The 1955 Pan American Games, officially known as II Pan American Games (Spanish: II Juegos Panamericanos) and commonly known as Mexico 1955 (Spanish: México 1955), opened on March 12, 1955, in the University Stadium (now Olympic Stadium) in Mexico City, Mexico, in front of a capacity crowd of 100,000 spectators.

A total of 2,583 athletes from 22 nations marched in review and formed ranks upon the infield.

[1] The nations paraded into the stadium in Spanish alphabetical order: Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, El Salvador, United States, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Mexico.

[2][3] The hot sun, combined with the high altitude, caused two members of the U.S. team to collapse.

Seventeen of the eighteen countries participated in the vote, with El Salvador abstaining.