1.
Cabinet of Mexico
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The cabinet of Mexico is the Executive Cabinet and is a part of the executive branch of the Mexican government. It consists of eighteen Secretaries of State, the head of the federal executive legal office, in addition to the legal Executive Cabinet there are other Cabinet-level administration offices that report directly to the President of the Republic. Officials from the legal and extended Cabinet are subordinate to the President, the term Cabinet does not appear in the Constitution, where reference is made only to the Secretaries of State. Article 89 of the Constitution provides that the President of Mexico can assign, the Executive Cabinet does not play a collective legislative or executive role. The Executive Cabinet members are appointed by the President of the Republic, only the Attorney General needs to be approved by the Senate. Cabinet Secretaries are often selected from past and current governors, senators, private citizens such as businessmen or former military officials are also common Cabinet choices. It is not rare for a Secretary to be moved from one Secretariat to another, some positions are not part of the legal Executive Cabinet, but have cabinet-level rank therefore their incumbents are considered members of the extended cabinet. Some of the administration offices are, Executive Cabinet CIA, Chiefs of State
2.
National Action Party (Mexico)
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The National Action Party, founded in 1939, is one of the three main political parties in Mexico. Since the 1980s has been an important political party winning local, state, in 2000, PAN candidate Vicente Fox was elected for a six-year Presidential term, in 2006, PAN candidate Felipe Calderón succeeded Fox in presidency. During the period 2000-2012, both houses of the legislature had PAN pluralities, but the party did not have a majority in either house of the Congress. In the 2006 legislative elections the party won 207 out of 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 52 out of 128 Senators, in the 2012 Legislative Elections, the PAN won 38 seats in the Senate, and 114 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The National Action Party was founded in 1939 by Manuel Gómez Morín and he saw the need for the creation a permanent political party rather than an ephemeral organization to oppose the expansion of power by the post-revolutionary Mexican state. When Gómez Morín was rector of in 1933-35, the government attempted to impose socialist education, in defending academic freedom, Gómez Morín forged connections with individuals and groups that later came together in the foundation of the PAN in September 1939. Gómez Morín was not himself a militant Catholic, but he was a believer who rejected liberalism and individualism. In 1939, Gómez Morín and a significant number of UNECs leadership came together to found the PAN, the PAN’s “Doctrine of National Action” was strongly influenced by Catholic social doctrine articulated in Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo anno and rejected Marxist models of class warfare. The PAN’s newspaper, La Nación was founded by another former UNEC member, the relationship between the PAN and the Catholic Church was not without tension. The partys founder Gómez Morín was leery of clerical oversight of the party, although its members were mainly urban Catholic professionals, for its part, the Church hierarchy did not want to identify itself with a particular political party, since the Constitution of 1917 forbade it. In the 1950, the PAN, which had seen to be Catholic in its makeup. The PAN initially was a party of “civic example”, an independent loyal opposition that generally did not win elections at any level, however, in the 1980s it began a transformation to a political power, beginning at the local and state levels in the North of Mexico. A split in the PAN occurred in 1977, with the faction and the more secular wing splitting. The conflict came to a head and in 1977. The party ran no candidate in 1976. The PAN had strength in Northern Mexico and its candidates had won elections earlier on, the following year Manuel Torres Serranía, from Quiroga, Michoacán, became the partys first municipal president and Alfonso Hernández Sánchez its first state deputy. In 1962, Rosario Alcalá became the first female candidate for state governor, in 1967 Norma Villarreal de Zambrano became the first female municipal president. Until the 1980s, the PAN was an opposition party that was considered pro-Catholic and pro-business. The PAN came to be viewed as viable opposition party for a range of voters as it became more secular
3.
Mexico City
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Mexico City, or City of Mexico, is the capital and most populous city of Mexico. As an alpha global city, Mexico City is one of the most important financial centers in the Americas and it is located in the Valley of Mexico, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres. The city consists of sixteen municipalities, the 2009 estimated population for the city proper was approximately 8.84 million people, with a land area of 1,485 square kilometres. The Greater Mexico City has a domestic product of US$411 billion in 2011. The city was responsible for generating 15. 8% of Mexicos Gross Domestic Product, as a stand-alone country, in 2013, Mexico City would be the fifth-largest economy in Latin America—five times as large as Costa Ricas and about the same size as Perus. Mexico’s capital is both the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of two founded by Amerindians, the other being Quito. In 1524, the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenochtitlán, Mexico City served as the political, administrative and financial center of a major part of the Spanish colonial empire. After independence from Spain was achieved, the district was created in 1824. Ever since, the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution has controlled both of them, in recent years, the local government has passed a wave of liberal policies, such as abortion on request, a limited form of euthanasia, no-fault divorce, and same-sex marriage. On January 29,2016, it ceased to be called the Federal District and is now in transition to become the countrys 32nd federal entity, giving it a level of autonomy comparable to that of a state. Because of a clause in the Mexican Constitution, however, as the seat of the powers of the federation, it can never become a state, the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan was founded by the Mexica people in 1325. According to legend, the Mexicas principal god, Huitzilopochtli indicated the site where they were to build their home by presenting an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak. Between 1325 and 1521, Tenochtitlan grew in size and strength, eventually dominating the other city-states around Lake Texcoco, when the Spaniards arrived, the Aztec Empire had reached much of Mesoamerica, touching both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. After landing in Veracruz, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés advanced upon Tenochtitlan with the aid of many of the native peoples. Cortés put Moctezuma under house arrest, hoping to rule through him, the Aztecs thought the Spaniards were permanently gone, and they elected a new king, Cuitláhuac, but he soon died, the next king was Cuauhtémoc. Cortés began a siege of Tenochtitlan in May 1521, for three months, the city suffered from the lack of food and water as well as the spread of smallpox brought by the Europeans. Cortés and his allies landed their forces in the south of the island, the Spaniards practically razed Tenochtitlan during the final siege of the conquest. Cortés first settled in Coyoacán, but decided to rebuild the Aztec site to erase all traces of the old order and he did not establish a territory under his own personal rule, but remained loyal to the Spanish crown
4.
Bicameralism
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A bicameral legislature is one in which the legislators are divided into two separate assemblies, chambers or houses. As of 2015, somewhat less than half of the national legislatures are bicameral. Often, the members of the two chambers are elected or selected using different methods, which vary from country to country and this can often lead to the two chambers having very different compositions of members. However, in many Westminster system parliaments, the house to which the executive is responsible can overrule the other house, some legislatures lie in between these two positions, with one house only able to overrule the other under certain circumstances. For example, one house would represent the aristocracy, and the other would represent the commoners as was the case in the Kingdom of England. Others, such as France under the Ancien Régime had a legislature known as the Estates General, which consisted of separate chambers for the clergymen, the nobility. The Founding Fathers of the United States also favoured a bicameral legislature, the idea was to have the Senate be wealthier and wiser. Benjamin Rush saw this though, and noted that, this type of dominion is almost always connected with opulence, the Senate was created to be a stabilising force, elected not by mass electors, but selected by the State legislators. Senators would be more knowledgeable and more sort of republican nobility—and a counter to what Madison saw as the fickleness. He noted further that the use of the Senate is to consist in its proceeding with more coolness, with system and with more wisdom. Madisons argument led the Framers to grant the Senate prerogatives in foreign policy, an area where steadiness, discretion, the Senate was chosen by state legislators, and senators had to possess a significant amount of property in order to be deemed worthy and sensible enough for the position. In fact, it was not until the year 1913 that the 17th Amendment was passed, as part of the Great Compromise, they invented a new rationale for bicameralism in which the Senate would have states represented equally, and the House would have them represented by population. Many nations with parliaments have to some degree emulated the British three-tier model, nevertheless, the older justification for second chambers—providing opportunities for second thoughts about legislation—has survived. An example of controversy regarding a second chamber has been the debate over the powers of the Canadian Senate or the election of the Senate of France. The relationship between the two chambers varies, in cases, they have equal power, while in others. The first tends to be the case in federal systems and those with presidential governments, the latter tends to be the case in unitary states with parliamentary systems. In the United States both houses of the U. S and this is due to their original location in the two-story building that was to house them. In Canada, the country as a whole is divided into a number of Senate Divisions, each with a different number of Senators, Senators in Canada are not elected by the people but are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister
5.
Senate of the Republic (Mexico)
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The Senate of the Republic, constitutionally Chamber of Senators of the Honorable Congress of the Union, is the upper house of Mexicos bicameral Congress. In a senatorial race, each party nominates two candidates who run and are elected together by direct vote, Senators serve six-year terms, running concurrently with the President of Mexico. Special elections are rare, as substitutes are chosen at every election, the Senate is completely renewed every six years, since senators are barred from immediate reelection. This will change at the 2018 election, in Spanish, it is conventional to refer to each Legislature of the Senate by the Roman numeral of its term. The current session is known as the LXII Legislatura, Senators are elected to serve during two legislatures of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. Thus, current Senators will serve during the 62nd and 63rd Legislatures of the Chamber of Deputies, according to the Constitution, senators are the representatives of the nation. To be a senator, for any of the two principles of choice, you must meet the requirements, Being a Mexican citizen by birth. Not being active duty in the military or have control of police or rural gendarmerie at least ninety days before the election, not to be secretary or undersecretary of state unless it is definitively separated from office at least ninety days before the election. Not be Minister of the Supreme Court unless definitively separated from office three years before the election, no minister of some religious cult. Senators are elected for a period of six years, corresponding to two legislatures and can not be reelected for the period, although alternately. They are elected by popular suffrage and secret ballot in every state of the republic. They are also 32 senators elected by proportional representation, the integration of the governing bodies in the LXII Legislature has been as follows, For the office of legislative affairs Senators integrate in Commissions that are dedicated to a particular issue. The most important committees are those of, Interior, Constitutional Issues, Defense, Finance, Justice, each Senator belongs to at least three different commissions, and each committee shall elect a Chairman and two Secretaries 5 to coordinate their work. A senator holds office for a period of six years for which he was elected, divided into two legislatures of three years each, from 1 September 2015 is installed LXIII Legislature, which will end his term on 31 August 2018. The time between the regular sessions known as Recesses, there are two recesses that run from December 16 to January 31 and May 1 to August 31. The sessions of the Standing Committee are held in the Senate during the first recess and the House of Representatives in the second recess
6.
Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire
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The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire, is the document by which the Mexican Empire declared independence from the Spanish Empire. Three copies of the act were drafted, one copy remained in the Chamber of Deputies until it was destroyed in the fire of the Chamber in 1909. The other copy was stolen and sold in 1830 and that copy was recovered by Maximilian I of Mexico and after his execution it was taken out of the country by Agustín Fischer, confessor of the former emperor. Later, the Spanish antiquarian Gabriel Sánchez sold the act to the historian Joaquín García Icazbalceta who retained it, García Pimentel sold the act to Florencio Gavito and he stipulated in his will that after his death, the act should be given to the president Adolfo López Mateos. On November 14,1961, the result of two opinions were given to the president by which it was found that the act is one of the two originals drafted in 1821, on November 21, Florencio Gavito Jáuregui gave the document to President López Mateos. The third copy was owned by the Ruiz de Velasco family for 128 years and this document was passed down through generations from Nicolás Bravo. On August 22,1987, Pedro Ruiz de Velasco gave the document as a gift to Mexico, José Francisco Ruiz Massieu accepted this gift and secured this historical document in the Museo Historico de Acapulco Fuerte de San Diego in Acapulco in the State of Guerrero. The document, 20½ inches wide and 28¾ high, is kept at the General Archive of the Nation. On September 28, Iturbide installed the Provisional Governing Board formed by 38 people, the board was chaired by Antonio Pérez Martínez y Robles and Juan José Espinosa de los Monteros as secretary. The board immediately proceeded to elect the five members of the Regency of the Empire, on the afternoon of September 28, members of the Board met at the National Palace to draft the Declaration of Independence of the newly independent nation. The resulting two documents were drafted in its form by Juan José Espinosa de los Monteros, Secretary of the Board. The acts were signed by 33 of the 38 members of the Board, the signatures of other four members were not added. Juan Jose Espinoza de los Monteros signed twice in each act, once as a member of the Board and the second as secretary, so that the acts contain 35 signatures and the designated to ODonojú. A copy of the act was for the government and one for the board, Declaration of the independence of the Mexican Empire, issued by its Sovereign Junta, assembled in the Capital on September 28,1821. The Mexican Nation, which for three hundred years had neither had its own will, nor use of its voice, nor the freedom of religion. The following is the list of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence, Juan ODonoju did not sign but his name was written in the acts. Of the 38 members of the Provisional Governmental Board only 34 signed the document, the signatures of Francisco Severo Maldonado, José Domingo Rus, José Mariano de Almanza and Miguel Sánchez Enciso did not appear to have suffered a possible impairment due to illness. After being drafted, one copy was given to the Provisional Governmental Board, which was put on display in the Chamber of Deputies until 1909
7.
Historic center of Mexico City
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The Zocalo is the largest plaza in Latin America. It can hold up to nearly 100,000 people and this section of the capital has just over nine square km and occupies 668 blocks. It contains 9,000 buildings,1,550 of which have been declared of historical importance, Most of these historic buildings were constructed between the 16th and 20th centuries. It is divided into two zones for preservation purposes, zone A encompasses the pre-Hispanic city and its expansion from the Viceroy period until Independence. Zone B covers the areas all other constructions to the end of the 19th century that are considered indispensable to the preservation of the architectural and cultural heritage. This is where the Spaniards began to build what is now modern Mexico City in the 16th century on the ruins of the conquered Tenochtitlan and this has made it a World Heritage Site. What is now the downtown of Mexico City roughly correlates with the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. During the prehispanic era, the city developed in a fashion, with streets and canals aligned with the cardinal directions. The calpullis were named Cuepopan, Atzacualco, Moyotla and Zoquipan, which had subdivisions, the intersection of these roads was the center of the city and of the Aztec world. Here were the Templo Mayor, the palaces of the tlatoani or emperors, palaces of nobles such as the House of the Demons, also located here were the two most renowned Aztec schools, the Telpuchcalli for secular studies and the Calmecac for priestly training. When the Spaniards arrived, the city had built by Moctezuma Ilhuicamina. After the Spanish conquest, this remained largely intact, mostly due to the efforts of Alonso Garcia Bravo. This reconstruction conserved many of the main thoroughfares such as Tenayuca, renamed Vallejo, Tlacopan, renamed México Tacuba, and Tepeyac, now called the Calzada de los Misterios. They also kept major divisions of the city adding Christian prefixes to the such as San Juan Moyotla, Santa María Tlaquechiuacan, San Sebastián Atzacualco. In fact, most of the centro historicos is built with the rubble of the destroyed Aztec city, a number of people during this time, all Spaniards, accumulated vast wealth mostly through mining and commerce in the 17th and 18th centuries. This wealth is reflected in the various mansions scattered in the such as the Palace of Iturbide. This house was built in the 16th century in Arab style, historically, the Zócalo, or main plaza, has been a venue for fine and popular cultural events. Some example of events held here recently are Spencer Tunicks photo shoot, the Ashes and Snow Nomadic museum, the Festival de México is an annual event with programs dedicated to art and academia
8.
Federal District buildings
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The Federal District buildings are two buildings on the south side of the Zócalo in Mexico City divided by the avenue Avenida 20 de Noviembre. They house offices of the authority of Mexico City. The building to the west of 20 de Noviembre is the one and has been the site of city administration since the Conquest. The one to the east is newer, built in the 20th century, similar to other capital cities, like Washington, D. C. Mexico City is considered as belonging to the nation, rather than being part of a particular state, what is now the federal district used to be principally part of the State of Mexico until 1824, when the Mexican Congress decided to put the capital in Mexico City. At the time, the State of Mexico had its headquarters in the old Palace of the Inquisition, the government of Mexico City and the Federal District are one and the same, causing Mexicans to use the terms interchangeably. While it is considered under federal jurisdiction, recently, changes have been made. The first local authority in New Spain was the ayuntamiento of Villa Rica in Veracruz and this governing council was moved to Coyoacán, near Mexico City after the fall of the Aztec city Tenochtitlan. The ayuntamiento was moved here after the first town hall was built between 1526 and 1532, with the first recorded council meeting here in 1526 and it was built as a fortress against the Indians, who were forbidden to settle in the area. It had a meeting room, a scriveners room to keep records, another for accounting, and audience hall, a chapel. The building was expanded in 1582, in 1582, a jail was added, the first such in New Spain. Other functions were added to the such as a coin-making facility. This building was destroyed, along with the National Palace in the uprising in 1692. Work began in 1720 under viceroy Baltasar de Zúñiga, 1st Duke of Arión, the rest of the building was completed in 1724 under viceroy Juan de Acuña, marqués de Casafuerte. The official corn and meat markets located here were abolished and the market was allowed to take control of these commodities. This resulted in a market in what was the Alley of the Diputación. However, these stalls disappeared by 1888, in 1910, the building was remodeled for the upcoming centennial of Independence by architect Manuel Gorozope and engineer Guillermo Beltrán. The remodeled building was inaugurated on 16 September 1910, however, remodeling work went on from 1912 to 1930 with the addition of the main staircase, the library and the archives, even though work was periodically halted because of the Mexican Revolution
9.
Francisco I. Madero Avenue
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Madero Avenue, commonly known as simply Madero street is a geographically and historically significant pedestrian street of Mexico City and a major thoroughfare of the historic city center. It has an East-West orientation from Zócalo to the Eje Central, from that point the street is called Avenida Juárez and becomes accessible to one-way traffic from one of the citys main boulevards, the Paseo de la Reforma. It was named in honour of one of the most important figures in the Mexican Revolution - Francisco I, Madero, a leader of the Anti-Re-election Movement and who was briefly President of Mexico before his assassination in 1914. This street has always one of the most popular and busiest roads since colonial times and was designed by Spaniard Alonso Garcia Bravo. It was one of the first streets to be drawn of the new Spanish city on the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, in the nineteenth century, Madero was already one of the most popular and crowded streets of the capital. Another famous store was Droguería Plateros at 9 Second Street of Plateros, in its upper part, Ferdinand Bon Benard and Gabriel Veyre, dealers of Lumiere Brothers, gave on August 14,1896 the first cinema show in Mexico. Three sections of the street have each had previous names, further East, between Bolívar street and Isabel la Católica street, was known as Profesa street after the Temple of San Felipe Neri which is located there. The present name was bestowed by Francisco Pancho Villa on the morning of December 8,1914, after the arrival of his troops, Villa and a small group of troops placed a plaque with the new street name on the corner of Madero and Isabel la Católica streets. They announced that whoever removed the plate would be shot, in 2009 Alejandra Moreno, the coordinator of the Historical Center Authority, announced that the city government would pedestrianise the street. Though resisted by shop owners at the time, the change has been a success with the street being very crowded with pedestrians, in 2012 the modifications were awarded by the VIII Iberoamerican Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism for best architectural and urban development. The centrality of the street, both geographically and culturally, has meant it has always been a site of mansions, churches, the Church of San Francisco, the third church by this name on the site, and all that remains of a large monastery complex. The National Church of Philip of Jesus The Casa del Marqués de Jaral de Berrio, now known as Palace of Iturbide, the Borda House, home of José de la Borda. The Temple of San Felipe Neri La Profesa, established by the Society of Jesus in the 16th century, the Museo del Estanquillo in the La Esmeralda building. The Old Portal de Mercaderes, a pair of buildings on either side of the street at the entrance to the Zócalo
10.
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral
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The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven is the largest cathedral in the Americas, and seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico. It is situated atop the former Aztec sacred precinct near the Templo Mayor on the side of the Plaza de la Constitución in Downtown Mexico City. The cathedral was built in sections from 1573 to 1813 around the church that was constructed soon after the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan. Spanish architect Claudio de Arciniega planned the construction, drawing inspiration from Gothic cathedrals in Spain, the cathedral has four façades which contain portals flanked with columns and statues. The two bell towers contain a total of 25 bells, the tabernacle, adjacent to the cathedral, contains the baptistery and serves to register the parishioners. There are two large, ornate altars, a sacristy, and a choir in the cathedral, fourteen of the cathedrals sixteen chapels are open to the public. Each chapel is dedicated to a different saint or saints, the chapels contain ornate altars, altarpieces, retablos, paintings, furniture and sculptures. The cathedral is home to two of the largest 18th-century organs in the Americas, there is a crypt underneath the cathedral that holds the remains of many former archbishops. Over the centuries, the cathedral has suffered damage, a fire in 1967 destroyed a significant part of the cathedrals interior. The restoration work that followed uncovered a number of important documents, although a solid foundation was built for the cathedral, the soft clay soil it is built on has been a threat to its structural integrity. Dropping water tables and accelerated sinking caused the structure to be added to the World Monuments Fund list of the 100 Most Endangered Sites, reconstruction work beginning in the 1990s stabilized the cathedral and it was removed from the endangered list in 2000. Hernán Cortés and the conquistadors used the stones from the destroyed temple of the Aztec god of war Huitzilopochtli, principal deity of the Aztecs. Cortés ordered the churchs construction after he returned from exploring what is now Honduras. Architect Martín de Sepúlveda was the first director of project from 1524 to 1532. Juan de Zumárraga, the first Bishop of the first See of the New World, established in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, zumárragas Cathedral was located in the northeast portion of what is now the cathedral. It had three naves separated by three Tuscan columns, the central roof was ridged with intricate carvings done by Juan Salcedo Espinosa and gilded by Francisco de Zumaya and Andrés de la Concha. The main door was probably of Renaissance style, the choir area had 48 seats made of ayacahuite wood crafted by Adrian Suster and Juan Montaño. However, this church was considered inadequate for the growing importance of the capital of New Spain
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