Mejor mal arreglo que buen pleito. “Better a bad settlement than a good lawsuit.”
In 2012, the Mexican site ContadorMx, written for accountants and businesses, used the saying as the title of an article on labor lawsuits: “Proceso del juicio laboral en México: Mejor mal arreglo que buen pleito” (The labor trial in Mexico: better a bad settlement than a good lawsuit).
Under Porfirio Díaz, the government’s approach to the Catholic Church became known as a política de conciliación, a policy of conciliation. A study by the historian David Carbajal López, published by UNAM, says that it “dejó sin vigencia efectiva las leyes de Reforma” (left the Reform Laws without effective force).
In July 1964, at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of American States in Washington, the OAS resolved that its members should break diplomatic relations with Cuba. Mexico voted against. Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay also voted against, but they later complied.
Mexico kept its relations with Cuba. The historian Nora Pérez Rayón, in a study of the Mexican press in 1964, puts it plainly: “México fue el único país que ignoró la resolución” (Mexico was the only country that ignored the resolution).
In June 2019, the United States threatened tariffs on Mexican goods. The day after the two governments reached an agreement, on June 8, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador held a rally in Tijuana. He called it an “Acto en defensa de la dignidad nacional y en favor de la amistad con EEUU” (Act in defense of national dignity and in favor of friendship with the US).
He spoke of the US president: “no le levanto un puño cerrado, sino la mano abierta y franca” (I do not raise a closed fist to him, but an open and frank hand). “Le reiteramos nuestra disposición a la amistad, al diálogo y la colaboración por el bien de nuestros pueblos” (We repeat our willingness for friendship, dialogue and collaboration for the good of our peoples).
In 2023, the labor authorities of Mexico’s states registered 1,260 strike notices, according to INEGI. “Estallaron cuatro huelgas” (Four strikes broke out).
At the federal level, the Centro Federal de Conciliación y Registro Laboral received 4,727 strike notices between its start in November 2020 and April 2026. The Ministry of Labor reports “una efectividad de 99% en la resolución mediante convenio” (a 99 percent rate of resolution by agreement).
On election night, June 2, 2024, the opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez called Claudia Sheinbaum to congratulate her on her victory. Marko Cortés, the president of the PAN, shouted at Gálvez for it. She made this public on June 12.
On June 20, the two made peace, and Gálvez agreed to keep working with the party. “Nos hablamos de frente, transparente y con la verdad” (We spoke face to face, openly and truthfully), she said. Cortés told her: “Siempre serás bienvenida a tu casa, tu partido, donde te apoyamos con mucho entusiasmo” (You will always be welcome in your home, your party, where we support you with great enthusiasm).