The smallest denomination of Mexican currency is the twenty peso bill. Given the current exchange rate, it would be the equivalent of the one dollar bill in the United States. The government has been insisting for some time that they are replacing the twenty peso bill with a coin. I have only been in possession of one of those coins. However, shortly after my arrival on this trip, I received a commemorative bill which was issued late last year, and which is supposedly going to be the last twenty peso bill to be printed.
The front of the bill commemorates the end of Mexico's struggle for independence from Spain. It shows the "Army of the Three Guarantees" (religion, independence and unity) marching triumphantly into Mexico City on September 27th, 1821.
The back of the bill continues the theme of other new banknotes with an illustration representing one of Mexico's ecosystems... in this case the mangroves of the Caribbean coast.
I am still receiving the old twenty peso notes with the visage of President Benito Juárez (I have four of them in my wallet this moment), but nary a twenty peso coin. I wonder if the whole plan will fizzle out just as the plan to replace the U.S. dollar bill with a coin flopped. Remember the Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea coins?
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