COUNTRY PROFILE

At least three great civilizations-the Mayas, the Olmecs, and later the Toltecs-preceded the wealthy Aztec empire, conquered in 1519-21 by the Spanish under Hernando Cort‚s. Spain ruled Mexico as part of the viceroyalty of New Spain for the next 300 years until Sept. 16, 1810, when the Mexicans first revolted. They continued the struggle and finally won independence in 1821. Mexico is bordered by the United States to the north, Belize and Guatemala to the southeast; Mexico is about one-fifth the size of the United States. Baja California in the west is an 800-mile (1,287-km) peninsula and forms the Gulf of California. In the east are the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche, which is formed by Mexico's other peninsula, the Yucat n. The center of Mexico is a great, high plateau, open to the north, with mountain chains on the east and west and oceanfront lowlands lying outside of them. Mexico is a secular state with freedom of conscience and practice of religion, but no foreign missionaries are officially permitted. The 130-year break between the Mexican government and the Vatican ended with official relations being restored in 1992, and the Catholic Church reasserting its position of dominance. However, constitutional changes have granted more fair treatment for religious minorities.

OVERVIEW

From Mexico's independence in 1821 to 1877, there were two emperors, several dictators, and enough presidents and provisional executives to make a new government on the average of every nine months. Mexico lost Texas (1836), and after defeat in the war with the U.S. (1846-48) it lost the area made up of the present states of California, Nevada, and Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado under the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo. The years after the fall of the Dictator Porfirio Diaz (1877-80 and 1884-1911) were marked by bloody political-military strife and trouble with the U.S., culminating in the punitive U.S. expedition into northern Mexico (1916-17) in unsuccessful pursuit of the revolutionary Pancho Villa. Since a brief period of civil war in 1920, Mexico has enjoyed a period of gradual agricultural, political, and social reforms. Relations with the U.S. were again disturbed in 1938 when all foreign oil wells were expropriated, but an agreement on compensation was finally reached in 1941. Following World War II, the government placed heavy emphasis on economic growth. During the mid-1970s, under the leadership of President Jos‚ L˘pez Portillo, Mexico emerged as one of the world's major petroleum-producing countries. By the end of Portillo's term, however, Mexico had accumulated a huge external debt because of the government's unrestrained borrowing on the strength of its petroleum revenues. The collapse of oil prices in 1986 cut into Mexico's export earnings and worsened the situation. In Jan. 1994, Mexico joined Canada and the United States in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which will phase out all tariffs over a 15-year period, and in Jan. 1996, it became a founding member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In 1994, the leading presidential candidate was shot and killed in Tijuana. The campaign manager was then selected to be the party's presidential candidate. In Feb. 1995, agreement was reached with the U.S. to prevent the collapse of Mexico's private banks. The strict provisions, however, gave the U.S. virtual veto power over key elements in Mexico's economic policy. Elections in July 1997 brought a stunning upset for the long ruling PRI, which lost control of the lower legislative house and the mayoralty of Mexico City, in what observers called the freest election in the country's history. To make Mexico's election system more democratic, President Zedillo announced in March 1999 that he would discontinue the practice of the "dedazo," in which the president designates his party's nominee for the upcoming election. 

In elections held July 2, 2000, the PRI lost the presidency, ending 71 years of one-party rule. Vicente Fox Quesada, of the center-right National Action Party (PAN), won a resounding victory. Fox has pledged a more honest, business-like administration. He wants to improve the economy, reform taxes, overhaul the justice system, and give state governments more power.


FACTS

Population: 97.3 million
Capital: Mexico City
Major language: Spanish
Major religion: Roman Catholic
Form of government: federal republic
Monetary unit: 1 Mexican peso = 100 centavos 
Main exports: manufacturing goods, crude petroleum, agricultural goods
Head of government and state: President


LEADERS


President:
Vicente Fox

Fox, 58, grew up in the Guanajuato state village of San Cristobal, about 210 miles northwest of Mexico City. His family has vegetable farms and a packing and freezing plant. He traveled to Mexico City to study business management at a Jesuit-run university. A 6-foot-5 figure in cowboy boots, he stood out among his classmates, most of whom wore suits. Fox concedes he didn't study very hard and often played chess during class. He dropped out just before graduating to join Coca-Cola. Fox won election to Congress in 1988, and immediately began his campaign for governor. That 1991 gubernatorial election was so fraudulent that the president himself was forced to intervene, removing his party's candidate and giving the state to the opposition -- on the condition that the new governor not be Fox. He returned to the family businesses, but the controversy had made him a national political figure. In 1994, he was invited to join a group of prominent intellectuals, businessmen and politicians pushing for Mexican political reforms, and it was there that he met some of his closest aides. He ran again for governor in 1995, winning by a 2-1 margin. On July 2, 2000, Fox handily defeated the ruling-party candidate at the polls, stunning observers and setting off the first presidential democratic transition from one party to another in Mexican history. With his brash manner, his coarse language and his simple tastes, Fox has managed to paint himself as the champion of his country's common folk, a Mexican Marlboro Man who took on the establishment and beat it through sheer energy. 

OBSTACLES TO MINISTRY

• Growing nation is searching for its Hispanic and Indian roots often using anti-Protestant populist propaganda.

• Persecution of Evangelicals has been sporadic but real with many Evangelicals portrayed in the media as anti-Mexican spies and destroyers of the Mexican culture.

SPIRITUAL POWER POINTS

• Question still remains how the new president will handle economic woes.

• The impoverished rural poor, the exploited urban slum-dwellers, and marginalized Indian communities have too long been ignored.
  

Special thanks to Patrick Johnstone's, "Operation World" publisher, ISBN# 0-310-40031-7; 
and country profiles by eCountries.com and CNN.com