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During the year 2010, Mexico celebrates both the 200th anniversary of its Independence and 100th anniversary of its Revolution. The entire year has been proclaimed by President Felipe Calderón as “Año de la Patria,” or “Year of the Nation.” 15 September 1810 is the day of the “Grito de Dolores” or Miguel Hidalgo’s call to take up arms against Spanish colonial government. The start of the Mexican Revolution is celebrated 20 November 1910, when Francisco "Pancho" Villa and Pascual Orozco led the first insurrectionist attack. Events and other promotions of these celebrations are designed to the linking Mexico’s identity and historic continuity. During a speech at the inauguration of the Casa de Allende (Allende’s House) Historic Museum, Felipe Calderón called upon Mexico to use the upcoming anniversaries to reflect on where the country has been and to think about what kind of Mexico descendents will inherit in the future. He said the vision of the insurgents of the War of Independence was forward, not backward, so every celebration of these past events must consider the future as well. In the Zocalo (main square) in Mexico City a large digital clock is counting down to the 15 September 2010 and 20 November 2010 dates. Similar countdown clocks are located in the cities of Cuernavaca, Tlaxcala, Chilpancingo, Tepic, Nayarit and all the capital cities of the 31 states.

Preparations at the national level

The national committee to organize celebrations for both events was created by decree in March 2006 by President Vicente Fox, after Congress declared that the year 2010 should be dedicated equally to both anniversaries. The committee was made up of member from across the political spectrum, not just Fox’s PAN party, and this committee named Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano, the founder of the PRD party as its head. After the disputed presidential elections between Felipe Calderón (PAN) and Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD) in July 2006, Cárdenas resigned from the committee in protest. The following March, Calderón announced that he would be heading the committee but still wanted the support of everyone, regardless of political affiliation.

Calderón officially installed the Organizing Committee of the Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Start of the Movement of National Independence and Centennial of the Start of the Revolution in March of 2007. In 2007, at the 97th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, Calderón presented the Base Program of the Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Start of Independence and the Centennial of the Start of the Mexican Revolution. The Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA) was charged with advising the committee.

Highlighted among the many projects designed are exhibits of pre-Hispanic, Spanish, modern and contemporary Mexican art at the most important capitals of the world, historic routes, shows, publications, seminars, the opening of 10 new archeological sites, maintenance to the country’s most important pre-Hispanic sites and the remodeling of thirty museums. This work involves a complex museography and the consolidation of historic buildings in six states to commemorate the Independence and historic buildings in eight states to commemorate the Revolution, with a budget of over 300 million pesos. Preparations by the federal government have been international in scope as well. Magdalena Carral is the general coordinator of the Commemorative Activities of 2010 of the Secretariat of Foreign Relations (SRE). She says that Mexico has 147 diplomatic missions in various parts of the world and each of these will promote and celebrate Mexico’s Bicentennial during 2010, with cultural events, designed to show the world that “Mexico is a country that commemorates its past and visualizes its future.”The coordination was created in 2008 and works closely with the National Commission of the Bicentennial, headed by José Manuel Villalpando. Mexico is also involved with the Grupo Bicentenario de Latinoamérica (Latinamerican Bicentennial Group). This group is coordinating the programs and activities happening between 2009 and 2011 as most Latin American countries celebrate their bicentennials. This group includes ten countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Paraguay, Mexico and Venezuela. Spain is part of the group as a guest. The group was created in 2007, and designed to help the member nations coordinate and propagate debates, publications, celebrations and festivals.

Print and other media are being used to promote understanding and anticipation of the upcoming events. The television station Televisa is producing a historical “television-novel” to commemorate the Bicentennial, which will be titled “Senda de gloria” or “Path of Glory.” It is being produced with the cooperation of the Office of the President of Mexico. More academically, one of the major projects is the publication of a fourteen-volume work discussion how Mexico has arrived to the 21st century, written by more than 100 researchers from the El Colegio de México. One of the volumes is a Dictionary of the Spanish of Mexico, another is an analysis of Mexico’s condition in the 21st century and a number are devoted to the history of each of the states and the economy of the country.

On 6 September 2009, Felipe Calderón lit the "Fuego Bicentenario" or Bicentennial Fire in front of the National Palace. This flame will travel all around Mexico during the next twelve months.

Commemorative routes

The most visible preparation to date in Mexico itself is the appearance of “Ruta 2010” signs on many of the nation’s highways and roads in most Mexican states. These routes have been created to link monuments related to the two events as well as movements of armies and other key players of both the Bicentennial and Centennial. The Secretariat of Communications and Transportation is in charge of allocating resources to signal these roads and provide tourist information both on their website and on the roads themselves. These routes connect historical sites like the Casa del Marques in the historic center of Mexico City, the San Diego Fort Museum in Acapulco, the Museum of the Viceroyalty, the National Museum of Anthropology, the National History Museum, the Casa de Allede Museum, the Casa Morelos Museum, the Alhóndiga de Granaditas and the Museum of the Casa of Padre Hidalgo.

These roads are subdivided by the specific event they trace. The Independence Road, which includes the Freedom Route, follows the path of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla from Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato to Chihuahua state, passing through a number of other states such as Querétaro and Michoacán. This road traces the first campaigns of the War of Independence to the place of Hidalgo’s execution. The Sentiments of a Nation Route, named after a famous document by José María Morelos y Pavón, follows his campaigns through the states of Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Morelos, Mexico State, Puebla, Veracruz and Chiapas. The Route of the Three Guarantees maps out the campaigns fought by Agustín de Iturbide, who brought the War for Independence to a close in 1821. The runs from Iguala in Guerrero state to Mexico City.

Routes following the major events of the Mexican Revolution include the Democracy Route, mostly outlining the road taken by Francisco I. Madero from Ciudad Juárez to Mexico City after being elected president in 1911. The route starts in Parras, Coahuila, his hometown, and passes through the cities of San Luis Potosí, Ciudad Juárez, Piedras Negras, Torreón, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and León. The Zapatista Route traces the operations of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation through the states of Morelos, Puebla and Mexico State. The Constitutionalist Revolution Route is the conjunction of the routes of Venustiano Carranza, Álvaro Obregón, Francisco Villa and Pablo González Garza, four other key players of the Revolution. These routes wander through just about all of the northern and central states of Mexico.

Preparations by federal entity

All of Mexico’s 31 states and the Federal District of Mexico City have set up their own Bicentennial/Centennial commissions, with the first meeting of state commissions in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, which has been declared the “Capital of the Bicentennial.”

Federal District (Mexico City)

Most of Mexico City’s preparations for 2010 is to have a commemoration of the Bicentennial/Centennial which is “social and critical” in focus. Most projects are designed to look at these events in a different way and to involve young people. One initiative that the city is supporting is called the “Casa de América Latina,” a moving museum that will visit the countries scheduled to have bicentennial celebrations in the upcoming years. It is scheduled to be in Mexico City in 2010. In conjunction with this, the city intends to sponsor a debate and lecture about “Iberoamerican culture.” This efforts is headed by Carlos Fuentes. In various cities in Spain, an exposition called “Ciudad de México, Ciudad solidaria, Capital de asilos” (Mexico City: Capital of Solidarity, Capital of asylum), consisting mostly of instamatic photographs. It looks back on the role as a refuge for political refugees from fascists regimes of World War II as well as from other Latin American countries. Closer to home, a thirteen-chapter television series with the title of “Expedición 1808, travesía por los bicentenarios de Iberoamérica” (Expedition 1808: a journey through the Bicentennials of Latin America). It will focus on seven capital cities, including Madrid and will be hosted by seven young people.

Physical preparations in the city include a Commemorative Arch on Paseo de la Reforma, the new Mexican Children’s Library, a Virtual Museum, the movement of the General Archive of the Nation to a new building. The Turkish government is restoring a clock given to Mexico for its Centennial celebrations by the Ottoman Empire.

State preparations

As of August 2009, most of the preparations have been in the way of restoring historical buildings and sites related to the Bicentennial or the Centennial. Museums in Guanajuato state such as the Casa de Allende Museum, the Museum of Dolores Hidalgo, and the Alhóndiga de Granaditas have been remodeled and/or inaugurated at a cost of seven million pesos. In Querétaro, the 688,925m2 Bicentennial Park has been inaugurated in the north of the capital. In Mexico State, six cities have been declared “Bicentennial Cities,” and slated for improvements in their industrial zones, roadways, parks and public space. In Guerrero state, The National Institute of Anthropology and History is working to declare the entire old downtown of Chilpancingo as a historic site, due to the multiple events of both the War of Independence and the Revolution that occurred there. The state of Nuevo León has 156 projects related to the two anniversaries and the state of Chihuahua will be celebrating the 300th anniversary of its capital city along with the other two.

A number of events have been definitively planned, including those in Zacatecas. These are being organized by the Asociación Estatal de Cabalgantes Unidos (State Association of United Horsemen), who have planned mostly horse-related events including the the VI cabalgata nacional turística revolucionaria (VI National Tourist Revolutionary Horse Show), which will happen in 2010 in commemoration of the Battle of the Taking of Zacatecas in 1914. The state commissions for the southern states met recently to announce its schedule of events for the year 2010, including a large exposition at the National Palace sponsored by these states jointly.

More...

Televisa is producing some fabulous videos on each state for the Bicentennial. I will post the ones already made public and post more from other states as they become available...

Chihuahua

Tamaulipas

Wow ... just wow!!
I got shivers watching it. Thanks, BG.

They will be producing at least one for each state of Mexico. Can;t wait to see what they come up with for the peninsula...

BG, take these down immediately ....... people will see them and want to come

Originally Posted by wessongroup

BG, take these down immediately ....... people will see them and want to come

Tell that to Televisa who is producing the series for the Bicentennial...

I of course love the ones from Chihuahua! You could say I am biased!

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

Tell that to Televisa who is producing the series for the Bicentennial...

they are done very well, and the locations are just unbelievable ... it would be nice to be able to see the locations.. each state would take a while but, would be very interesting.. seems Mexico really does have a lot to offer, just scratching the surface..

Now if I can only remember to release my emergency brake, before I take off in my 4 x 4.....

Once they have produced all of the different state videos I had thought of creating an online map of Mexico where you could click on each state and see the videos...

Originally Posted by wessongroup

Now if I can only remember to release my emergency brake, before I take off in my 4 x 4.....

Don't think that I am so old and blind that I would not catch this one Wiley!

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

Once they have produced all of the different state videos I had thought of creating an online map of Mexico where you could click on each state and see the videos...

That's a great idea.. do you use an application for web site development? yeah, I know off topic.. that's me.. off topic.. but I don't want to start another thread.. I would be putting up new threads all the time.. this way people have to read things as they just might find something they weren't expecting.. kinda like an easther egg hunt.. now how's that for off topic..

Was told by a bunch of think tank guys, a Company I was working for wanted to find out why they were not "breaking new ground".. they were in lock step at all times.. it drove me crazy.. I kept telling them.. well how about this, It's not on the agenda for the meeting.. submit it in writing and it will be brought up at the next meeting..

A long story, but the funny thing was, at the end of the meeting.. it was a week long one held in La Jolla, which was nice.. but, at the end of the meeting.. they told the Board of Directors of the Company and it's Presiden, a friend of mine from High School their biggest mistake was not lisening to my suggestions. As I was, what they call a "synthesis thinker" I'm want everything on the table at one time, ALL of it... if you can't keep up.. then sit down and take notes..

Free form discussion is the only way in my mind to develop "new thinking".. I just hate controls over just about anything.. and that has made my life very difficult until now.. I can say just about what ever.. I don't have to worry about sexual harrasment, political correcness, and a host of other things which one must deal with the Society in the United States today

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.. not saying I'm smarter than anyone.. just that I like all ideas.. and thoughts.. if there are some that don't fit.. well, they show up really quick, if they are throw out on the table too.. and I would rather find out about that kind of thinking then rather than latter..

Was in Air Traffic Contol in the military.. and you had to allow a flow to develop on it's own.. you could not tell an aircraft.. ahhh.. wait a minute your not supposed to call in right now.. you just had to "suck it up" and put another into the memory banks .. some folks had to be led away.. it would be come very difficult at times.. but, I always liked the quick pace and all the racket, we were not GCA, just flight following we would hand off to Tempelhoff and to Frankfurt .. up and down the chute to Berlin from Frankfurt, and fighters on CAP, scrambles on un-knows, and a few other flights, they used to fly U2's out of Giebelstadt .. and that all kept us pretty busy..

Ok, now shot me.. I have run amuck once agin, but now... how many new threads would I have to start and would the story be the same..

Sinaloa

Originally Posted by ELINVESTIG8R

I figured out how to add the video...

Uh oh; now we're in for it.

We tried to make it easy: copy/paste just the code part here; for example sW4bzBnMFXA

highlight it, then click the youtube button above the text entry box.

Voila!

thanks I needed that...

Originally Posted by wessongroup

...we would hand off to Tempelhoff and to Frankfurt...

"Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of the active"
Ground: "Speedbird 206. Taxi gate Alpha One-Seven."...
Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?"
Speedbird 206: "Stand by, Ground...looking up gate now."
Ground (impatient): "Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?"
Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, twice in 1944...it was dark...I didn't land."

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

Sinaloa

Man that is some gorgeous cinematography/scoring. Outstanding; love how they pan those timpanis & EQ the narrator really low.

Sinaloa ... wow.. another really nicely down production... thanks have subcribed and of course steal as much as I can... thanks for all the work, folks..

Now...

Most of NCO's and regular Officers had been there under different conditions...