Plot hole: Towards the end of the movie when Michael Douglas makes his speech at the White House, he is able to quietly walk out of the gates with no reporters anywhere trying to chase him down. Totally unrealistic (especially considering what had just happened). (00:03:03 - 02:13:40)
Factual error: The Ohio Supreme Court does not meet in the State House, as portrayed in the movie. (00:07:40)
Continuity mistake: The general shows the policeman photos of an assassin they want. They show pictures of him with facial scars that he actually receives after he has been captured and tortured. (00:28:30 - 00:32:35)
Factual error: Javier Rodriguez and the assassin light up a cigarette in a bar in San Diego. Smoking has been illegal in bars in California since 1998. This movie was released in 2001. (00:32:55)
Continuity mistake: It can be seen twice during the in-car arguement scene between the Wakefield parents that the passenger side fog light is out on their vehicle. After the bugged driveway scene where the car rotates 45 degrees while the wife is backing out (with fog lights off), you can catch a glimpse of the previously inoperative fog light being on and working perfectly as she drives down the street. (01:16:07)
Other mistake: The Mexican newspaper that Michael Douglas is reading in the helicopter has a headline where all of the accents are missing. No newspaper, even a cheap one, would make such a typo error. (01:27:35)
Other mistake: In the dig your own grave scene, as Manolo falls into his grave after being shot in the head,you can clearly see his arms go out to catch himself as he falls. (01:47:20)
Other mistake: In the dig your own grave scene, Manolo falls into his grave after being shot in the head. When the three of them go, you can see that Manolo's body is moving as he breathes. (01:47:30)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Michael Douglas in driving up and down the "bad" streets looking for his daughter he is driving a tan Mercedes Benz, The next time when he is with his daughter's friend the car is a tan Cadillac. (01:48:05 - 02:01:10)
Continuity mistake: When Benicio Del Toro visits his dead partner's wife after the "dig-your-own-grave scene, he is wearing a vertical stripe shirt. In the very next scene, he is driving a car with a solid red shirt on. (01:49:40)
Plot hole: Eduardo Ruiz is due to testify against Carlos in court first thing on Monday morning, according to the judge. Yet the day before Ruiz appears in court, Michael Douglas' character goes to find his daughter's boyfriend, who is at school. On a Sunday? (01:58:10)
Continuity mistake: In a scene where Michael Douglas's character is meeting people at an airport, an Army Captain is standing behind him, but the insignia on his headgear is on the wrong side. It should be on the left hand side, instead it is on the right.
Factual error: In the beginning of the movie, where the girl and boy smoke crack, the effect shown on her is that of a depressant. Crack is a stimulant.
Chosen answer: The upper classes in Spanish-speaking countries tend to be more of Spanish ancestry, decendants of the original conquistadores. As such, some consider themselves Spanish, distinct from the lower-class Mestizos.