Mexico, Conflict - understand-culture

Whoever Gets Angry Loses

El que se enoja, pierde. “Whoever gets angry loses.” A study of sayings in Decires, a journal of UNAM, explains it as “advertencia para que, en caso de un conflicto, no perdamos a causa de nuestro enojo o descontrol” (a warning, so that in a conflict we do not lose because of our anger or loss of control).

Shut Up, Chachalaca

During the 2006 presidential campaign, President Vicente Fox criticized Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s plan to lower fuel prices. At an event in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, López Obrador answered: “Cállate, chachalaca” (Shut up, chachalaca). The chachalaca is a noisy bird.

According to Expansión, many analysts later counted the remark among the mistakes of his campaign.

Ways to Avoid Saying No

Yo te aviso, “I’ll let you know.” Ahorita, a la vuelta, “in a little while, on my way back,” said to a street vendor. Ahí para la otra, “next time, then.” Déjame pensarlo, “let me think about it.” En un ratito, “in a little while.” In 2017, Matador Network in Spanish listed these among nine expressions Mexicans use to avoid saying no.

The Effect of Silence

In 2012, Gala Karina Villaseñor García tested how 123 Mexican university students understood replies to requests, for a master’s thesis at UNAM. Some replies came at once. Others came after a silence of 1.2 seconds.

The result: “un silencio antes de una respuesta negativa intensifica la noción de rechazo” (a silence before a negative answer intensifies the sense of refusal). The study also tested silence as the only reply.

Tatic

Samuel Ruiz arrived in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, as its bishop in 1959. Many Indigenous people called him Tatic, “father” in the Tzotzil language.

After the Zapatista uprising of 1994, he was the central mediator in the dialogue between the government and the EZLN. He died in January 2011. Five years later, during his visit to Chiapas, Pope Francis went to his tomb.

Strictly Personal

In 2019, the first year of López Obrador’s government, a series of senior officials resigned. Simón Levy, undersecretary of tourism, called his resignation “estrictamente personal” (strictly personal) and “irrevocable.” When Patricia Bugarín left as undersecretary of security, her ministry spoke of reasons that were “estrictamente personales.”

Two officials broke with this. On May 21, Germán Martínez left the IMSS, the social security institute, and called excessive savings in health “inhumano.” On July 9, Finance Secretary Carlos Urzúa wrote in his letter of resignation: “Discrepancias en materia económica hubo muchas” (There were many disagreements on economic matters).

Refusals in Mexican Spanish

In 2006, the linguist J. César Félix-Brasdefer published a study in the Journal of Pragmatics on how male speakers of Mexican Spanish refuse. He examined the effect of formality on their refusals and the link between politeness and protecting face.

In a study published in 2008, he observed 18 male Mexican students refusing a request, an invitation and a suggestion from a peer. They refused mainly in indirect ways, and they softened what they said.

The Workplace Standard on Psychosocial Risk

Since October 23, 2019, Mexican employers have had to comply with the official standard NOM-035-STPS-2018 on psychosocial risk at work. It defines workplace violence as acts of harassment or mistreatment that can harm a worker’s integrity or health. Mistreatment includes “insultos, burlas, humillaciones y/o ridiculizaciones” (insults, mockery, humiliation and/or ridicule).

One of the standard’s questionnaires asks workers about statements such as “Recibo críticas constantes a mi persona y/o trabajo” (I receive constant criticism of my person and/or my work).