GENERAL INFO ABOUT THE COUNTRY OF MEXICO:
In-Bond Industries (Maquiladoras)
Mexico is a Representative Federal Republic divided into 31 states and one Federal District that houses the Federal Government and Capital. The Government is divided into three branches:
Executive branch: President, Chief of state and head of the government. Reelection is prohibited.
Legislative branch: Integrated by the Congress (Congreso de la Union), Senate (Camara de Senadores) and the Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados).
Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Suprema Corte de Justicia)
There are nine political parties, but three of them are the more representative:
PAN (right wing) is the ruling party
PRI
PRD (left wing)
The country's government structure, however, is undergoing major changes. The first opposition victory in a gubernatorial race took place only in 1989. After that the opposition has continued to gain ground and has scored increasingly frequent wins, including the PAN victory in 2000 when Vicente Fox defeated Ernesto Zedillo to remove a PRI candidate as President for the first time in 70 years. The presence of the opposition in Congress, for years limited to a few legislators, has been greatly expanded. This means, among other things, that the PRI party does not have the power to change the constitution on its own, as it often did in the past.
Geographically Mexico is located in North America, bordering with the United States of America, Central America, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. With an area of 1,972,550 sq. kilometers (761,930 sq. miles) Mexico is the 13th largest country in the world and the 5th in the Western Hemisphere, with a 9,330 km coastline and a 3,326 km long border with the USA from NW Tijuana to where the Rio Bravo inserts to the Gulf of Mexico. 12% of the land holds arable land, 1% permanent crops, 39% meadows and pastures, 24% forest and woodland and the 24% remaining for other activities.
The country's strategic geographical location has long been the key to intense international flows with the obvious cultural, economic and touristic impact this implies.
The variation in Mexico's climate is not surprising considering the size of the country. The coast and low-lying sections of the interior are often very hot if not actually tropical, with temperatures ranging from 24 to 31 C (75 to 88 F) in winter and well above 32 C (90 F) in summer. A milder area ranging from 16 to 21 C (60 to 70 F) is found at altitudes of 1,220-1,830 meters (4,000-6,000 feet). In general, the high central plateau on which Mexico City, Guadalajara, and many of the country's colonial cities are located is "spring like" year-round. Generally speaking, from October through May, is considered the dry
season. Rain can fall daily during the peak of the rainy season from June to September.
It is estimated that there are over 94 million people living in Mexico. Fifty percent of the population is between 20 and 55 years old. The proportion of the working force as a percentage of the total population (37.6%) is only slightly inferior than the global average (40%), but with a much higher growth rate (2.7% vs. 1.7% estimated for the next five years). The average productivity per worker on the manufacturing area grew to a median annual rate of 6.7% in the 1991 to 1994 period, an elevated growth with respect to other countries. The population by occupations:
Services 31.7%
Agriculture, Forestry, Hunting and Fishing 28%
Commerce 14.6%
Manufacturing 11.1%
Construction 8.4%
Transportation 4.7%
Mining and Quarrying 1.5%.
Due to the education given to young couples, the population is not growing at the fast rates that it used to. Population growth rate is 1.9% but due to the better attention people are receiving, the relation between birth rate and death rate makes it that the population will keep on growing in the near future.
Birth rate: 26.64 births/1,000 population.
Death rate: 4.64 deaths/1,000 population.
Infant mortality rate: 26 deaths/1,000 live births.
Life expectancy at birth: 73.34 years
Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%.
Work Week: 48 hours, one paid day of rest
Spanish is the official language in Mexico. English, however, is the language most widely used in transactions with foreign countries. The country's monetary unit is the Mexican Peso. Foreign transactions are, however, carried out in US Dollars mainly. At the end of 1993 they removed three zeros (divided by 1,000) from the Mexican currency ($ Peso) and made the New Peso (N$ Nuevo Peso) announcing then that on January 1, 1996 the New Peso N$ would be called Peso $ again, with the changes made. The Peso of today is different from the previous peso, even though the name is still the same. In December, 1994 the Peso (New Peso then) was devaluated from N$ 3.50 per $1 USD to N$ 5.50 and now, the exchange rate is approx. $ 7.50 per dollar.
Mexico uses three-phase current, of 60 cycles, and 127 volts for domestic and business activities , and 220 volts with two and three cables for industrial use.
Mexico's transportation infrastructure includes: 240,186 km. of highways, a railroad network of 26,399 km, 39 international airports, 39 domestic airports and l3 commercial ports. Transportation has also been transformed by the liberalization of the Mexican economy. Airlines were the first government companies to be privatized. During the Salinas administration Mexico was the biggest promoter of private roads in the world. Since the government had no money to build roads, it asked private companies to do so. These companies in return received concessions to operate them. This allowed for 4,000 kilometers of highways to be built during that administration. The Zedillo administration announced plans to sell Mexico's railroads to the private sector, and already some airports are operated by private corporations.
Mexico has two main international communication systems: one is microwave relay stations strategically located throughout the country. The other includes the two Morelos system satellites. The privatization of the telephone system (TELMEX) in the Salinas administration had two aims:
1) To gradually open the telephone market, and,
2) To ensure that enough money would be available to make the huge investments necessary to modernize Mexico's aging telephone system.
TELMEX made the commitment to invest billions of dollars in exchange to have the protection for long distance for five years, until 1997. Television transmissions are carried out mainly by two companies: TELEVISA, holding approx. 90% of the market, and Television Azteca.
IN-BOND INDUSTRIES (Maquiladoras):
The in-bond industry in Mexico ranks second as a source of foreign exchange and it is one of the strongest economic sectors. At present. more than 600,000 qualified workers perform various processes-ranging from single assembling to highly-complex manufacturing - thereby creating an added value of three billion dollars and more than 2,000,000 workers have indirect jobs generated by them. New manufacturing plants for electronic and electrical products, transportation equipment, clothes and textiles, processed food, furniture and chemical products, for the most part, have set up along the border and inside the country. Recent decrees on the fostering and operation of the in-bond export bond industry and the impulse given to the border area, provide investors with available labor, capacity to adapt to new technology or manufacturing methods, stability in worker-employer relations and an easy access to the American market, with a speedy, simplified and decentralized operating framework thus improving their competitiveness worldwide. The reason why the maquiladoras have grown so quickly is because they have been exempted from excessive regulations. They have never had the limitations of foreign investments and the importation of goods and services that have suffocated other industries. Do not pay duties or tariffs on imports. The problem they cause is that they use only less than 1% of Mexican goods for their production lines.
