Nogales is a municipality in the state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico, being the most densely populated municipality in Sonora. The name "Nogales" is the Spanish word for walnut trees.

Geography The northern boundary of the municipality is located along the U.S.—Mexico border.

The seat of the municipality is the City of Nogales. The city is abutted on its north by the city of Nogales, Arizona, United States.

History The independent municipality of Nogales, which included the town of Nogales, was established 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. The municipality of Nogales covers an area of 1,675 km2. Nogales was declared a city within the municipality on January 1, 1920.

Escobarista Rebellion Early in March 1929, the Escobarista Rebellion exploded in Nogales, sponsored by Obregonistas, supporters of President Álvaro Obregón, who had been assassinated on July 17, 1928. General Manuel Aguirre, commanding the rebellious 64th Regiment, took power without firing a shot, causing federales from Naco to send a daily airplane to attack the rebels. It 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 airplane. There was only one casualty, a woman 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 entered Mexico to help the federales in Naco. It seems that the tank had been bought in 1927 for fighting the Yaquis, but U.S. officials prohibited it from leaving the U.S., and it had been kept in a warehouse in Nogales, Arizona.

Government The municipality of Nogales was governed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) from 1931 until the 2006 elections, when power shifted to the National Action Party (PAN). After more than seven decades of being in power, the PRI was ousted by PAN when long-time businessman and philanthropist Marco Antonio Martínez Dabdoub ran for the presidency of Nogales, and gained access to the municipal government after having won by 30,826 votes against 23,892 of his PRI opponent.

The body of Cecilia Yépiz Reyna, former Secretary of Urban Development and Ecology, was found in a shallow grave near the border on March 6, 2021, after a three-month search. Her brother accused municipal president Jesús Pujol Irastorza (MORENA), of the kidnapping and murder.

Municipal presidents Term Municipal president Political partyNotes1910–1913 Fernando F. Rodríguez 1913–1914 Antonio Varela 1916–1917 Astolfo R. Cárdenas 1917–1918 Félix B. Peñaloza 1918–1919 Astolfo R. Cárdenas 1919–1920 Alberto Figueroa 1920–1921 Alejandro Villaseñor 1921–1922 Francisco V. Ramos 1922–1923 Francisco A. Casanova 1923–1924 Walterio Pesqueira 1924–1925 Jesús E. Maytorena 1925 Jesús Siqueiros Acting municipal president1925–1926 Fernando E. Priego 1926 Guillermo Mascareñas Acting municipal president1926–1927 Carlos Revilla 1927 Apolonio L. Castro Acting municipal president1927–1929 Macedonio H. Jiménez 1929–1930 ? 1931–1932 Eduardo L. Soto PNR 1932–1933 José S. Elías PNR 1933–1935 Rafael E. Ruiz PNR 1935–1937 Enrique Aguayo PNR 1937–1939 Gustavo Escobosa PNR 1939 Manuel Mascareñas, Jr. PRM 1939–1941 Lauro Larios PRM 1941–1943 Anacleto F. Olmos PRM 1943–1946 Luis R. Fernández PRM 1946–1949 Miguel F. Vázquez PRI 1949–1952 Gonzalo Guerrero Almada PRI 1952–1953 Víctor M. Ruiz Fimbres PRI 1953–1955 Ernesto V. Félix PRI 1955–1958 Miguel Amador Torres PRI 1958–1961 Otilio H. Garavito PRI 1961–1964 Jesús Francisco Cano PRI 1964–1967 Ramiro Corona Godoy PRI 1967–1970 Leopoldo Elías Romero PRI 1970–1973 Octavio García García PRI 1973–1974 Ricardo Silva Hurtado PRI 1974–1976 Enrique Moralla Valdez PRI 1976 Jesús Retes Vásquez PRI Acting municipal president1976–1979 Héctor Monroy Rivera PRI 1979–1982 Alejandro Silva Hurtado PRI 1982–1985 Enrique Moralla Valdez PRI 1985–1988 César José Dabdoub Chávez PRI 1988–1991 Leobardo Gil Torres PRI 1991–1994 Héctor Mayer Soto PRI 1994–1997 Abraham Faruk Zaied Dabdoub PRI 1997–2000 Wenceslao Cota Montoya PRI 2000–2003 Abraham Faruk Zaied Dabdoub PRI 2003–2006 Lorenzo Antonio de la Fuente Manríquez PRI 2006–2009 Marco Antonio Martínez Dabdoub PAN 2009–2012 José Ángel Hernández Barajas PAN 2012–2015 Ramón Guzmán Muñoz PRI PVEM 2015–2018 David Cuauhtémoc Galindo Delgado PAN 2018–2021 Jesús Antonio Pujol Irastorza PT Morena PES Coalition "Together We Will Make History"2021–2024 Juan Francisco Gim Nogales Morena 2024–present Juan Francisco Gim Nogales Morena PVEM PT PNA Sonora PES Sonora He was reelected

Assassination of a former Nogales official On 5 January 2021, civil engineer Cecilia Yépiz Reyna, former secretary of Infrastructure, Urban Development and Ecology of the City of Nogales, disappeared. Later, on 7 March, her body was found: Yépiz had been clandestinely buried in a grave located on a site located 1.86 miles (3 kilometers) Southwest of the Mexico International Highway 15, kilometer 249 of the Nogales-Ímuris section. On 18 May 2021, the alleged perpetrator, Fernando "N", was arrested in the city of San Luis Potosí transferred first to Hermosillo, and then to Nogales.

Population The 2005 census the official population of the municipality of Nogales was 193,517. At the latest census in 2010, the official numbers were 220,292 for the Municipality.

The city and the municipality both rank third in the state in population, after Hermosillo and Ciudad Obregón. The municipality includes many outlying but small rural communities. The only other localities with over 1,000 inhabitants are La Mesa (2,996) and Centro de Readaptación Social Nuevo (2,203) . Nogales is served by Nogales International Airport.

The population growth is in part due to the influx of industry that has come since the opening of the maquiladora industry through the National Industrialization Program, decades before the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Manufacturing now accounts for 55% of the city's gross domestic product, and services are growing as well, most of this caused by the growing jobs in the city.

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.

Economy The primary commercial artery is Federal Highway 15, which links the state with the U.S. as well as major cities in Mexico.

Tourism Due to its location, Nogales is one of the most important ports of entry for the U.S. The downtown area used to have a large number of bars, strip clubs, hotels, restaurants, as well as curio stores, which sold a large variety of artesanias (handicrafts, leather art, handmade flowers, clothes) brought from the deeper central and southern states of Mexico. However, now downtown Nogales has forgotten those activities, due to two main causes: the recent violence in Mexico, and the barriers imposed by the US Government after September 11, 2001.

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.

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. Also important to the economy is livestock for both foreign export and cattle breeding.

See also City of Nogales, Sonora Municipalities of Sonora

References

Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática

External links Nogales, Ayuntamiento Digital (Official Website of Nogales, Sonora) Everything you want to know about Nogales - Bilingual