Mexico, Competence - understand-culture

Five Letters of Reference

For the election of judges by popular vote, Article 96 of the Constitution asks candidates for the Supreme Court for an essay and for five letters of reference. They must send “cinco cartas de referencia de sus vecinos, colegas o personas que respalden su idoneidad para desempeñar el cargo” (five letters of reference from their neighbors, colleagues or persons who vouch for their suitability for the office). The call for candidates repeated the requirement.

In November 2024, Magistrate Maribel Méndez de Lara, of the evaluation committee of the Legislative Branch, said that the committees would check the letters by telephone with the people who had signed them.

The Justice’s Thesis

In late 2022, Yasmín Esquivel, a justice of Mexico’s Supreme Court, was accused of having plagiarized her undergraduate thesis. In January 2023, the UNAM’s legal office wrote that the university “carece de una norma jurídica que le permita expresamente retirar, cancelar o revocar los títulos académicos que otorga” (lacks a legal rule that expressly allows it to withdraw, cancel or revoke the academic titles it grants).

The dispute went to the courts. In June 2023, a judge ruled that Esquivel was the only author of the thesis. The UNAM answered that the ruling did not bind the university. In August 2024, the Federal Court of Administrative Justice ruled that the UNAM could not sanction her.

The President’s Thesis

In August 2016, the news site Aristegui Noticias reported that President Enrique Peña Nieto had plagiarized “al menos 197 párrafos, de un total de 682, en su tesis presentada en 1991” (at least 197 paragraphs, out of a total of 682, in his thesis presented in 1991). He had presented the thesis at the Universidad Panamericana.

Abbreviated Titles

The style manual of Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) sets a rule for titles: “Los tratamientos se escriben abreviados, con inicial mayúscula, cuando acompañan al nombre” (Titles are written abbreviated, with a capital initial, when they accompany the name). Its examples are “Dr. Gustavo González Ortiz,” “Mtra. María Rosa Madrigal Hernández” and “Ing. Rodolfo Contreras Martínez.” Its examples of titles written out in full are in lowercase, as in “licenciado Armando Contreras.”

Graduates Without a Title

In 2025, the FES Aragón, a campus of the UNAM, created a commemorative program to help former students obtain their professional title. It is open to “egresados de la UNAM con todos sus créditos y más de diez años de haber concluido la carrera” (UNAM graduates with all their credits and more than ten years since finishing their degree).

According to Xataka México, “más de 5,000 personas solicitaron ingresar” (more than 5,000 people applied to enter). The first group had 1,110 graduates. A second group of about 1,000 was then opened.

Knowledge and Aptitude

Section B of Article 123 of the Mexican Constitution covers the workers of the federal Powers of the Union. Fraction VII states: “La designación del personal se hará mediante sistemas que permitan apreciar los conocimientos y aptitudes de los aspirantes” (Staff shall be appointed through systems that allow the knowledge and aptitudes of the applicants to be assessed).

Fraction VIII gives them rights to a promotion ladder, the escalafón, “a fin de que los ascensos se otorguen en función de los conocimientos, aptitudes y antigüedad” (so that promotions are granted on the basis of knowledge, aptitude and seniority).

Inherited Teaching Posts

After the education reform of 2013, under President Enrique Peña Nieto, the General Law of the Professional Teaching Service set public competitions, concursos de oposición, as the way into a teaching post. In 2019, Expansión explained what came before. The old system “abrió la puerta para la venta y a las plazas vitalicias, que eran heredadas” (opened the door to the sale of posts and to posts for life, which were inherited).

“Como no había un concurso, no se podía garantizar que quien llegara fuera por méritos y capacidades” (Since there was no competition, there was no guarantee that whoever arrived did so by merit and ability). Since 2019, a unit of the Ministry of Public Education, USICAMM, has assigned teaching posts. On May 31, 2026, President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed that it would disappear.

The Shepherd from Guelatao

Benito Juárez “nació el 21 de marzo de 1806 en un poblado de indígenas zapotecos, San Pablo Guelatao” (was born on March 21, 1806, in a village of Zapotec Indians, San Pablo Guelatao). This is how a biography by INEHRM, the federal institute for historical studies, begins.

His parents died when he was small. He worked in the fields and as a shepherd. At 12 he went to the city of Oaxaca, to the house where his sister worked as a cook. He learned Spanish only at about that age. After his law studies, he was the first graduate of the Institute of Sciences and Arts of Oaxaca.

Forty-Nine of One Hundred

As summarized by IMCO, the 2019 report on social mobility of the Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias (CEEY) found that “49 de cada 100 personas que nacen en los hogares del grupo más bajo de la escalera social, se quedan ahí toda su vida” (49 of every 100 people who are born in the households of the lowest group of the social ladder stay there all their lives).

In the south, the figure is 67 of 100. In the north and northwest, it is 25 of 100.

The Selection Exam

For the school year 2026-2027, “más de 158 mil aspirantes de licenciatura compiten por apenas 21 mil lugares” (more than 158,000 applicants for undergraduate study compete for only 21,000 places) in the UNAM’s selection exam, according to Uno TV. The UNAM offered 50,113 places for new students in all. The remaining places go through the pase reglamentado, a direct entry that requires a minimum grade average of 7.