Mexico Fun Facts

Fun Fact: Mexicans are 5 times more likely to get murdered in Mexico compared to in the USA! Mexico’s is a country in North America that gained independence on October 4, 1824. The Roman Catholic religion and democratic government are factors that shaped Mexico into the country it is today.

Mexico is an interesting country. Mexico’s official name is United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos). Mexico has 758,450 square miles of land. The official language of Mexico is Spanish. The population of Mexico is 121,568,000 and its currency is Mexican Peso. The capital of Mexico is Mexico City. The highest point in Mexico is Mount Orizaba. Mexico’s current president is Enrique Peña Nieto. Some National Holidays celebrated in Mexico include: New
Year’s Day, Constitution Day, Birthday of Benito Juarez, Labor Day, Cinco de Mayo, Independence Day, El Grito, Dia de la Raza, Revolutionary Day, Christmas Day and Mother’s Day. Mexico is interesting!

The majority of people in Mexico are Roman Catholic. In Mexico, the religion with the most people is Roman Catholic (83 percent of people), but many don’t attend church. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico and a symbol for the nation. At first, the Mexican constitution promised freedom of worship and banned public worshipping and owning property but laws have changed and gave churches more legal rights. The Catholic church used to have control over schools during the colonial period, but the government has gained control over schools again. However, churches are allowed to own their own school. In addition, 6 percent of people are protestants, which are against the Roman Catholic doctrine. However, they are increasing in numbers. Therefore, most citizens are Roman Catholic.

Mexico has a democratic government. The president controls the federal republic, consisting of 31 states and one federal district, by operating it under a central government. The president stays as his role for at most 6 years and cannot be president again. Mexico also has an executive branch, a legislative branch and a judicial branch. Policies, proposes, laws and the control of the distribution of federal tax revenues are decided by the executive branch which is led by a president.The legislature is called a Congress and consists of a senate and Chamber Of Deputies. The Senate consists of 128 members and each serve a 6 year term. The Chamber of Deputies consists of 500 members and each serve a 3 year term and 300 of them are selected from the electoral districts and the rest are filled by deputies who do not represent a district. The most important political party is the PRI or Partido Revolucionario Institucional. The PRI was set up in 1929 which controlled politics and government until the end of the 1900’s.
The PRI promised free public education for all, free national health care program and it also promised to take many acres of land from wealthy ranch owners and give to the poor.
Workers would be allowed to do labor unions; eight hours at work and a minimum wage is guaranteed. The Constitution banned pay discrimination based on gender or nationality, and also citizens were allowed to vote fairly. However, most of the promises were not kept. The PRI has been transferring power smoothly from one person to another, but more Mexicans are feeling like their interests are getting ignored this way.
Violence against electoral candidates are common. The government has ensured that there is protection for citizens, but many citizens do not have confidence in the government as violence continues. The first president of Mexico is Guadalupe Victoria. Therefore, Mexico is a democratic country.

Mexico is the country it is today because of the Roman Catholic religion and democratic government. It is important to learn about this country to understand our own society better by knowing how different it is from our own country, to expand our knowledge about the world and to learn how to improve countries with the different things each
do.