1.
President of Mexico
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The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces, the current President is Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office on December 1,2012. Currently, the office of the President is considered to be revolutionary, another legacy of the Revolution is its ban on re-election. Mexican presidents are limited to a single term, called a sexenio. No one who has held the post, even on a basis, is allowed to run or serve again. The constitution and the office of the President closely follow the system of government. Chapter III of Title III of the Constitution deals with the branch of government and sets forth the powers of the president. He is vested with the executive power of the Union. Be a resident of Mexico for at least twenty years, be thirty-five years of age or older at the time of the election. Be a resident of Mexico for the year prior to the election. Not be an official or minister of any church or religious denomination, not be in active military service during the six months prior to the election. Not have been president already, even in a provisional capacity, the ban on any sort of presidential re-election, dating back to the aftermath of the Porfiriato and the end of the Mexican Revolution, has remained in place even as it was relaxed for other offices. In 2014, the constitution was amended to allow Deputies and Senators to run for a consecutive term. Previously, Deputies and Senators were barred from successive re-election, however, the restriction on presidential re-election, even if it is nonsuccessive, remained in place. The presidential term was set at four years from 1821 to 1934, the president is elected by direct, popular, universal suffrage. Whoever wins a plurality of the national vote is elected. The most recent former President, Felipe Calderón, won with 36. 38% of the votes in the 2006 general election, finishing only 0.56 percent above his nearest rival, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Former President Vicente Fox was elected with a plurality of 43% of the vote, Ernesto Zedillo won 48% of the vote
2.
Coahuila
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The state is located in Northeastern Mexico on the US border. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of Nuevo León to the east, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí to the south, and Durango and Chihuahua to the west. To the north, Coahuila accounts for a 512 kilometres stretch of the Mexico–United States border, with an area of 151,563 square kilometres, it is the nations third-largest state. In 2010, Coahuilas population is 2,748,391 inhabitants, the Spanish explored the north of Mexico some decades after their victory in Tenochtiitlán the capital of the Aztecs. Such exploration was delayed because the climate was harsher and there was no gold. The first Spanish settlement in the now called Coahuila was at Minas de la Trinidad in 1577. Saltillo was settled in 1586, to part of the province of Nueva Vizcaya of the Vice-royalty of New Spain. Later it became one of the first provinces of Nueva Extremadura to be explored by Europeans, Coahuila and Texas was one of the constituent states of the newly independent United Mexican States under their 1824 Constitution, and included Texas, Coahuila and Nuevo León. Later in the same year Nuevo León was detached, but Texas remained a part of the state until 1836, Monclova was the capital of the state from 1833 to 1835. In 1840 Coahuila briefly became a member of the short lived Republic of the Rio Grande, on February 19,1856, Santiago Vidaurri annexed Coahuila to his state, Nuevo León, but it regained its separate status in 1868. During the Mexican Revolution, Francisco Villa attacked the city of Torreón, on April 4,2004, the border city of Piedras Negras was flooded. More than 30 people died and more than 4,000 lost their homes, in 2007 Coahuila became the first state in Mexico to offer civil unions to same-sex couples. The Sierra Madre Oriental runs northwest to southeast through the State, the northernmost fingers of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra del Burro and the Sierra del Carmen, reach to the border with the United States at the Rio Grande. East of the range, the land slopes gently toward the Rio Grande, and is drained by rivers, including the Salado and its tributary. The Tamaulipan mezquital, a dry shrubland ecoregion, occupies the portion of the State. The portion of the State west of the Sierra Madre Oriental lies on the Mexican Plateau, the Bolsón de Mapimí is a large endorheic basin which covers much of the western portion of the State and extends into adjacent portions of Chihuahua, Durango, and Zacatecas. The Nazas River, which flows east from Durango, and the Aguanaval River, Torreón, the most populous city in the State, lies on the Nazas in the irrigated Laguna Region, the, which straddles the border of Coahuila and Durango. Maderas del Carmen lies on the border of the State
3.
Saltillo
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Saltillo is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located about 258 kilometres west of the Texas border, as of the 2005 census, Saltillo had a population of 725,095 people. 823,098 people reside within the area, making it the 19th biggest metro area in the country. The metro area comprises the municipalities of Saltillo, Ramos Arizpe, founded in 1577 by Conquistador Alberto del Canto and Spanish colonists, Saltillo is the oldest post-conquest settlement in northern Mexico. Saltillo was a commercial center on the northern frontier which served as a bridge from central Mexico to regions farther northeast, Nuevo León, Nuevo Santander, Coahuila. Saltillo supplied the mines of Zacatecas with wheat. It never rose to prominence, but it did develop a commercial core. Saltillo became administratively more important at the end of the eighteenth century, merchants, most of whom were Iberian-born peninsular Spaniards, constituted the most important economic group, handling a wide variety of goods and sold in shops. They were the branch of the transatlantic merchant sector, with ties to Mexico City merchants. Peninsular merchants in Saltillo married into local society, acquired rural properties. In the late century, an annual trade fair was established, with goods from as far away as China and Europe. Saltillo could produce wheat commercially so long as enterprises had access to water, in the eighteenth century, there was a demand for draft animals, which Saltillo could supply. The city of Saltillo is the seat of the municipality of Saltillo. The current Mayor is Isidro Lopez Villareal from the Partido Accion Nacional, el Cerro del Pueblo and its 4-metre cross overlook the city. The citys elevation, at 1,600 metres, makes it cooler and windier than the city of Monterrey. Saltillo lies near the city of Arteaga and in the Chihuahuan Desert, the city is flanked by the Zapalinamé mountains, which are part of the Sierra Madre Oriental. By looking at the relief of the mountains, one can see, according to local legend, Saltillo is located in the Chihuahuan Desert but temperatures are cooler than other desert cities in Mexico because it is located in an altitude of 1,600 meters. Summers are slightly hot with cool nights, and winters are sunny, rainfall is scarce but more prominent in summer
4.
Mexican Revolution
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The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle c. 1910–1920 that radically transformed Mexican culture and government. Although recent research has focused on local and regional aspects of the Revolution and its outbreak in 1910 resulted from the failure of the 35-year long regime of Porfirio Díaz to find a managed solution to the presidential succession. This meant there was a crisis among competing elites and the opportunity for agrarian insurrection. Madero challenged Díaz in 1910 presidential election, and following the rigged results, armed conflict ousted Díaz from power and a new election was held in 1911, bringing Madero to the presidency. The origins of the conflict were broadly based in opposition to the Díaz regime, with the 1910 election, elements of the Mexican elite hostile to Díaz, led by Madero, expanded to the middle class, the peasantry in some regions, and organized labor. In October 1911, Madero was overwhelmingly elected in a free, Huerta remained in power from February 1913 until July 1914, when he was forced out by a coalition of different regional revolutionary forces. Then the revolutionaries attempt to come to a political agreement following Huertas ouster failed, Zapata was assassinated in 1919, by agents of President Carranza. The armed conflict lasted for the part of a decade, until around 1920. Revolutionary forces unified against Huertas reactionary regime defeated the Federal forces, although the conflict was primarily a civil war, foreign powers that had important economic and strategic interests in Mexico figured in the outcome of Mexicos power struggles. The United States played a significant role. Out of Mexicos population of 15 million, the losses were high, perhaps 1.5 million people died, nearly 200,000 refugees fled abroad, especially to the United States. Politically, the promulgation of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 is seen by scholars as the end point of the armed conflict. The period 1920–1940 is often considered to be a phase of the Revolution, during which power was consolidated, after the presidency of his ally, General Manuel González, Díaz ran for the presidency again and legally remained in office until 1911. The constitution had been amended to allow presidential re-election, Díazs re-election was ironic, since he had challenged Benito Juárez on the platform no re-election. During the Porfiriato there were regular elections although there were contentious irregularities, the contested 1910 election, was a key political event that led to the Mexican Revolution. As Díaz aged, the question of succession became increasingly important. In 1906, the office of president was revived, with Díaz choosing his close ally Ramón Corral from among his Cientifico advisers to serve in the post. By the 1910 election, the Díaz regime had become highly authoritarian and he had been a national hero, opposing the French Intervention in the 1860s and distinguishing himself in the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862
5.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
6.
Venustiano Carranza
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He secured power in Mexico, serving as head of state 1915-1917. With the promulgation of a new revolutionary Mexican Constitution of 1917, he was elected president, known as the Primer Jefe or First Chief of the Constitutionalists, Carranza was a shrewd politician rather than a military man. Maderos challenge to the Díaz regime in the 1910 elections and Maderos Plan de San Luis Potosí to nullify the elections and he was appointed governor of his home state of Coahuila by Madero. When Madero was murdered in February 1913, Carranza drew up the Plan de Guadalupe, Carranza became the leader of northern forces opposed to Huerta. He went on to lead the Constitutionalist faction to victory and become president of Mexico and he was far more conservative than either Southern peasant leader Emiliano Zapata or Northern revolutionary general Pancho Villa. Once firmly in power in Mexico, Carranza sought to eliminate his political rivals, Carranza won recognition from the United States, but took strongly nationalist positions. During his administration, the current constitution of Mexico was drafted and adopted, in the 1920 election, in which he could not succeed himself, he attempted to impose a virtually unknown, civilian politician, Ignacio Bonillas, as president of Mexico. Northern generals, who held power, rose up against Carranza under the Plan of Agua Prieta. Carranza was born in the town of Cuatro Ciénegas, in the state of Coahuila, in 1859, to an upper middle-class cattle-ranching family. His father, Jesús Carranza Neira, had been a rancher and mule driver until the time of the Reform War, in which he fought against the Indians, during the Franco-Mexican War, Jesús Carranza became a colonel and was Benito Juárezs main contact in Coahuila. There was a personal connection between the two, with Carranza lending Juárez money while Juárez was in exile. Following the ouster of the French, Juárez rewarded Carranza with land, because of his familys wealth, Venustiano, the eleventh of fifteen children, was able to attend excellent schools in Saltillo and Mexico City. Venustiano studied at the Ateneo Fuente, a famous Liberal school in Saltillo, in 1874, he went to the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria in Mexico City, where he had aspirations to be a doctor. Díazs troops defeated Lerdos, and Díaz and his armies marched into Mexico City in triumph, upon completion of his studies, Carranza returned to Coahuila to raise cattle, since he had an eye disease that prevented him becoming a doctor. He married Virginia Salinas in 1882, and the couple had two daughters, the Carranzas had high ambitions for Venustiano, who would use the family money to advance his political career. In 1887, at age 28, he became president of Cuatro Ciénegas. Carranza remained a Liberal who idolized Benito Juárez, at the same time, he grew disillusioned with the increasingly authoritarian character of the rule of Porfirio Díaz during this period. In 1893,300 Coahuila ranchers organized a resistance to oppose the re-election of Porfirio Díazs supporter José María Garza Galán as Governor of Coahuila
7.
Pancho Villa
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Francisco Pancho Villa was a Mexican Revolutionary general and one of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution. As commander of the División del Norte in the Constitutionalist Army, given the areas size and mineral wealth, it provided him with extensive resources. Villa was also provisional Governor of Chihuahua in 1913 and 1914, Villa can be credited with decisive military victories leading to the ousting of Victoriano Huerta from the presidency in July 1914. Villa then fought his erstwhile leader in the coalition against Huerta, Villa was in alliance with southern revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who remained fighting in his own region of Morelos. The two revolutionary generals briefly came together to take Mexico City after Carranzas forces retreated from it, later, Villas heretofore undefeated División del Norte engaged the military forces of Carranza under Carrancista general Álvaro Obregón and was defeated in the 1915 Battle of Celaya. Villa was again defeated by Carranza,1 November 1915, at the Second Battle of Agua Prieta 1 November 1915, after which Villas army collapsed as a significant military force. Villa subsequently led a hit and run raid against the small U. S. -Mexican border town in the Battle of Columbus 9 March 1916, the U. S. government sent U. S. Army General John J. In 1923, as elections approached, he re-involved himself in Mexican politics. Shortly thereafter he was assassinated, most likely on the orders of Obregón, after his death, he was excluded from the pantheon of revolutionary heroes until the Sonoran generals Obregón and Calles, whom he battled during the Revolution, were gone from the political stage. Villas exclusion from the narrative of the Revolution might have contributed to his continued posthumous popular acclaim. He was celebrated during the Revolution and long afterward by corridos, movies about his life, in 1976, his remains were reburied in the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City in a huge public ceremony not attended by his widow Luz Corral. Villa told a number of conflicting stories about his early life, according to most sources, he was born on 5 June 1878, and named José Doroteo Arango Arámbula at birth. His father was a sharecropper named Agustín Arango, and his mother was Micaela Arámbula and he grew up at the Rancho de la Coyotada, one of the largest haciendas in the state of Durango. The familys residence now houses the Casa de Pancho Villa historic museum in San Juan del Rio, Doroteo later claimed to be the son of the bandit Agustín Villa, but according to at least one scholar, the identity of his real father is still unknown. He wasthe oldest of five children, as a child, he received some education from a local church-run school, but was not proficient in more than basic literacy. He quit school to help his mother after his father died and he became a bandit at some point early on, but also worked as a sharecropper, muleskinner, butcher, bricklayer, and foreman for a U. S. railway company. However, the veracity of this story is questionable, eventually, he became a member of a bandit band headed by Ignacio Parra, one of the most famous bandits in Durango at the time. As a bandit, he went by the name Arango, in 1902, the rurales, the crack rural police force of President Porfirio Díaz, arrested Pancho for stealing mules and for assault
8.
Emiliano Zapata
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Cooperating with a number of other peasant leaders he formed the Liberation Army of the South of which he soon became the undisputed leader. Zapatas forces contributed to the fall of Díaz, defeating the Federal Army in the Battle of Cuautla, Madero became president he disavowed the role of the Zapatistas, denouncing them as simple bandits. In November 1911, Zapata promulgated the Plan de Ayala which called for land reforms. Madero sent the Federal Army to root out the Zapatistas in Morelos and this strengthened Zapatas standing among the peasants and Zapata was able to drive the forces of Madero led by Victoriano Huerta out of Morelos. Zapata did not recognize the authority that Carranza asserted as leader of the revolutionary movement, in the aftermath of the revolutionaries victory over Huerta, they attempted to sort out power relations in the Convention of Aguascalientes. Zapata and Villa broke with Carranza, and Mexico descended into civil war among the winners, dismayed with the alliance with Villa, Zapata focused his energies on rebuilding society in Morelos which he now controlled, instituting the land reforms of the Plan de Ayala. Zapata once again retook Morelos in 1917 and held most of the state against Carranzas troops until he was killed in an ambush in April 1919, after his death Zapatista generals aligned with Obregón against Carranza and helped drive Carranza from power. In 1920, Zapatistas managed to obtain powerful posts in the governance of Morelos after Carranzas fall and they instituted many of the land reforms envisioned by Zapata in Morelos. Zapata remains a figure in Mexico, used both as a nationalist symbol as well as a symbol of the neo-Zapatista movement. Zapatas family were Mexicans of Nahua and Spanish ancestry, that is mestizos, Emiliano was the ninth of ten children, his older brother Eufemio Zapata is also figure in Morelos history. From a family of farmers, Emiliano Zapata had insight into the difficulties of the countryside. He received an education from his teacher, Emilio Vara. At the age of 16 or 17, Zapata had to care for his following his fathers death. He was a horseman and competed in rodeos and races. These skills as a horseman brought him work as a trainer of Porfirio Díazs son-in-law, who had an hacienda nearby. In an undated studio photo, Zapata is dressed in a business suit and tie. Around the turn of the 20th century Anenecuilco was mixed Spanish-speaking mestizo and it had a long history of protesting the local haciendas taking community members land and its leaders gathered colonial-era documentation of their land titles to prove their claims. Some of the documentation was in Nahuatl, with contemporary translations to Spanish for use in legal cases in the Spanish courts
9.
Zacatecas
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Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatecas is located in North-Central Mexico. The state is best known for its deposits of silver and other minerals, its colonial architecture. Its main economic activities are mining, agriculture and tourism, Zacatecas is located in the center-north of Mexico, and covers an area of 75, 284km2, the tenth largest state in the country. It borders the states of Jalisco, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosí, Coahuila and Durango and is divided into fifty eight municipalities and 4,882, towns, cities and other communities. The state has an altitude of 2230 meters above sea level. The state has three geographical regions, the Sierra Madre Occidental in the west, the Mexican Plateau. Most of it is in the Sierra Madre Occidental with highly rugged with peaks of over 2,500 meters above sea level, the mountains of the southeast and northeast are lower but there large valleys such as the Juchipila and Tlaltenango. Most of the territory has only small mesas and other areas of flat land, in the center of the state, there is a small mountain chain called the Sierra de Fresnillo, from which much of the state’s mineral wealth comes from. In the extreme northwest, there is another important mountain chain called the Sierra de Sombrerete, marked by a mountain called Sombreretillo, near this chain is another called the Sierra de Órganos. No major rivers run through the state and most of the run only during the rainy season. The state belongs to two basins, the south east of the state belongs to the Lerma River basin, which eventually empties in the Pacific Ocean. Rivers belonging to this include the San Pedro, Juchipila, Jerez. The other basin is smaller and endorheic, and does not empty into any ocean, the state has eighty dams with a total capacity of 595,337 million cubic meters. The largest of these are the Leobardo Reynoso in Fresnillo, Miguel Aleman in Tlaltenango, much of the state’s water is underground divided into twenty hydraulic zones. These are accesses with over 5,800 wells mostly for agricultural use, most of the territory has a cool, dry climate, although areas in the south have more moisture, with most rain falling between June and September. The driest and coldest areas are in the northeast, known as the Salado because of its saltwater lakes, 75% of the state is arid or semi arid. 14% is arable and 79% is apt for the grazing of livestock, the average annual temperature is 16C with most of the state being temperate
10.
Francisco I. Madero
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Francisco Indalesio Madero González was a Mexican statesman, writer, and revolutionary who served as the 33rd president of Mexico from 1911 until his assassination in 1913. He was an advocate for justice and democracy. Madero was notable for having challenged Mexican President Porfirio Díaz for the presidency in 1910, born into an extremely wealthy landowning family in northern Mexico, Madero was an unusual politician, who until he ran for president in the 1910 elections, had never held office. In his 1908 book entitled The Presidential Succession in 1910, Madero called on voters to prevent the sixth reelection of Porfirio Díaz and his vision would lay the foundation for a democratic, 20th-century Mexico, but without polarizing the social classes. To that effect, he bankrolled the Anti-Reelectionist Party and urged Mexicans to rise up against Díaz, following the resignation of Díaz from the presidency on 25 May 1911 after the signing of the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez, Madero became the highest political leader of the country. Known as Maderistas, Maderos followers referred to him as the de la Revolución. He was elected president on 15 October 1911 by almost 90% of the vote, sworn into office on 6 November 1911, he became one of Mexicos youngest elected presidents having just turned 38. Despite considerable popularity amongst the people, Maderos administration soon encountered opposition both from more radical revolutionaries and from remnants of the former regime, in February 1913, a military coup took place in the Mexican capital led by General Victoriano Huerta, the military commander of the city. Madero was arrested and a time later assassinated along with his Vice-President, José María Pino Suárez on 22 February 1913. He was born in Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila, the first son of Francisco Ignacio Madero Hernández and Mercedes González Treviño and he was sickly as a child, and was small in stature as an adult. It is widely believed that Maderos middle initial, I, stood for Indalecio, civil War and built a diversified fortune. For many years, the family prospered during Porfirio Díazs regime, Evaristo married twice and had 14 children who lived to adulthood, including Francisco I. Madero, Sr. father of the future president, thus, young Francisco was a member of a huge and powerful northern Mexican family which had long-standing issues with the Díaz regime. Francisco and his brother Gustavo A. Madero were educated at the Jesuit college in Saltillo, instead, his fathers subscription to the magazine Revue Spirite awakened in the young Madero an interest in Spiritism, an offshoot of Spiritualism. As a young man, Maderos father sent him to the École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris. During his time in Paris, Madero made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Allan Kardec, the founder of Spiritism and he then attended high school at Culver Academies. Following business school, Madero traveled to the University of California, Berkeley to study agricultural techniques, during his time there, he was influenced by the Theosophist ideas of Annie Besant, which were prominent at nearby Stanford University. In 1893, the 20-year-old Madero returned to Mexico and assumed management of the Madero familys hacienda at San Pedro, well traveled and well educated, he was now in robust health
