Mexico is a complicated mix of contrasts. It has some of the richest people in the world yet half of the 110 million inhabitants live in poverty.
In Acapulco you see the most elegant mansions at one end of the town whilst at the other mothers are teaching their children, some as young as five, to beg on the streets.
John Wayne reportedly used to have a cliff-top house in the town and throw his champagne bottles down on to the rocks below.
But who are the Mexican powerhouses with the deepest pockets?
Below we look at the ten richest Mexicans today and their net worth, with figures from Forbes’ 2016 World’s Billionaires list.
10 Carlos Hank Rhon: $2.1 billion
Carlos Hank Rhon has made his fortune in the world of banking and industry.
He and his family own more than 70 per cent of his holding company Grupo Financiero Interacciones, as well as industrial giant Grupo Hermes.
His father was late Mexican polititican Carlos Hank Gonzalez, who was a former ‘regent’ (mayor) of Mexico City.
9 Emilio Azcarraga Jean: $2.1 billion
The Mexican billionaire is generally credited for saving broadcasting giant Grupo Televisa from near bancruptcy after he became Chairman and Chief Executive following his father’s death in 1997.
He also spent $400 million to boost his stake in the holding company, which meant he owned a 52 per cent share. Emilio is the cousin of Gaston Azcarraga, former owner of airline group Mexicana de Aviacion.
Emilio had had two brothers, Raul and Gaston, but Raul tragically died, leaving his portion of Televiso to Emilio.
Emilio is also on the global board of the International non-profit organisation Endeavour, which supports high-impact entrepreneurs.
8 Antonio del Valle Ruiz: $2.6 billion
Antonio is the Patriarch of the del Ruiz Valle family. The 73-year-old billionaire investor is behind the chemical maker Mexichem and is their Honourable Life President.
He boasts he can turn any failing company around and is as good as his word.
Pochteca, a Mexico City-based distributor of industrial greases and solvents, has shown a big improvement since Mexichem acquired shares in the company.
Del Ruiz Valle appointed a former Mexichem CEO as Chairman of the Board and his son-in-law Armando Santacruz as Pochteca’s CEO.
Mexichem is very much a family company and del Ruiz Valle family members and their in-laws hold sixty three per cent of Pochteca’s shares.
7 Ricardo Salinas Pliego: $4.3 billion
Again, the amount above is the combined wealth of the Pliego family. Ricardo is the most controversial billionaire in Mexico having been involved in a number of controversies, both political and financial.
In 2003 he was accused of violently taking over television station CNI Canal 40 and in 2005 he was charged by the American Securities and Exchange Commission with being involved in a series of transactions where he personally gained $109million.
The case was settled in 2006 when he had to hand over $7.1million without admitting guilt.
He is President and CEO of Grupo Salinas and in 1987 he succeeded his father Hugo Salinas Price as CEO of Grupo Elektra, which began life as a furniture manufacturing company founded by his grandfather in 1906.
In 1997 he formed Fundacion Azteca to deal with social problems and ran ongoing campaigns in healthcare, nutrition, education and the environment.
6 Arango brothers: $4.4 billion
Brothers Jeronimo, Manuel and Placedo Arango were co-founder sof the now defunct Aurrera chain of supermarkets. Their combined worth is $4.4billion.
Jeronimo got the idea for the stores when he went on a visit to New York and saw people queuing to get discounts in various shops.
Manuel is President of the Mexican Center for Philanthropy and his wife Marie Therese is President of the Mexican Folk Art Museum. Jeronimo loves art and is said to own to El Greco paintings worth over $15million each.
5 María Asunción Aramburuzabala: $5.5 billion
María, or Marasun as she is commonly known, is a supreme example of the power of women.
Nicknamed the Beer Queen, she inherited shares in the makers of brews such as Corona and Negra Modela — which was founded by her grandfather in 1925.
When her father died suddenly in 1995, she teamed up with her mother and sister Lucrecia to fight groups trying to take over the family shares in Modelo.
They then established their company Tresalia (Tres Aliadas or the Three Allies) and started investing in various prosperous business sectors.
Tresalia is now a successful family company with Maria as Chairman of the Board. The family wealth, including her husband Tony Garza whom she married in 2005, is $5.4 billion.
4 Eva Gonda de Rivera: $6.7 billion
Eva Gonda de Rivera is one of the most influential women in Mexico, and her combined family wealth is $6.7 billion.
She is a member of the trust that controls the Mexican bottling and convenience store company Formento Economico Mexicano (Femsa).
Eva is the widow of the former chair of Femsa, Eugenio Garza Laguera, who died in 2008.
When he died Eugenio left his stake in the company to his widow and four daughters.
One of the daughters, Eva Maria Garza Laguera Gonda, is married to the CEO of Femsa, Jose Antonio Fernandez Carbajal.
3 Alberto Bailleres Gonzales: $6.9 billion
The combined wealth of the 62-year-old billionaire and is family is $6.9 billion, but despite owning the largest silver mine in the world he likes to keep a low profile.
One of Gonzales’ favourite things to do is take his family away in complete privacy on his magnificent 92-meter yacht the Mayan Queen IV.
Gonzales is CEO and Executive President of Grupo Bal, President of Grup Palaccio de Herro SAB de CV and he is also involved with several other companies.
He had a tough few years thanks to slower economic growth which held back his operations but he is hoping things will improve.
2 Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco: $9.2 billion
Businessman Germán and his family own fifty one per cent of Grupo Mexico, the largest mining corporation in the country and the third largest copper producer in the world.
The company had thirteen mines in full production at the time of writing plus ten more which are being explored in Mexico, Chile and Peru.
Germán is CEO and is classed as one of Mexico’s most successful and influential residents. H
e is notoriously private and camera shy, and the picture of him above with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto above is one of the only ones in existence.
1 Carlos Slim Helu: $50 billion
Once the wealthiest man in the world, Carlos Slim Helu now sits fourth in Forbes’ Wold’s Billionaires ranking — behind Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega and Warren Buffett.
But he is Mexico’s richest man, by a long, long way.
He was taught about business from an early age by his Lebanese father who emigrated with his family to Mexico and at the age of twelve he bought shares in a Mexican bank.
At the age of seventeen he was earning 200 pesos a week working for his father’s company. He married Soumayo Domit in 1967 and they lived in Mexico City and had six children but she died in 1999.
Carlos still lives in Mexico City and is Chairman and CEO of Telemex, America Movil and Samsung Mexico.
He is also Chairman of Grupo Carso. In 2000 he set up the Foundation for the Historical Center of Mexico City to restore and save significant buildings.