Mexico, Agreements - understand-culture

The Unforeseeable Event

In January 2010, Mexico City added articles 1796 Bis and 1796 Ter to its Civil Code. They introduced the teoría de la imprevisión, the doctrine of the unforeseeable event. When an extraordinary and unforeseeable event upsets the conditions of a contract, a party “tiene derecho de pedir la modificación del contrato,” has the right to ask for the contract to be changed.

The request does not by itself allow the party to stop performing. The party who asks for the change may go to a judge to settle the dispute. A change does not apply to what was delivered before the event. According to a UNAM law journal, twelve states, among them Jalisco, the State of Mexico and Veracruz, already had the doctrine.

I Owe, I Do Not Deny It

El Barzón began in August 1993 in Jalisco, as a movement of debtors who could no longer pay their bank loans. Jalisco farmers proposed the name from a revolutionary corrido about sharecroppers and peons who were always in debt to the landowner. A barzón is the leather strap that joins the yoke to the plow.

The movement’s first slogan was Debo no niego, pago no tengo, “I owe, I do not deny it, I have nothing to pay with.” It later became Debo no niego, pago lo justo, “I owe, I do not deny it, I pay what is fair.” The debtors offered to pay the capital and the interest first agreed, but not the interest for late payment.

When Economic Circumstances Justify It

Article 426 of Mexico’s Federal Labor Law allows unions or employers to ask the labor courts to change the working conditions set in a collective contract. The grounds are economic circumstances that justify it, or a rise in the cost of living that upsets the balance between capital and labor. The request is handled as a collective conflict of an economic nature.

The Pipeline Contracts

In February 2019, Manuel Bartlett, director of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), questioned the contracts that the commission had signed for gas pipelines. The companies included Grupo Carso, TransCanada and IEnova. Negotiations began in July.

On August 27, 2019, at the president’s morning press conference, with Carlos Slim present, the government announced an agreement. Tariffs fell by roughly 19 to 38 percent. In return, some companies received higher volumes or longer terms, up to 30 years instead of 20. The government said the deal saved 4.5 billion dollars.

The Economic Solidarity Pact

On December 15, 1987, the government of President Miguel de la Madrid, the labor movement and business signed the Pacto de Solidaridad Económica, the Economic Solidarity Pact. Fidel Velázquez signed for labor and Agustín Legorreta for business.

The pact did not stay as signed. A second phase began in March 1988, with a wage increase of 3 percent. The pact was extended to November, and a fourth stage followed the president’s report of September 1, 1988. Under President Carlos Salinas, the government reinforced it with the PECE.

Minutes of Tolerance

The working conditions of Mexico’s Supreme Court grant its staff “una tolerancia de quince minutos,” a tolerance of fifteen minutes, after the start of the working day. Four ordinary late arrivals in a month cost half a day’s pay.

The Mexico City government’s working conditions of 2010 give ten minutes. An arrival up to minute 20 is a minor delay, and up to minute 30 a serious one. After minute 30, the employee may work only with the supervisor’s permission.

A Little Cheaper

¿No me lo deja más barato? “Won’t you let me have it a little cheaper?” Shoppers ask it at Mexican markets and tianguis, the open-air street markets. In 2026, TV Azteca Jalisco traced the custom of haggling to the markets of pre-Hispanic times. It said that the request also creates a bond between seller and customer.

Guelaguetza

In the Zapotec communities of the Valley of Oaxaca, guelaguetza names a system of mutual help among friends and relatives. According to an article in a journal of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), help received “es devuelta en una ocasión similar y en una misma cantidad,” is returned on a similar occasion and in the same amount.

In Cuilapan, according to a study the article cites, the guelaguetza takes the form of loans of goods such as bread, maize, fowl or mezcal for the fiestas of the mayordomía, for baptisms and for weddings. Looser help, such as a hand with the preparations, is not returned as strictly.

Tequio

Tequio comes from the Nahuatl tequitl, work or tribute. It is the work that members of a community give to their community. Article 12 of the Constitution of the State of Oaxaca says that municipal and community authorities “preservarán el tequio como expresión de solidaridad,” will preserve tequio as an expression of solidarity. Tequio for works of common benefit may be counted by law as payment of municipal contributions.

The Child in the Rosca

On the Day of the Kings, Mexican families and friends share a rosca de Reyes, a sweet bread with a small figure of the Christ child, the Niño Dios, hidden inside. Whoever finds the figure is expected to invite the others to tamales on February 2, Día de la Candelaria, Candlemas.