Nuevo León

Nuevo León
Location
Statistics
Capital	Monterrey
Area	64,210 km² Ranked 13th
Population (2005 census)	4,199,292 Ranked 8th
HDI (2004)	0.8451 - high Ranked 2nd
Governor (2003-2009)	Natividad González Parás (PRI/PVEM)
Federal Deputies	PRI/PVEM: 10 PAN: 1
Federal Senators	PAN :2 PRI: 1
ISO 3166-2 Postal abbr.	MX-NLE N.L.

Nuevo León (Spanish for "New León", after the former kingdom in Spain) is a state located in north-eastern Mexico. It borders the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León accounts for a 15 km stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S. state of Texas.

It was originally founded by Alberto del Canto, although frequent raids by Chichimecas, the natives of the north, prevented the establishment of almost any permanent settlements. Subsequent to the failure of del Canto to populate Nuevo León, Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva, at the head of Portuguese and Spanish settlers, requested permision from the Spanish King to attempt to repopulate the area.

The capital city of Nuevo León is Monterrey.

Economy

Highly industralized, Nuevo León ranks above all Latin American countries at the Human Development Index developed by the UN, with a standard of living above many European nations including the Czech Republic and Poland.

One of its municipalities, San Pedro Garza García, has the highest income per capita in Latin America and Monterrey, the capital, is one of the largest cities in the nation and home of powerful conglomerates, such as Cemex (world's second largest cement company), Bimbo (bakery and pastry), Maseca (food and grains), Banorte (the only high-street bank in Mexico wholly owned by Mexicans), Grupo Alfa (Sigma, Alestra, Nemak, Alpek and Hylsa(recenlty bought by Ternium)), i-service (HelpDesk), Vitro (glass), FEMSA (Coca-Cola in Latin America), and Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma (brewers of Sol, Tecate, XX, Bohemia, Indio and Nochebuena).

Government

See main article Politics and government of Nuevo León.

Official name: Estado Libre y Soberano de Nuevo León (Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León). Official motto: Latin: Semper Ascendens (Always Ascending).

Type of government: Republican and representative according to 30th article of the local constitution.

Nuevo León Gubernatorial Election 2003
PAN	491,973
PRI/PVEM	824,567
PRD	14,934
PT	72,620
Others	51,250
See also: List of political parties in Mexico

Executive: In the 6 July 2003 gubernatorial election, Alianza Ciudadana – an electoral alliance between the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Green Ecological Party of Mexico (PVEM) – regained control of the state from President Fox's party National Action Party (PAN). The new governor, José Natividad González Parás of the PRI, was sworn in on 4 October 2003 for a period of six years.

Cabinet: Chosen directly by the Governor except for the General Comptroller and the State General Attorney, which are elected by Congress from a list of names provided by the Governor.

Legislative: The State has a unicameral chamber. The LXX Congress of Nuevo León is composed of 42 deputies, 26 of them chosen by first-past-the-post electoral districts and 16 of them by proportional representation on a party-list basis. The parties represented are the PRI with twenty-four (20 fpp and 4 pr), the PAN with eleven (6 & 5), the Partido del Trabajo (PT) with three (0 & 3), the PVEM with two (0 & 2), the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) with one (0 & 1), and one independent (who was a member of Convergencia at the time of the election). The president of the permanent commission is Juan Manuel Parás of the PRI.

Judiciary: Judicial power rests in the Superior Court of Justice of Nuevo León, led by Minister Jorge Luis Mancillas.

Political parties: Official recognition is given by the State Electoral Commission to those parties getting more than 1.5% of the votes in the last election (Art.40 of the State Electoral Law), which are the ones represented in Congress.

Geography

Nuevo León has an extreme climate, and there is very little rainfall throughout the year. The territory covers 64,924 km², and can be divided into three regions: a hot, dry region in the north, a temperate region in the mountains, and a semi-arid region in the south. The Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range affects in an important way the lay of the land forming the Galeana and Doctor Arroyo plateaus, the Iguana, Picachos, Papagayos, and Santa Clara mountain ranges, and the Pilón, Ascensión, and Río Blanco valleys. As for hydrography, the San Juan River supplies the El Cuchillo dam, which provides water for Monterrey and the metropolitan area. There are also the Cerro Prieto, La Boca, Vaquerías, Nogalitos, and Agualeguas dams. Laguna de Labradores is a major lake in Nuevo León, and Pozo del Gavilán is a natural well. Both are located in the Galeana municipality. The flora of the region includes brush and pastures in the low regions, and pine and oak trees in the mountains. The fauna includes black bears, mountain lions, javelinas, foxes, coyotes, and white-tailed deer, along with smaller species.

Municipalities

Nuevo León is divided into 51 municipalities (municipios). See municipalities of Nuevo León.

Sources

External links

Nuevo León State Government (in Spanish)
Towns, cities, and postal codes in Nuevo León (in Spanish)

States of Mexico | Nuevo León