Mexico issues new 500 peso banknote
Bill is the one that counterfeiters most frequently try to duplicate
Next time you go shopping in Mexico, you may get back change in bills with a different look and with the stiff texture of newly printed money.
The Bank of Mexico, the institution that issues the country’s currency, is coming out with a new 500 peso banknote. It is the first in a series of currency redesigns, to be followed by the issue of new 50, 100, 200 and 1,000 peso bills.
The 500 peso bill was chosen as the first to be reissued because it has the widest circulation and therefore is the one that counterfeiters most frequently try to duplicate, Antonio Diaz de Leon, governor of the Bank of Mexico, said in a statement.
The predominant color in the new bill is blue, and the front side depicts Mexican President Benito Juarez triumphantly entering Mexico City at the end of the nation’s War of the Reform in 1861.
The reverse side depicts the ecosystem of the El Vizacaino Biosphere Reserve, a wildlife refuge on the Baja California peninsula.
As a security feature, the bill has on its upper
right corner an inscription of the number 500, which changes color when the bill is tilted. Below that is a watermark in which a portrait of Juarez and “500” can be seen if the bill is backlit.
Other security features include a vertical security thread that reacts to light, as well as bars and numbers that simulate movement.
The new banknote replaces a bill in circulation that depicts two famous Mexican artists, muralist Diego Rivera and painter Frida Kahlo. That bill has been in circulation since 2010.
Next to be redesigned is the 200 peso bill, which is scheduled to be issued next year. The new design will feature the Pinacate Biosphere, located east of San Luis Rio Colorado and below the Arizona border.