Mexico, Decision-Making, Hidden Disagreement

A Safe Channel for Complaints

Mexico’s official workplace standard on psychosocial risk, NOM-035-STPS-2018, tells employers in numeral 8.1 b) to “disponer de mecanismos seguros y confidenciales para la recepción de quejas” (have secure and confidential mechanisms for receiving complaints). Numeral 5.7 d) names the complaints: those “por prácticas opuestas al entorno organizacional favorable” (about practices contrary to a favorable work environment).

A guidance sheet by the social security institute IMSS suggests how: “Pueden implementarse buzones, correos electrónicos, entre otros” (Mailboxes, email addresses and other means can be set up).

Tell Them Not to Kill Me

“¡Diles que no me maten, Justino!” (Tell them not to kill me, Justino!). Juan Rulfo’s story opens with these words. It belongs to his collection El Llano en llamas, published by the Fondo de Cultura Económica in 1953.

Juvencio Nava is tied to a post, about to be shot. Decades earlier, he killed his compadre, don Lupe Terreros. The colonel who holds him is don Lupe’s son. Juvencio begs his son Justino to go and plead for him. “Diles que lo hagan por caridad” (Tell them to do it out of charity). The colonel, heard only as a voice, refuses, and Juvencio is shot.

The Democratic Current

A “Documento de trabajo número uno” (Working Paper Number One), dated October 1, 1986, was signed by a group of PRI members, among them Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and Porfirio Muñoz Ledo. The group, known as the Corriente Democrática, asked the party to open the selection of its candidates to its base. It questioned the dedazo, the method by which the candidate for president was designated.

On March 4, 1987, at the party’s national assembly, PRI president Jorge de la Vega Domínguez said: “En el PRI no tendrán cabida ni la quinta columna ni los caballos de Troya” (In the PRI there will be no room for a fifth column or for Trojan horses). In October 1987, Cárdenas joined another party, the PARM, as its presidential candidate.

The objection was made in a signed document, inside the party. By the end of 1987, Cárdenas and Muñoz Ledo had both left the PRI.

Fear of Reprisals

In 2025, the Consejo Ciudadano de Seguridad Pública and the union group SUCOMM carried out 1,768 interviews with workers in about 33 maquiladoras in Tijuana, Mexicali and Ensenada. According to the weekly ZETA, 68.1 percent had experienced some kind of workplace violence. “El 36.1% de los colaboradores no reportó estas situaciones por temor a represalias” (36.1 percent of the workers did not report these situations for fear of reprisals).

The article does not make clear whether this share refers to all workers interviewed or only to those who experienced violence.

Avoiding Disagreement in Puebla

In 2017, the linguist Niktelol Palacios of El Colegio de México published a study of softened speech in Puebla in the journal Anuario de Letras. Lingüística y Filología. It drew on the PRESEEA corpus of Puebla, among speakers with little formal education.

The study names one aim of the softening devices that these speakers use: “se trata de evitar al máximo el desacuerdo” (the point is to avoid disagreement as far as possible).

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.

Atole with the Finger

Mexican Spanish has several phrases for keeping someone content without delivering.

Dar atole con el dedo, “to give atole with the finger.” Atole is a warm corn drink. BBC Mundo, citing the Diccionario de mexicanismos of the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua, glosses the phrase as engañar, to deceive.

Dar el avión, “to give the airplane,” to brush someone off.

Dar largas, to keep putting off an answer.

Saying No Without Saying No

In 2019, BBC Mundo asked Mexican scholars why it is hard for Mexicans to say no. Alí Albarrán of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at UNAM said: “Decir que no a alguien que te está ofreciendo algo de buena voluntad es considerado una ofensa” (Saying no to someone who offers something in good will is considered an offense). The anthropologist Roger Bartra said that “it is not very polite to say no openly.”

The article describes the common solution: “para no decir no, dicen que sí, pero no ponen un plazo” (to avoid saying no, they say yes, but they set no date).

Leaving a Good Impression

Quedar bien, “to come out well,” means to leave a good impression and keep things pleasant. Mexican Spanish has many phrases that serve it.

Sí, cómo no: “Yes, of course.”

Primero Dios: “God first,” meaning “God willing.”

Ahí lo vemos: “We will see about it.”

Ahí nos vemos: “See you there.”

Each can be a firm promise. Each can also be a kind way to leave a request open.