Expatriate Forums in Mexico

~~~> Customs advice needed

Silence820 — Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:08 am

Author: Silence820

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:08 am

I am moving to Mexico City and would like to know how much I can bring through customs. i have I will be flying and would like to bring 5-6 large suit cases of clothes and personal items, along with 2 laptops. i checked with the airline and will pay the extra charges for my luggage. but Is this too much to bring through customs, and what will happen if i want to bring my 2nd laptop?

New forum for those interested in Living in Mexico

raymondthibodeaux — Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:35 pm

Author: raymondthibodeaux

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:35 pm

I used MexicoMovingCompany . com for my move from California to Mexico City and everything went smoothly. They have an online quote form you can fill out at www . MexicoMovingCompany . com

Scholarships for Spanish Language classes in Cuernavaca

mollypolly — Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:24 am

Author: mollypolly

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:24 am

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I'm encouraging others to apply, they tell me the more applications and students they have, the more scholarships they will be awarding.

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kassia12 — Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:20 am

Author: kassia12

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Flu in Mexico

Lunik — Wed Apr 29, 2009 8:03 pm

Author: Lunik

Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 8:03 pm

Hi, Im sure you have heard about flu in Mexico City.

Im staying here in Cancun. I want to let you know that Im healthy and happy, I havent heard or seen any single case of flu or their symptoms. Everything its normal here as it was any other year.

This is more hysteria than the real virus. You must be careful, of course, but dont panic or cancel your trips. I've read on tripadvisor that many people its canceling their vacations.

Cancun its enough far away from Mexico City, and im sure it is safe (:

Just wanted to share this with you, and if you're traveling, have a great time!

Internet Help

cc2297 — Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:57 pm

Author: cc2297

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:57 pm

We are a group of students at NYU’s Stern School of Business pursuing an MBA that need your help in accessing the internet market needs of expats living abroad for a school project. Please take a moment to help us complete our school project by filling out a quick survey. If you are willing to help us complete our project, please email me at cc2297@stern.nyu.edu and I will forward the link to you. Below is a quick description of what we are aiming to establish.

As an expat living in a foreign country, it can be difficult to keep up with what’s going on back home in news, sports, and popular media. The internet infrastructure in developing countries can make it difficult to stream US content in a timely manner and with quality video. I am working with a team of classmates at NYU’s Stern School of Business to conduct market research on how receptive expats living abroad would be to a web-based platform that would allow quality streaming capabilities and access to US television content. In order to gather the necessary market information to compile a report, we need to get as many responses from expats living abroad as possible.

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Noble — Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:07 am

Author: Noble

Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:07 am

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matkirk — Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:23 pm

Author: matkirk

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:23 pm

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Conference and Expo events scheduled for Xiamen and Shanghai

huiyixm — Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:23 am

Author: huiyixm

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:23 am

Conference and Expo events scheduled for Xiamen and Shanghai in 2008
Redding, CT USA and Xiamen, CHINA (PR Web) January 16, 2008– Search Marketing Expo (SMX) events will be produced in Xiamen and Shanghai as the result of an agreement between SMX parent Third Door Media, Inc. and China’s leading producer of events for internet and search marketing professionals, Timev Media.

“Regardless of the source, the consensus is that internet and search marketing is growing and will continue to grow very rapidly in China,” said Chris Elwell, Third Door Media President. “We’re privileged to be associated with Inway Ni and the experienced team at Timev Media, which has produced search marketing events in China since 2004,” Elwell added.
“With 162 million internet users and 32% annual growth, China represents great opportunity for the global internet and search marketing community,” said Timev Media Vice President Inway Ni. “We’re very excited to working with the experienced Third Door Media team, including search marketing experts Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman, to bring the renowned Search Marketing Expo – SMX event brand to China. Together, we are confident we will provide valuable search marketing content in Chinese and other languages and markets,” Inway added.

Two 2008 Search Marketing Expo events in China are scheduled. The first will be held April 18-19 in Xiamen, to be followed in October with an event in Shanghai.

Contacts:

For Third Door Media
Claire Schoen

+01 (203) 664-1350

For Timev Media
Jon Qiu

+86 (592) 576-9935 +86 (592) 576-9777

gerardo taracena - apocalypto actor

silver — Wed Dec 05, 2007 12:03 am

Author: silver

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 12:03 am

hi there
i am absolutely and totally mad about this bloke. saw him in mel gibson's apocalypto ( the bad guy who gets clubbed at the end) and have been trying to get some info on him. to my dismay theres hardly anything online; no official website, n o t h i n g apart from some odd pictures here and there.
if anyone knows anything about him (and i mean anything) and would like to share it id be more than grateful
many thanks

pretty please

his filmography includes:

Zona, La (2007) .... Mario
6.36311 (2007)
Apocalypto (2006) .... Middle Eye
... aka Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (USA: promotional title)
Torcidos, Los (2005)
Club eutanasia (2005) .... Enfermero - Chango Malo
Violin, El (2005) .... Genaro
... aka The Violin (International: English title)
Man on Fire (2004) .... Executive Adjutant
Nikotina exxpress (2004)
Misterio del Trinidad, El (2003) .... Sobrino
Cabaret Voltaire (2003)
The Mexican (2001) .... Reveler to Fire Gun
... aka Mexicana, La (Mexico)
Camino de las ceibas, El (2001) .... Miguel
Sin dejar huella (2000) .... Niko
... aka Leaving No Trace (International: English title)
... aka Sin dejar huella (Spain)
... aka Without a Trace (USA: festival title)
De ida y vuelta (2000) .... Filiberto
... aka Back and Forth (USA: video title)
... aka To and Fro (International: English title)

Hija del Puma, La (1994) .... Mateo
... aka Pumaens datter (Denmark)
... aka Pumans dotter (Sweden)
... aka The Daughter of the Puma

Actor - TV:
"Pantera, El" .... El Mandril (13 episodes, 2007)
- Revelaciones (2007) TV Episode .... El Mandril
- Desencuentro (2007) TV Episode .... El Mandril
- Jaulas (2007) TV Episode .... El Mandril
- Rabia (2007) TV Episode .... El Mandril
- Confianza rota (2007) TV Episode .... El Mandril
(8 more)
Dónde estaré esta noche. Teatro de ciertos habitantes (2006) (TV)
Reina roja, un misterio maya, La (2005) (TV)

MEXICO COUNTRY PROFILE / MEXICO COUNTRY GUIDE

Mexico Info — Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:08 am

Author: Mexico Info

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:08 am

MEXICO COUNTRY PROFILE

Introduction

The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. A devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering the worst recession in over half a century. The nation continues to make an impressive recovery. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that the opposition defeated the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Vicente FOX of the National Action Party (PAN) was sworn in on 1 December 2000 as the first chief executive elected in free and fair elections.

Geography

Location:
Middle America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, between Belize and the US and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and the US

Geographic coordinates: 23 00 N, 102 00 W

Map references: North America

Area:
total: 1,972,550 sq km
land: 1,923,040 sq km
water: 49,510 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly less than three times the size of Texas

Land boundaries:
total: 4,353 km
border countries: Belize 250 km, Guatemala 962 km, US 3,141 km

Coastline: 9,330 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

Climate: varies from tropical to desert

Terrain: high, rugged mountains; low coastal plains; high plateaus; desert

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Laguna Salada -10 m
highest point: Volcan Pico de Orizaba 5,700 m

Natural resources: petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber

Land use:
arable land: 12.99%
permanent crops: 1.31%
other: 85.7% (2001)

Irrigated land: 65,000 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and destructive earthquakes in the centre and south, and hurricanes on the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coasts

Environment - current issues: scarcity of hazardous waste disposal facilities; rural to urban migration; natural fresh water resources scarce and polluted in north, inaccessible and poor quality in center and extreme southeast; raw sewage and industrial effluents polluting rivers in urban areas; deforestation; widespread erosion; desertification; deteriorating agricultural lands; serious air and water pollution in the national capital and urban centres along US-Mexico border; land subsidence in Valley of Mexico caused by groundwater depletion
note: the government considers the lack of clean water and deforestation national security issues

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
strategic location on southern border of US; corn (maize), one of the world's major grain crops, is thought to have originated in Mexico

People

Population: 106,202,903 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 31.1% (male 16,844,400/female 16,159,511)
15-64 years: 63.3% (male 32,521,043/female 34,704,093)
65 years and over: 5.6% (male 2,715,010/female 3,258,846) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 24.93 years
male: 24.04 years
female: 25.85 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.17% (2005 est.)

Birth rate: 21.01 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate: 4.73 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate: -4.57 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.83 male(s)/female
total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 20.91 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 22.85 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 18.88 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 75.19 years
male: 72.42 years
female: 78.1 years (2005 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.45 children born/woman (2005 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.3% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 160,000 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 5,000 (2003 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Mexican(s)
adjective: Mexican

Ethnic groups: mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1%

Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%, other 5%

Languages: Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 92.2%
male: 94%
female: 90.5% (2003 est.)

Government

Country name:
conventional long form: United Mexican States
conventional short form: Mexico
local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
local short form: Mexico

Government type: federal republic

Capital: Mexico (Distrito Federal)

Administrative divisions:
31 states (estados, singular - estado) and 1 federal district* (distrito federal); Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Colima, Distrito Federal*, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan de Ocampo, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro de Arteaga, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz-Llave, Yucatan, Zacatecas

Independence: 16 September 1810 (from Spain)

National holiday: Independence Day, 16 September (1810)

Constitution: 5 February 1917

Legal system:
mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory (but not enforced)

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Vicente FOX Quesada (since 1 December 2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Vicente FOX Quesada (since 1 December 2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president; note - appointment of attorney general requires consent of the Senate
elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 2 July 2000 (next to be held 2 July 2006)
election results: Vicente FOX Quesada elected president; percent of vote - Vicente FOX Quesada (PAN) 42.52%, Francisco LABASTIDA Ochoa (PRI) 36.1%, Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 16.64%, other 4.74%

Legislative branch:
bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la Union consists of the Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats; 96 are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms, and 32 are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote) and the Federal Chamber of Deputies or Camara Federal de Diputados (500 seats; 300 members are directly elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms; remaining 200 members are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote, also for three-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held 2 July 2000 for all of the seats (next to be held 2 July 2006); Chamber of Deputies - last held 6 July 2003 (next to be held 2 July 2006)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PRI 60, PAN 46, PRD 16, PVEM 5, unassigned 1; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PRI 222, PAN 151, PRD 95, PVEM 17, PT 6, CD 5, unassigned 4; note - special elections were held in December 2003; the PRI and the PRD each won one seat and were each assigned one additional proportional representation seat

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court of Justice or Suprema Corte de Justicia Nacional (justices or ministros are appointed by the president with consent of the Senate)

Political parties and leaders:
Convergence for Democracy or CD [Dante DELGADO Ranauro]; Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI [Roberto MADRAZO Pintado]; Mexican Green Ecological Party or PVEM [Jorge Emilio GONZALEZ Martinez]; National Action Party or PAN [Luis Felipe BRAVO Mena]; Party of the Democratic Revolution or PRD [Leonel GODOY]; Workers Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic or COPARMEX; Confederation of Industrial Chambers or CONCAMIN; Confederation of Mexican Workers or CTM; Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce or CONCANACO; Coordinator for Foreign Trade Business Organizations or COECE; Federation of Unions Providing Goods and Services or FESEBES; National Chamber of Transformation Industries or CANACINTRA; National Peasant Confederation or CNC; National Union of Workers or UNT; Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers or CROM; Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants or CROC; Roman Catholic Church

International organization participation:
APEC, BCIE, BIS, CDB, CE (observer), EBRD, FAO, G-3, G-6, G-15, G-19, G-24, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, NAM (observer), NEA, OAS, OECD, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMOVIC, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador-designate Carlos Alberto de ICAZA Gonzalez
chancery: 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006
telephone: [1] (202) 728-1600
FAX: [1] (202) 728-1698
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, El Paso, Houston, Laredo (Texas), Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Nogales (Arizona), Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Juan (Puerto Rico)
consulate(s): Albuquerque, Brownsville (Texas), Calexico (California), Corpus Christi (Texas), Del Rio (Texas), Detroit, Douglas (Arizona), Eagle Pass (Texas), Fresno (California), Indianapolis (Indiana), Kansas City (Missouri), Las Vegas, McAllen (Texas), Midland (Texas), Omaha, Orlando, Oxnard (California), Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), Presidio (Texas), Raleigh, Salt Lake City, San Bernardino, Santa Ana (California), Seattle, Tucson, Yuma (Arizona)

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Antonio O. GARZA
embassy: Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 Mexico, Distrito Federal
mailing address: P. O. Box 9000, Brownsville, TX 78520-0900
telephone: [52] (55) 5080-2000
FAX: [52] (55) 5525-5040
consulate(s) general: Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana
consulate(s): Hermosillo, Matamoros, Merida, Nogales, Nuevo, Laredo

Flag description:
three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; the coat of arms (an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak) is centred in the white band

Economy

Economy - overview:
Mexico has a free market economy that recently entered the trillion dollar class. It contains a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. Recent administrations have expanded competition in seaports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity generation, natural gas distribution, and airports. Per capita income is one-fourth that of the US; income distribution remains highly unequal. Trade with the US and Canada has tripled since the implementation of NAFTA in 1994. Mexico has 12 free trade agreements with over 40 countries including, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, the European Free Trade Area, and Japan, putting more than 90% of trade under free trade agreements. The government is cognizant of the need to upgrade infrastructure, modernize the tax system and labour laws, and provide incentives to invest in the energy sector, but progress is slow.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.006 trillion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4.1% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $9,600 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 4%
industry: 27.2%
services: 68.9% (2004 est.)

Labour force: 34.73 million (2004 est.)

Labour force - by occupation: agriculture 18%, industry 24%, services 58% (2003)

Unemployment rate: 3.2% plus underemployment of perhaps 25% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line: 40% (2003 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 35.6% (2002)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 53.1 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.4% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed): 19.4% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $160 billion
expenditures: $158 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)

Public debt: 23.5% of GDP (2004 est.)

Agriculture - products: corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, beans, cotton, coffee, fruit, tomatoes; beef, poultry, dairy products; wood products

Industries:
food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 3.8% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production: 203.6 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption: 189.7 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports: 98.65 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports: 367.7 million kWh (2002)

Oil - production: 3.46 million bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - consumption: 1.752 million bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - exports: 1.863 million bbl/day (2004)

Oil - imports: 205,000 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - proved reserves: 18 billion bbl (2004 est.)

Natural gas - production: 47.3 billion cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - consumption: 55.1 billion cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - imports: 7.85 billion cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves: 420 billion cu m (2004)

Current account balance: $-4.113 billion (2004 est.)

Exports: $182.4 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities: manufactured goods, oil and oil products, silver, fruits, vegetables, coffee, cotton

Exports - partners: US 81%, Canada 5.9%, Japan 1.1% (2004)

Imports: $190.8 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities:
metalworking machines, steel mill products, agricultural machinery, electrical equipment, car parts for assembly, repair parts for motor vehicles, aircraft, and aircraft parts

Imports - partners: US 65.8%, Germany 3.8%, China 3.7% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $60.67 billion (2004 est.)

Debt - external: $149.9 billion (2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $1.166 billion (1995)

Currency (code): Mexican peso (MXN)

Exchange rates: Mexican pesos per US dollar - 11.286 (2004), 10.789 (2003), 9.656 (2002), 9.342 (2001), 9.456 (2000)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 15,958,700 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 28.125 million (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: low telephone density with about 15.2 main lines per 100 persons; privatized in December 1990; the opening to competition in January 1997 improved prospects for development, but Telmex remains dominant
domestic: adequate telephone service for business and government, but the population is poorly served; mobile subscribers far outnumber fixed-line subscribers; domestic satellite system with 120 earth stations; extensive microwave radio relay network; considerable use of fiber-optic cable and coaxial cable
international: country code - 52; satellite earth stations - 32 Intelsat, 2 Solidaridad (giving Mexico improved access to South America, Central America, and much of the US as well as enhancing domestic communications), numerous Inmarsat mobile earth stations; linked to Central American Microwave System of trunk connections; high capacity Columbus-2 fiber-optic submarine cable with access to the US, Virgin Islands, Canary Islands, Morocco, Spain, and Italy (1997)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 850, FM 545, shortwave 15 (2003)

Television broadcast stations: 236 (plus repeaters) (1997)

Internet country code: .mx

Internet hosts: 1,333,406 (2003)

Internet users: 10.033 million (2002)

Transportation

Railways:
total: 17,634 km
standard gauge: 17,634 km 1.435-m gauge (2004)

Highways:
total: 329,532 km
paved: 108,087 km (including 6,429 km of expressways)
unpaved: 221,445 km (1999 est.)

Waterways: 2,900 km
note: navigable rivers and coastal canals (2004)

Pipelines: crude oil 28,200 km; petroleum products 10,150 km; natural gas 13,254 km; petrochemical 1,400 km (2003)

Ports and harbours: Altamira, Manzanillo, Morro Redondo, Salina Cruz, Tampico, Topolobampo, Veracruz

Merchant marine:
total: 57 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 649,389 GRT/942,766 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 2, cargo 6, chemical tanker 5, liquefied gas 5, passenger/cargo 9, petroleum tanker 26, roll on/roll off 4
foreign-owned: 4 (Denmark 1, Germany 1, UAE 1, United States 1)
registered in other countries: 6 (2005)

Airports: 1,833 (2004 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 233
over 3,047 m: 12
2,438 to 3,047 m: 28
1,524 to 2,437 m: 84
914 to 1,523 m: 80
under 914 m: 29 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 1,600
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 69
914 to 1,523 m: 454
under 914 m: 1,075 (2004 est.)

Heliports: 2 (2004 est.)

Military

Military branches:
Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena): Army and Air Force (FAM)
Secretariat of the Navy (Semar): Naval Air and Marines (2004)

Military manpower - military age and obligation:
18 years of age for compulsory military service, conscript service obligation - 12 months; 16 years of age with consent for voluntary enlistment (2004)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 18-49: 24,488,008 (2005 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 19,058,337 (2005 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 1,063,233 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $6.043 billion (2004)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 0.9% (2004)

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international:
prolonged drought, population growth, and outmoded practices and infrastructure in the border region have strained water-sharing arrangements with the US; the US has stepped up efforts to stem nationals from Mexico, Central America, and other parts of the world from illegally crossing the border with Mexico

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 12,000 (government's quashing of Zapatista uprising in 1994 in eastern Chiapas Region) (2004)

Illicit drugs:
illicit cultivation of opium poppy (cultivation in 2001 - 4,400 hectares; potential heroin production - 7 metric tons) and of cannabis (in 2001 - 4,100 hectares); government eradication efforts have been key in keeping illicit crop levels low; major supplier of heroin and largest foreign supplier of marijuana and methamphetamine to the US market; continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America, accounting for about 70 percent of estimated annual cocaine movement to the US; major drug syndicates control majority of drug trafficking throughout the country; producer and distributor of ecstasy; significant money-laundering centre