1. Kirsten Salois & Josh Cohen
Mexico
Kirsten Salois & Josh Cohen

2. Structure Democracy Chief Executive (President)
Bicameral Legislative Branch
Chamber of Deputies (Lower House)
Senate (Upper House)
Judicial Branch
Under complete control of the President

3. Significance of Political Parties
President Calderon
Significance of Political Parties
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Held a political monopoly for about 61 years
Until 2000 when National Action Party (PAN) won the election
President Fox from
President Calderon from
PAN changed political system, and introduced and started many reforms
Current President: Enrique Peña Nieto
PRI
President Fox
President Peña Nieto

4. Congress Bicameral legislative Chamber of deputies (Lower House)
500 seats
300 seats goes to majority
Remaining 200 a proportioned out by the number of votes across the nation each party got
Senate (Upper House)
128 seats
Majority party gets two seats for every state and the minority gets 1
The remaining 32 proportioned out in regards to the numbers of the national election

5. Drug Cartels
President Calderon in his reform deployed over 60,000 soldiers which is one fourth of the Mexican army in an effort to fight drug lords
28,000 people have been killed from 2006 to as well there has been and increase in political kidnappings
infamous drug lord Ismael Zambada was quoted in an interview saying that the government took too long to take action against them, and as a result the drug lords and drug cartels have become a part of society

6. Peoples Response to Political Issue of Drug Cartels
Most polls showed that citizens supported the war, however despite their support of this reform most also stated their concerns in the fact that they believed the drug lords were the ones winning the war
Mr. Calderon at the time of his presidency enjoyed a 57 percent approval rating
Because of the formers president’s stance against drug cartels the people saw him as a hero being the first president since the 80’s to take on the the drug lords as a part of his platform
Some have criticized his reform saying that it focuses too much on brute force when it should rely more heavily on intelligence, that the government should hit the drug cartels where it really hurts, the purse strings

7. Christianity Roman Catholic Separation of Church and State
Pope Benedict visit 2012
Church endorses National Action Party on social issues

8. Education Teachers strong part of political conversation
Used as leverage in rural areas
Reform in education structure
Protests

9. Out-Migration 11.3 Million illegal Mexican immigrants in U.S. in 2014
Search of better circumstance and opportunity
Amnesty
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986