Mexican Federal District

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Distrito Federal

Location

Boroughs

Urban spread

Statistics
Seat of government	Cuauhtémoc, D.F.
Area	1,479 km² Ranked 32nd
Population (2005 official estimate)	8,720,916 ([1]) Ranked 2nd
HDI (2004)	0.8830 - high Ranked 1st
Governor (2006-2012)	Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubon
Federal Deputies	PRD: 25 PAN: 2
Federal Senators	PRD: 2 PAN: 1
ISO 3166-2 Postal abbr.	MX-DF D.F.

The Mexican Federal District, known in Spanish as Distrito Federal (D.F.), is an area within Mexico that is not part of any of the Mexican states, but an independent self-governing city-state and the seat of the Federal Government. The core of the vast Mexico City Metropolitan Area is within the Federal District's limits.

The border with the State of México surrounds the D.F. on the north, east and west, while the State of Morelos shares the border through the more rural and mountainous south. The pear-shaped Federal District covers a surface area of 1,479 km², with a population of 8,669,594 according to 2005 official estimates [2].

For local government purposes, executive power is held by the Head of Government of the Federal District, while legislative power is in the hands of the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District (Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal). The D.F. is divided into 16 delegaciones (boroughs). Each delegación is further divided into a variable number of colonias (neighborhoods).

Should the Federal Government decide to relocate to another part of the country, Article 44 of the Mexican Constitution mandates that the Federal District would acquire full statehood and be called Estado del Valle de México (State of the Valley of Mexico).

[edit] Administrative history

After the establishment of the Mexican Republic in 1824, the Mexican Congress (Congreso de la Unión) decided to create a federal district distinct from the Mexican states, based on the model of the District of Columbia in the United States. The Distrito Federal was officially created on November 18, 1824. It was a perfect circle with its center at the Plaza de la Constitución (Mexico City's Zócalo), the very heart of Mexico City, and a radius of 8.38 km.(5.2 miles). This circular territory of 220.6 km² (85.2 sq. miles) was detached from the State of México.

The D.F. created in 1824 was much larger than the municipality of Mexico City proper. It was made up of Mexico City and six other independent municipalities: Tacuba, Tacubaya, Azcapotzalco, Mixcoac, Ixtacalco, and Villa de Guadalupe.

The D.F. was abolished on February 20, 1837 when Mexico abandoned federalism and opted for a centralized government based on the French model.

In 1846, the federal Constitution of Mexico was reestablished, and the D.F. was recreated on the same basis as in 1824.

In 1854, Mexican dictator Santa Anna enlarged the D.F. almost eight-fold, from 220 to approximately 1,700 km² (650 sq. miles), by annexing vast rural and mountainous areas of the State of México. The move was motivated by a desire to control the strategic mountain passes in the south and southwest of the Valley of Mexico (Spanish: Valle de México). After the fall of Santa Anna, the Constitution of 1857 confirmed the enlargement of the D.F.

Finally, between 1898 and 1902 the long quarrels with the states of Mexico and Morelos were put to an end by the final delimitation of the borders of the D.F., downsizing its area to 1,479 km² (571 sq. miles), which it has kept until today.

For more than a hundred years, there existed independent municipalities inside the D.F. From seven municipalities in 1824, the enlargement of the D.F. increased the number of municipalities to 22 in 1900. In 1903, the government of Porfirio Díaz drastically reduced the number of municipalities inside the D.F. to 13 by merging some municipalities with each other. In 1924, the municipality of General Anaya was created by taking territory from the other municipalities, thus reaching a total of 14 municipalities.

While the D.F. was ruled by the federal government of Mexico through an appointed governor, the municipalities ruled themselves independently, and this duality of powers created constant tensions between the municipalities and the federal government for more than a century. In 1903 already, Porfirio Díaz largely reduced the powers of the municipalities of the D.F. Eventually, in December 1928, the federal government led by the PRI decided to abolish the municipalities of the D.F. The D.F. became solely ruled by the federal government, with its inhabitants having no more say in decisions, much as what happened in the District of Columbia before 1975.

The 14 municipalities at the time of their abolition in 1928 were: Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo, Azcapotzalco, Tacuba, Tacubaya, Mixcoac, General Anaya, Cuajimalpa, San Ángel, Coyoacán, Tlalpan, Xochimilco, Milpa Alta, and Iztapalapa.

Following the abolition of the municipalities, the D.F. was divided into a Central Department (Departamento Central) and 13 delegaciones. The Central Department was the result of the merger of the former municipalities of Mexico City, Tacuba, Tacubaya, and Mixcoac. As for the 13 delegaciones, their limits did not correspond exactly to the limits of the abolished municipalities. Unlike the former municipalities, the Central Department and the 13 delegaciones were mere administrative divisions, without power.

In 1941, the General Anaya delegación was merged with the Central Department, which was renamed "Mexico City" (Ciudad de México), thus reviving the name of Mexico City, but not the municipality. From 1941 until 1970, the D.F. was made up of 12 delegaciones plus Mexico City, which was not a city, but merely an administrative subdivision like the former Central Department.

In 1970, the subdivision of "Mexico City" was abolished and split into four delegaciones: Cuauhtémoc, Miguel Hidalgo, Venustiano Carranza, and Benito Juárez. Thus, the number of delegaciones reached 16, which is still the number of delegaciones today. Following the abolition of the "Mexico City" subdivision in 1970, the name "Mexico City" started to be used to refer to the whole D.F., and today the name Ciudad de México is a synonym for Distrito Federal. The official and correct name for the city (in spanish) is "Mexico, Distrito Federal".

In 1987, the federal government of Mexico decided the creation of an Assembly of Representatives (Asamblea de Representantes) of the D.F. This assembly, elected by the inhabitants of the D.F., had limited legislative powers. Nonetheless, it was the first time since 1928 that the inhabitants of the D.F. recovered some oversight over their local affairs.

Eventually, in 1993, full home rule was granted to the D.F. by the federal government, with the creation of an elected Head of Government of the Federal District, and a great expansion of the legislative powers of the Assembly of Representatives of the D.F., renamed Legislative Assembly of the D.F. (Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal). The first Head of Government of the Federal District was elected in 1997.