Heroica Nogales more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and its surrounding municipality

Municipalities of Mexico

Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in Mexico . There are 2,438 municipalities in Mexico, making the average municipality population 45,616...

 on the northern border of the Mexican State of Sonora

Sonora

Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....

. The municipality covers an area of 1,675 km², and borders to the north the city of Nogales, Arizona

Nogales, Arizona

Nogales is a city in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. The population was 21,017 at the 2010 census. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,833. The city is the county seat of Santa Cruz County....

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, across the U.S.-Mexico border

United States–Mexico border

The United States–Mexico border is the international border between the United States and Mexico. It runs from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas, in the east, and traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from major...

. , the census reported that Nogales had a population of 159,103 people, representing approximately 50% growth from 1990. By the 2005 census the official population of the city was 189,759, and that of the municipality was 193,517. At the latest census in 2010, the official numbers were 212,533 for the city, and 220,292 for the municipality. The city and the municipality both rank third in the state in population, after Hermosillo

Hermosillo

Hermosillo is a city and municipality located centrally in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the capital and main economic center for the state and region. It contains almost all of the state's manufacturing and has thirty percent of its population...

 and Ciudad Obregón

Ciudad Obregón

Ciudad Obregon is the second largest city in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and is situated south of the state's northern border with the U.S. state of Arizona. It is also the municipal seat of Cajeme municipality, located in the Yaqui Valley.- History :...

. The municipality includes many outlying but small rural communities. The only other localities with over 1,000 inhabitants are La Mesa (2,996) 31°09′35"N 110°58′28"W and Centro de Readaptación Social Nuevo (2,203) 31°11′04"N 110°58′04"W. Nogales is served by Nogales International Airport

Nogales International Airport (Mexico)

Nogales International Airport is an international airport located at Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, near the U.S.-Mexico border. It handles national and international air traffic for the city of Nogales. It is operated by Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares, a federal government-owned...

.

The population growth is in part due to the influx of industry that has come since the opening of the maquiladora

Maquiladora

A maquiladora or maquila is a concept often referred to as an operation that involves manufacturing in a country that is not the client's and as such has an interesting duty or tariff treatment...

 industry through the National Industrialization Program, decades before the North American Free Trade Agreement

North American Free Trade Agreement

The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...

 (NAFTA). Manufacturing now accounts for 55% of the city's gross domestic product

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....

, and services are growing as well, most of this caused by the growing jobs in the city.

Nogales officially became a municipality on July 11, 1884, date of the publication of Law No. 29, which had been signed the previous day by the then Governor of Sonora, Luis Emeterio Torres. Nogales was declared a city on January 1, 1920.

Nogales is known for its recent enormous population growth which covers the hills along the central narrow north-south valley. Dispersed among the houses, the visitor will find a mixture of factories, stores, etc. In 2006, the southern half of the city experienced a modern urbanization development including shopping malls, wide avenues, and modern housing conglomerations.

Tourism

Due to its location, Nogales is one of the most important ports of entry for U.S. tourists. The downtown area consists of bars, strip clubs, hotels, restaurants, and a large number of curio stores, which sell a large variety of artesanias (handicrafts, leather art, hand-made flowers, clothes) brought from the deeper central and southern states of Mexico. Local dishes commonly available in restaurants include many types of antojitos (Mexican food) such as enchiladas, tacos, burritos with carne machaca (dried meat), menudo and tamales.

Medical and dental care for U.S. citizens

Because of its proximity to Tucson, Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...

, Nogales has become one of the largest providers of medical and dental care in Mexico for patients from the U.S., with care that is comparable in professionalism, equipment, and competency at prices that are 40% to 60% cheaper.

Manufacturing

Maquiladoras, or manufacturing plants, employ a large percentage of the population. Nogales' proximity to the U.S. and the abundance of inexpensive labor make it an efficient location for foreign companies to have manufacturing and assembly operations. Some of the companies that have established maquiladoras in Nogales include Otis Elevator, The Chamberlain Group, Walbro and Philips Avent.

Municipal government

Nogales was governed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party

Institutional Revolutionary Party

The Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that held power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the few...

 (PRI) for its entire history until the 2006 elections, when power shifted to the National Action Party

National Action Party (Mexico)

The National Action Party , is one of the three main political parties in Mexico. The party's political platform is generally considered Centre-Right in the Mexican political spectrum. Since 2000, the President of Mexico has been a member of this party; both houses have PAN pluralities, but the...

 (PAN). After more than ten decades of being in power, the PRI was ousted by PAN when long-time successful businessman and philanthropist Marco Antonio Martínez Dabdoub

Marco Antonio Martinez Dabdoub

Marco Antonio Martinez Dabdoub is the mayor of Nogales, Sonora Mexico and a member of the National Action Party-Sources:**...

 ran for the presidency of Nogales, winning by 30,000 votes over his PRI opponent.

Production and export

Approximately 92 establishments produce foreign exports. Sixty-five of these establishments are located in seven industrial parks, which employ approximately 25,400 workers, around 50 percent of the total employed population of the municipality.

Other

The primary commercial artery is Mexico Federal Highway 15, which links the state with the U.S. as well as major cities in Mexico. Also important to the economy is livestock for both foreign export and cattle breeding.

Escobarista’s Rebellion

Early in March 1929, Escobarista’s Rebellion exploded in Nogales, sponsored by Obregonistas, supporters of Mexican president Alvaro Obregón

Álvaro Obregón

General Álvaro Obregón Salido was the President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He was assassinated in 1928, shortly after winning election to another presidential term....

, who was assassinated on July 17, 1928. General Manuel Aguirre, commanding the 64th regiment, took power without firing a shot, causing federales from Naco to send an aeroplane to attack the rebels, which dropped a few bombs over Nogales without doing any damage, while the rebels fought back with machine guns from the roofs without doing any damage to the airplanes. There was only one casualty, a man who was scared by a bomb explosion and had a heart attack. That same month, a hooded man appeared at night driving a tank on Morley Street on the U.S. side, then entering Mexico to help the federales in Naco. It seems that the tank was bought in 1927 for fighting the Yaquis, but U.S. officials prohibited it from leaving the U.S., and it was kept in a warehouse in Nogales Arizona.

External links

• Nogales, Ayuntamiento Digital (Official Website of Nogales, Sonora)
• Nogales Sonora Website