On the back of the new 100 peso note

On the back of the new 100 peso note is a fragment of the mural, “Del Porfirismo a La Revolucion,” by David Alfaro Siqueiros depicting soldiers of the Revolution.

Commemorating the centenary of the Revolution and the bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico there are new banknotes of 100 and 200 pesos. 

The Bank of Mexico Governor, Guillermo Ortiz, said that the new paper money will have the dual mission of serving as circulating money and collectors’ items.  To reinforce the latter, he made the important decision to issue only 50 million copies each of these two new bills.

The face of the new 100 peso note is illustrated with the image of a typical locomotive carrying the Revolutionary troops during the armed movement that began in 1910. On the back is the image of the soldiers, known as the Adelita. It was to represent the women of revolutionaries and their plight. There is also a fragment of a mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros, about the revolution against the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz.

The face of the 200 peso bill is the Independence Memorial. It was reproduced from an image by Dr. Jesus Helguera, showing Father Miguel Hidalgo summoning the people to liberation, clutching a banner with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. On the back is the Angel of Independence, one of the most representative symbols of México City and the whole country. Built in 1902 to pay tribute to the heroes of Mexico’s Independence, this statue stands majestically in the center of the round-about on Paseo de la Reforma in downtown.

When circulation started, Guillermo Ortiz presented copies of the new bills to the president Felipe Calderón, who joked a bit and tried to put them in his pocket, prompting laughter from the audience. The president continued in good spirits, to say that those who choose to treasure these notes will help reduce the circulation of banknotes in the country, helping contain inflation.  Then, with a more formal tone, he urged the people to be united at this juncture.  And like the heroes of the past, “without distinction, we have to fight under the flag of Mexico,” and deploy public policies that the country needs for the population who have less.