Legal System

Mexico’s Legal System, underpinned by the Mexican Constitution (wiki) is based primarily upon Napoleonic Law (wiki), although it has been transformed over the years and, like the Constitution itself, the legal system has Capitalist and Socialist characteristics blended into it.

Marriage and Divorce in Mexico

Marriage in Mexico: A legal Marriage in Mexico will be legally recognized world-wide; however you must get your certificate notarized to authenticate the document.  Same-sex marriages are now recognized in some states, including Mexico City.

See Also: Guide to Getting Married in Mexico

Divorce: Under Mexican Law, one spouse must be legally resident in Mexico in order to be able to file for divorce here.

The Military in Mexico

Military Installations in Mexico

Mexico’s military is made up of Army, Air Force and Navy Corps.

If you are passing-by one of Mexico’s military installations, you should avoid loitering and avoid taking photographs or video footage.

You may, at times, see army personnel guarding public buildings or demonstrating a presence in public spaces: they do not like to be photographed of filmed and will usually wave you away if you try. If you insist you may have your photography equipment confiscated.

See Also: Video and Photography in Mexico

Military Road Blocks in Mexico

If you are traveling by road on Mexico’s highways, you are likely to encounter, at some point, a military check-point and you may also see military patrols driving on the highways too.

Check-points are set up in random places, often (but not exclusively) along coastal roads and highways crossing remote areas. The road blocks are there to prevent the trafficking of narcotics, illegal contraband (e.g. the illegal transportation of fine woods from protected forests that do not have a licence for sale), as well as deter and intercept those involved in organized crime.

Being stopped at a military check-point may seem scary at first, but the personnel will treat you respectfully, and usually ask you to do things such as open your trunk and perhaps the hood of the vehicle you are driving. They may also make an internal check of the vehicle in addition to checking underneath it using mirrors. If they suspect foul-play they may ask everyone in the vehicle to step-out and then undertake a thorough check of the interior.

The key is to always to remain polite and calm and comply with their instructions. Check-point personnel are usually amiable and will even provide some local knowledge (e.g. directions) if you need some (you’ll need to speak Spanish).

If you are detained by the military or police for any reason, you should ask for permission to contact your Consulate for assistance.

See also: Military Checkpoints in Mexico and  Consular Assistance in Mexico

Military Conscription

‘The Draft’ is still practiced in Mexico and all males reaching the age of 18 must register into the conscription program and thus enter Mexico’s ‘conscription lottery’: those who are selected by the lottery to attend will need to complete a full year of military service, which in fact comprises of attending military drills at weekends and is not full-time, comprehensive military training.

If you are married to a Mexican national, and your children have dual nationality, then your boys will need to enter the conscription lottery: being a dual national does not exempt you or your children from Mexican military conscription.

See Also: SEDENA, Secretaria de Defensa Nacional, (Defense Ministry)

Police Forces in Mexico

Mexico’s Police are organized into two main groups:

• Preventative Police Force (Policia Preventiva)
• Judicial Police Force (Policia Judicial)

Preventative Police maintain law and order and provide a security presence on the streets of Mexico’s towns and cities. Their powers are limited: they do not investigate crimes and only get involved with the Judicial Police at the request of the Justice Ministry.

Judicial Police have considerably more power and jurisdiction. They are organized into three types: operations (uniformed and plain-clothes officers); investigating agents, and specialists, e.g. forensics.

Police Jurisdiction in Mexico

There are several Police Jurisdictions in Mexico:

• Municipal
• Mexico’s States
• Preventative Police in Mexico City
• Judicial Police in the Mexico City
• Federal Police Forces
• Special Forces

Municipal: Municipios are the local government delegations (similar to Counties in the USA) across Mexico’s thousands of small towns and cities outside of the Federal District (Mexico City). Municipios maintain a preventative police force only.

Mexico’s States: Each of Mexico’s 31 states maintain a Preventative and Judicial Police Force. State police enforce state laws in addition to Federal Laws.

Mexico City: Mexico has a centralized political and economic model, and Mexico City, just as in Aztec times, continues to be the heart and hub of the nation’s political, economic and social power base. Mexico City has an estimated population of 22 million people (which includes the city proper and the greater metropolitan areas surrounding it). Because of its size and complexity, the capital maintains the largest Preventative and Judicial Police Forces in Mexico.

Preventative Police in Mexico City: The Preventative Police Force in Mexico City is the nation’s largest force and is organized into three groups: Preventative Police Officers (sub-organized into Sector Police, Metropolitan Police, Transit Police, Tourist Police, Feminine Police, and Granaderos, charged with protecting the historical center of the capital), Auxiliary Police and Banking Security Police.

Judicial Police in Mexico City: Known as the PGJ (Procuraduria General de la Justicia) this force reports to the Attorney General and investigates crimes and complaints about crimes, dispatching officers to investigate them. It is organized into Judicial Police, Investigators and Specialists.

Federal Police Forces: Mexico’s Attorney General has its own Judicial Police Force, formerly know as the PGR, (Procuraduria General de la Republica), but now renamed to the AFI (Agencia Federal de Investigaciones), a sort of US-style FBI. The force investigates federal crimes including drugs and firearm crimes, kidnapping and other organized crimes.

Mexico has a second Federal Police Force, known as the PFP (Policia Federal Preventiva). The Federal Preventive Police are charged with maintaining law and order at a national level and the force brings together the Federal Highway Police, Federal Banking (Fiscal) Police, and Federal Immigration Police.

Special Forces: Mexico has several special forces including an Emergency Rescue Squad, a Task Force Squad (dealing with terrorism and bomb threats) and a so-called “Alfa” force which deals with Organized Drug Crime.

Crime in Mexico

Crime statistics ballooned in Mexico during the 1990s; some studies suggest that the economic crisis of the mid 90s and the crack-down on organized drug trafficking were some of causes of the sudden increase in crime.

Since then, Mexico’s economy has stabilized and a number of police-related security organizations have been brought into being by congressional decree (like the Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Publica) to help alleviate insecurity.

Kidnapping became an infamous problem in Mexico for a time, and still remains a concern in some areas, especially “express” kidnappings where a victim is held for a short period of time — usually long enough to force money to be withdrawn from an ATM for example — and then released. Most major kidnappings involve rich people (or their family members) in hope of extracting a ransom from the victims.

The biggest reported crimes are robbery and petty theft (e.g. pick pocketing and bag snatching). Violent crime is actually very rare in Mexico outside of Mexico City and even rarer for foreigners to be involved when it does happen.

Most violent crime in Mexico revolves around organized crime and especially drug crime: territorial and other disputes often end up in bloodshed in the drug trade. Of late, places like Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and Acapulco have been in the news due to drug-related violent crime; however innocent tourists and foreigners have not been left by-and-large untouched the incidents.

Crime reporting levels, and prosecutions from reported crimes, are very low in Mexico. Notwithstanding this, if you become a victim of crime in Mexico, you should report it to the police (you will need to file a police report to claim on any insurance you may have) and, in the unlikely event that you become the victim of a serious crime, you should contact your consulate, too.

See Blog: Consular Assistance in Mexico.

See Also: Safety in Mexico

Religion in Mexico

Mexico’s people are very religious and predominantly Roman-Catholic, although Mexico is an open and extremely tolerant country which allows all religions to practice their faith openly and without fear of reprisal.

Churches of all Christian denominations may be found in Mexico City and you will also find all other major faiths (e.g. Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist) represented in the capital, and elsewhere. The district of Coyoacan, in Mexico City, is well-known for its extensive numbers of theological book stores covering virtually all religions and beliefs.

In the provinces, Roman Catholicism is the dominant faith and most churches you visit throughout Mexico will be Catholic.

In rural places with strong indigenous roots, for example, in San Juan Chamula, you will also find religious orders which are a blend of Catholic and Indigenous beliefs.

Local Knowledge about Mexico

For more in-depth local knowledge about Mexico, also read the following guides and blogs here on Mexperience:

• Mexico Essentials
• Guide to Doing Business in Mexico
• Learn Spanish and
• Connect to our Mexico Blog, packed with local knowledge

As a number of these records show, the city’s inhabitants are very gregarious, and keen to attend outdoor events. The street markets, the fairs, the parks, attract thousands of people every weekend.

This penchant for collective outdoor activities leads to another possible record that the capital could aspire to: the place with the most demonstrations in a given year. Teachers, transport workers, street vendors, students, dairy farmers, and sugar cane growers are just some of the groups that in recent years have marched in the capital demanding solutions to problems, or protesting about some situation or other. Some groups have taken to camping out in the city, outside the Congress or one of the ministries where they expect their cases to be heard.

The downtown area of the capital, with its carefully placed monuments, couldn’t have been more convenient for marches if it had been designed with demonstrators in mind. A common march route is along the broad Reforma Avenue – often starting at the Angel of the Independence monument – down Juarez Avenue, past the Fine Arts Palace to the main square, or Zocalo – the biggest on the continent – a popular gathering place for demonstrators which is as easily filled for a political rally or a free outdoor concert.

City authorities are generally tolerant of demonstrations, which often involve blocking off major thoroughfares for several hours, causing traffic problems. But for many city dwellers, the demonstrations have become a serious source of annoyance, particularly when it keeps them from reaching their place of work on time, or from getting home.

But visitors, for whom the novelty hasn’t worn off, are less likely to be bothered. And although there are occasional scuffles with the police, the majority of demonstrations in the capital are non-violent, although often noisy.

One thing though, you can easily tell which ones are the teachers – they always seem to go out demonstrating during the school year, and never during the holidays.

One genre that suffered from its new-found freedom was television comedy. The funny men of the small screen were allowed to start using mild expletives, which they took no small advantage of, and now it seems that one out of every two sketches is a variation on the joke about the milkman.

It wasn’t always so. Some of Mexico’s best comedians honed their skills in an environment of strict censorship.

Manuel “El Loco” Valdés was fined and suspended —”frozen” is the term used by the TV masters — reportedly at the government’s behest, for a cheeky reference to 19th Century President Benito Juárez which today no one would even blink at.  The late great football commentator Angel Fernández — famous for shouting “gooooooooooool” at great length and for finding nicknames for players and teams —was reportedly suspended for criticizing another country’s national anthem.

One of the most popular television comedians was the late Roberto Gómez Bolaños (1929-2014), known by his screen name as Chespirito —”little Shakespeare” — and whose characters include “El Chavo,” “El Chapulín Colorado,” and the small-time crook “Chómpiras,” alias Aquiles Esquivel Madrazo. The Chespirito shows, a mixture of slapstick, puns, and general silliness, were successful years back and merited their re-runs in the 1990s.

Los Polivoces was a popular show of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Chucho Salinas and Hector Lechuga offered some subtle—it had to be subtle back then—political satire in the early 1980s.

Another successful comedy show was La Caravana, which ran in the early 1990s with Victor Trujillo and Ausencio Cruz, whose variety of sketches and characters— Brozo the clown, Margarito the loser, and others—were the most creative of the time.

Scenes from these programs can be found on YouTube, and it doesn’t take long to figure out that at present there’s nothing on television to match them–censorship or no censorship.