Lázaro Cárdenas () is a port city in

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

bordered to the east by

Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...

. Lázaro Cárdenas is located in the southern part of the

Mexican state A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...

, being the southernmost municipality in Michoacán. It was formerly known as Los Llanitos, but changed its name as a tribute to

Lázaro Cárdenas del Río Lázaro is a Spanish or Portuguese-based given name or surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Lazaro (footballer) (born 1977), Lazaro Paulo de Sousa, Brazilian football striker *Lázaro (footballer, born 1990), full name Lázaro ...

, a Michoacán-born politician who was

president of Mexico The president of Mexico (), officially the president of the United Mexican States (), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Constitution of Mexico, the president heads the executive branch of the federal government and ...

from 1934 to 1940. The city's coordinates are , where the

Río Balsas The Balsas River (Spanish Río Balsas, also locally known as the Mezcala River, or Atoyac River) is a major river of south-central Mexico. The basin flows through the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, and Puebla. Downstream of Ciudad Altam ...

drains into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. In the 2005 census, the city's population was 74,884. It is served by Lázaro Cárdenas Airport. The municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas, which has an area of , had a total population of 162,997 in 2005, and includes the metropolitan area of city, which includes the communities of Las Guacamayas, La Orilla, and La Mira y Guacamayas.

History

When known as Los Llanitos, it formed part of the municipality of Arteaga. In 1932 it was given town status and named Melchor Ocampo, after politician Melchor Ocampo. On April 12, 1937, during the governorship of José María Mendoza Prado, the state congress decreed the creation of the municipality of Melchor Ocampo del Balsas. The name of the municipality changed again on November 17, 1970, to Lázaro Cárdenas, in honor of the popular former president who had died the previous month. In 2006, steelworkers working in a steel plant went on strike after an explosion killed 65 workers. The militia was ordered to attack the strikers, resulting in numerous injuries and deaths. In July 2007, a ship was caught by Mexican officials at the

port of Lázaro Cárdenas The Port of Lázaro Cárdenas () is the largest Mexican seaport and one of the largest seaports in the Pacific Ocean basin, with an annual traffic capacity of around 25 million tonnes of cargo and 2,200,000 TEU. In November 2003, the Mexican Na ...

, which originated from

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, after traveling through the

Port of Long Beach The Port of Long Beach, administered as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies of land wi ...

with 19 tons of

pseudoephedrine Pseudoephedrine, sold under the brand name Sudafed among others, is a sympathomimetic medication which is used as a decongestant to treat nasal congestion. It has also been used off-label for certain other indications, like treatment of lo ...

, a raw material needed for the manufacturing process of the drug

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational or Performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a secon ...

. The Chinese owner

Zhenli Ye Gon Zhenli Ye Gon (born January 31, 1963, in Shanghai) is a Chinese-Mexican businessman currently under suspicion of trafficking pseudoephedrine or ephedrine precursor chemicals into Mexico from Asia. He is the owner and legal representative of Un ...

was found to have $206 million at his Mexico City mansion. The shipment went undetected at

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

Air travel

The city is served by the Lázaro Cárdenas Airport.

Port

Lázaro Cárdenas is home to a deepwater

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

that handles

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

, dry bulk, and liquid cargo. The port also exports automobiles from various Mexican assembly plants to markets in southeast Asia and South America.Trains Magazine, November 2003 (Vol 73-Issue 11) ISSN 0041-0934, "Kansas City Southern Bets Big on Mexico" by Roy Blanchard, Page 70 The port handled 1.24 million TEU in 2012 and is expanding to a capacity of 2.2 million TEU annually. Cargo moves to and from the port by road and rail equally, with rail service provided exclusively by Kansas City Southern de México. The port is expected to become a major container facility due to congestion at the U.S. ports of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

and its relative proximity to major cities such as

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. In preparation for the port's increased capacity, railway and highway infrastructure running north–south through the center of Mexico has been upgraded to handle the anticipated increase in volume of goods bound for the United States using this transportation corridor. If a proposed government-backed

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

port is built at Punta Colonet, Baja California, goods flowing to U.S. states like

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

could bypass the congested Los Angeles region with closer access to those markets, providing increased competition with Lázaro Cárdenas.

References

Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005
INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
Michoacán
Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México * ''Trains'' magazine, 1 October 2006.
Travel Directory & Guide Lazaro Cardenas Michoacan, port, beaches, hotels

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan Municipalities of Michoacán Populated places established in 1932 Port cities and towns on the Mexican Pacific coast Populated coastal places in Mexico Populated places in Michoacán Municipality seats in Michoacán

History

Air travel

Port

See also

References

External links