Mexico, Competence, Trust and Credit

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.

Through Friends and Relatives

In August 2019, Mexico’s Labor Secretary, Luisa María Alcalde Luján, spoke at the ExpoEmpleo OCC job fair. According to Excélsior, she said that 56 percent of employed people in Mexico had found their job through personal contacts, friends or relatives. Only 25 percent of job seekers used private agencies or job boards.

The Lever

In Mexico, a person who tiene palanca, “has a lever,” has a connection who can open a door. In a 2021 article, the researchers Arellano-Gault and Trejo Alonso describe the palanca as a mechanism for exchanging favors among acquaintances and “acquaintances of acquaintances.” It forms a network “that rests on relationships of trust.”

One participant in their focus groups said: “En México, la vida se compone de una serie de palancas” (In Mexico, life is made up of a series of levers).