By José Antonio Pérez
El Pinacate Reserve and Grand Desert of Altar Desert will be projected across the country and the globe as featured on the new 200 peso currency bill, which entered circulation on Sept. 2nd. The revamped 200 peso bill comes after a new 500 peso bill went into circulation in August last year.
Launched in September, Mexico’s “month of the homeland”, the new 200 peso bill also includes the Golden Eagle and images of Miguel Hidalgo and José Maria Morelos, both Mexican Independence heroes. The new images on the light green bills replace that of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
The process to include the Pinacate Reserve and Altar Desert on the new bill began three years ago, when personnel from the Central Bank first visited the natural reserve as they sought out specific and unique sceneries. After several expeditions and flyovers of the site’s more than 714,556 hectares, the image now depicted on the new bill was achieved.
The Pinacate, located 40 kilometers north of Puerto Peñasco, was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1993 and became a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site in 2013.
