Article 80 of the Mexican Constitution reads: “Se deposita el ejercicio del Supremo Poder Ejecutivo de la Unión en un solo individuo, que se denominará ‘Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos'” (The exercise of the Supreme Executive Power of the Union is vested in a single individual, who shall be called “President of the United Mexican States”). The article has kept its original wording since the Constitution was published in February 1917.
Powers Beyond the Constitution
In 1978, the jurist Jorge Carpizo published El presidencialismo mexicano (Mexican Presidentialism) with Siglo XXI. Among the causes of the president’s dominance, he listed “las amplias facultades constitucionales y extraconstitucionales, como son la facultad de designar a su sucesor y a los gobernadores de las entidades federativas” (the broad constitutional and extraconstitutional powers, such as the power to designate his successor and the governors of the states).
In a text published by the Law Faculty of UNAM, Serrano Migallón writes that legal doctrine calls some of the president’s attributions “facultades metaconstitucionales” (metaconstitutional powers). A footnote there refers readers to Carpizo’s book.
We Will Make the Law
In Juan Rulfo’s novel Pedro Páramo (1955), a surveyor has measured some land, and Fulgor Sedano, the administrator of the estate, says that the measurements were correct. Pedro Páramo wants them done again. “Derrumba los lienzos si es preciso” (Knock down the fences if necessary), he tells Fulgor.
Fulgor asks: “¿Y las leyes?” (And the laws?). Pedro Páramo answers: “¿Cuáles leyes, Fulgor? La ley de ahora en adelante la vamos a hacer nosotros” (What laws, Fulgor? From now on, we will make the law).
Settling with the Superior
The Interior Regulation of Mexico’s Ministry of the Interior, in its 2019 version, lists the general powers of its officials. For the heads of the undersecretariats, the first one is “Acordar con la persona Titular de la Secretaría los asuntos de su competencia” (to settle with the head of the Ministry the matters within their competence).
For the heads of the administrative units listed in section B of Article 2, Article 10 begins in the same way: “Acordar con su superior jerárquico la resolución de los asuntos a su cargo” (to settle with their hierarchical superior the resolution of the matters in their charge).
Trust Exams
Police officers in Mexico must pass an examen de control de confianza, a trust control exam. In May 2026, El Imparcial wrote that it “es obligatorio para el ingreso y permanencia de policías en el País” (is mandatory for police officers to join and to remain in the force in the country). It includes toxicological, psychological, polygraph and medical tests, and a review of the officer’s social environment.
In this exam, confianza is measured by tests, among them a polygraph.
A Safe Channel for Complaints
Mexico’s official workplace standard on psychosocial risk, NOM-035-STPS-2018, tells employers in numeral 8.1 b) to “disponer de mecanismos seguros y confidenciales para la recepción de quejas” (have secure and confidential mechanisms for receiving complaints). Numeral 5.7 d) names the complaints: those “por prácticas opuestas al entorno organizacional favorable” (about practices contrary to a favorable work environment).
A guidance sheet by the social security institute IMSS suggests how: “Pueden implementarse buzones, correos electrónicos, entre otros” (Mailboxes, email addresses and other means can be set up).
Tell Them Not to Kill Me
“¡Diles que no me maten, Justino!” (Tell them not to kill me, Justino!). Juan Rulfo’s story opens with these words. It belongs to his collection El Llano en llamas, published by the Fondo de Cultura Económica in 1953.
Juvencio Nava is tied to a post, about to be shot. Decades earlier, he killed his compadre, don Lupe Terreros. The colonel who holds him is don Lupe’s son. Juvencio begs his son Justino to go and plead for him. “Diles que lo hagan por caridad” (Tell them to do it out of charity). The colonel, heard only as a voice, refuses, and Juvencio is shot.
The Democratic Current
A “Documento de trabajo número uno” (Working Paper Number One), dated October 1, 1986, was signed by a group of PRI members, among them Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and Porfirio Muñoz Ledo. The group, known as the Corriente Democrática, asked the party to open the selection of its candidates to its base. It questioned the dedazo, the method by which the candidate for president was designated.
On March 4, 1987, at the party’s national assembly, PRI president Jorge de la Vega Domínguez said: “En el PRI no tendrán cabida ni la quinta columna ni los caballos de Troya” (In the PRI there will be no room for a fifth column or for Trojan horses). In October 1987, Cárdenas joined another party, the PARM, as its presidential candidate.
The objection was made in a signed document, inside the party. By the end of 1987, Cárdenas and Muñoz Ledo had both left the PRI.
Fear of Reprisals
In 2025, the Consejo Ciudadano de Seguridad Pública and the union group SUCOMM carried out 1,768 interviews with workers in about 33 maquiladoras in Tijuana, Mexicali and Ensenada. According to the weekly ZETA, 68.1 percent had experienced some kind of workplace violence. “El 36.1% de los colaboradores no reportó estas situaciones por temor a represalias” (36.1 percent of the workers did not report these situations for fear of reprisals).
The article does not make clear whether this share refers to all workers interviewed or only to those who experienced violence.
Painting from Bed
On September 17, 1925, a streetcar hit the bus in which Frida Kahlo was traveling. According to the Museo Frida Kahlo, she was immobile for months and began to paint. Her mother asked a carpenter to make an easel that could be used in bed. Her mother also had a mirror placed on the top frame of the bed.
The museum keeps the bed in the room that Kahlo used during the day, “con el espejo en el dintel” (with the mirror in its top frame). During the convalescence, which kept her immobile for nine months, she was able to start painting portraits.