Mexico

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5

Performing Arts

The Mexican film industry now produces about 40 to 50 films each year. Mexican film actors, including Cantinflas (Mario Moreno), Pedro Armendariz, and Dolores Del Rio, achieved worldwide fame, as did the director Emilio Fernández and the cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa. Both theatrical and musical performances, especially opera, are popular in Mexican cities. The Ballet Folklórico, a troupe specializing in Mexican folk dances, is based in Mexico City but tours internationally. Bullfighting, a reminder of Mexico’s Spanish past, has long been popular.

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6

Libraries and Museums

Most good libraries in Mexico are found within the university system. The National Library, which houses a collection of rare documents, is affiliated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. Mexico also has many governmental libraries that are connected with the various ministries.

Many museums are located throughout the country. The National Historical Museum, devoted to history since the Spanish conquest, is located in Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. Maya, Aztec, and other archaeological artefacts are found in the National Museum of Anthropology, also in Mexico City. Another noted archaeological collection is in Mérida, Yucatán. All are attached to the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

IV

Economy

Mexico reflects a shift from a primary-production economy, based on mining and agriculture, to a semi-industrialized nation. Economic achievements are the result of a vigorous private-enterprise sector and government policies that have made economic growth a predominant objective. Traditionally, the government also emphasized Mexicanization of industry, and local control of companies engaged in mining, fishing, transport, and exploitation of forests was required by law. More recently, however, foreign investment in new enterprises has been actively encouraged, and government controls on some sectors of the economy have been loosened. A severe recession followed the devaluation of the peso in 1994 and lasted until 1996. The government maintained a tight fiscal policy to keep inflation down, but very high interest rates led to near-record levels of business closures and unemployment. The government’s emergency economic plan also included further privatization of state enterprises and the creation of an international assistance fund.

Mexico’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 6.5 per cent annually during the period from 1965 to 1980 but only by an annual average of 2.0 per cent from 1985 to 1995. Weak oil prices, rising inflation, a foreign debt of more than US$100,000 million, and worsening budget deficits exacerbated the nation’s economic problems in the mid-1980s, although the economic picture brightened briefly in the 1990s before the recession. In 2004 gross national product (GNP) was estimated to be US$704,906 million, giving a per capita income of about US$7,830 (World Bank figure). Its foreign debt in 1995 was estimated at US$155,000 million.

A

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing

About 24 per cent of the Mexican workforce is engaged in agriculture (including forestry and fishing), and a substantial number of agricultural workers are employed on ejidos, or communal farms. The government introduced land reform in 1915, and by the 1980s much land had been redistributed to the ejidos. The ejido system was abolished in 1992. However, dissatisfaction with the distribution of land to Native Americans was the main cause of the uprising by the Zapatista National Liberation Army in 1994. Agricultural production has often been impeded by lack of rainfall. Irrigation projects, however, have increased land under cultivation, and soil conservation has increased yields. Mexico not only supplies most of its basic needs but also exports produce. In 2006 Mexico’s chief agricultural products were (with output in tonnes) maize (21.8 million), wheat (3.34 million), barley (874,268), rice (338,891), and potatoes (1.54 million), and the cash crops coffee beans (287,555), cotton (138,000), sugar cane (50.6 million), other fruits and vegetables (particularly tomatoes), and livestock.

The livestock population in 2006 included about 28.6 million cattle, 15.4 million pigs, 8.90 million goats, 7.48 million sheep, 6.26 million horses, 3.28 million mules, 6.54 million donkeys, and 302 million chickens.

About 32.8 per cent of Mexico is forested. Because of earlier abuse of rich timber stands, all timber cutting is strictly regulated by the government. Roundwood production in 1995 totalled about 6.3 million cu m (222.3 million cu ft). Mexico manufactures considerable amounts of forestry products; among these products are timber, chicle, pitch, resins, and turpentine.

The most important fisheries are found off the coast of Baja California. The fishing industry is primarily controlled by cooperative societies that are granted monopolies of certain species. The principal species caught are tuna, cichlids, pilchard, sardines, prawns, shrimp, and oysters. The annual catch in 2005 was approximately 1.45 million tonnes.

B

Mining

Formerly, almost all mining companies in Mexico were foreign-held. Most, however, cooperated with government efforts in the 1960s to Mexicanize the industry, and majority control of each company is now held by Mexicans. The most valuable mineral resource is petroleum, produced chiefly in Veracruz, Tabasco, and Chiapas states; production is controlled by Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), a government agency. Also important is silver, which is found in every state. Rich goldfields are located on the Pacific slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental; copper ore is mined near Guanajuato; iron ore is found in Coahuila and in Durango. In 2004 output (in tonnes) included 6.89 million of iron ore, 405,540 of copper, 139,000 of lead, 462,000 of zinc, 2,700 of silver, and 22,400 kg of gold. Production of crude oil was about 3.37 million barrels a day; natural gas, 42,222 million cu m (1,491 billion cu ft); and coal, 10.8 million tonnes. Significant quantities of antimony, barites, graphite, manganese, sulphur, and tungsten were also recovered.