Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and its member station

Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...

, participated in the

OTI festival OTI Festival ( es, Festival OTI de la Canción, pt, Festival OTI da Canção), often known simply as La OTI, was an international song competition, organised annually between 1972 and 2000 by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) ...

26 times making its debut in 1973, one year after the start of the contest. During the contest’s run, Mexico was one of the most successful nations with a record six wins, including a back-to-back victory in 1989 and 1990, and 14 top 3 finishes.

History

Mexico was along with

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

the most successful country of the history of the festival with six victories. Apart from the victories, the country ended in the top 10 on 19 occasions. The first Mexican victory came in 1973 in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

with Imelda Miller who sung the song "¡Que alegre va María!" (How happy goes Mary!!). Two year later, the country won again the contest in San Juan with the song "La felicidad" (The happiness) sung by

Gualberto Castro Gualberto Antonio Castro Levario (12 July 1934 – 27 June 2019) was a Mexican singer, actor and television presenter. Castro was best known for singing with Los Hermanos Castro (aka "The Brothers Castro"), for his portrayal of Tony in the 197 ...

. One decade later, México won again the contest with the folk singer Eugenia León, who sung "El fandango aquí" (The fandango is here) in a very controversial victory, which was attributed to the solidarity with the country because of the

1985 Mexico City earthquake The 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck in the early morning of 19 September at 07:17:50 (CST) with a moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximal Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The event caused serious damage to the Greater Mexico City area a ...

, that destroyed the capital city. In 1989 and 1990 Mexico got two consecutive wins with the singer "Analí" and "Carlos Cuevas". The last Mexican victory came in 1997 in Lima, Perú with the song "Se diga lo que se diga" (Whatever it's said). Mexico hosted the OTI festival 6 times, the first one in the Ruiz de Alarcón theatre of

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...

. In 1981 and 1984 the festival was held in the

national capital A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the g ...

, being the gigantic

National Auditorium National Auditorium ( es, Auditorio Nacional) is an entertainment center at Paseo de la Reforma #50, Chapultepec in Mexico City. The National Auditorium is considered among the world's best venues by specialized media. It was designed by Mexica ...

the venue. In 1991, Acapulco hosted again the festival in the Convention Centre of the tourist city, the same venue where the last edition of the contest was held.

National final

The Mexican OTI Song Contest trajectory is known for its popular national final, the "National OTI Contest", which was passionately followed every year by the Mexican audience and known by its surprises and frequent scandals. This selection process is usually compared with its Swedish

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

counterpart, the

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...

due to the interest that it created and the big names who tried to represent México in the main OTI Festival.

Contestants

;Table key

References

{{OTI Festival