Mexico, Decision-Making - understand-culture

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.

Obeyed and Not Complied With

Spanish colonial law gave officials a way to stop a royal order for a time. A royal declaration of 1509 says such orders “primero deben ser obedecidas y no cumplidas, y después consultadas” (must first be obeyed and not complied with, and then consulted on). The Recopilación of 1567 uses a similar formula: “que la tal carta sea obedecida y no cumplida.”

Between 1571 and 1574, the authorities of Mexico City, doctors included, applied the formula obedézcase pero no se cumpla, “let it be obeyed but not carried out,” in a dispute over medical practice. A study of the case sums it up: “obedecieron pero no cumplieron” (they obeyed but did not comply).

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).

The Cuauhtemiña

On June 13, 1998, in Lyon, Mexico beat South Korea 3-1 at the World Cup. Cornered by two Korean defenders, Cuauhtémoc Blanco trapped the ball between his feet and jumped forward over them with the ball. The move became known as the cuauhtemiña.

The sports newspaper Récord describes it as a technical resource “nacido en el barrio” (born in the neighborhood).

They Did Not Count on My Cunning

In Roberto Gómez Bolaños’s television comedy El Chapulín Colorado, one of the hero’s catchphrases is “¡No contaban con mi astucia!” (They did not count on my cunning!). His weapon is the chipote chillón, a squeaky toy mallet.

The show ran from 1973 to 1979. The character kept appearing in sketches until 1992.

Buckets and Crates

In Mexico City, residents reserve a parking space on the street with buckets, crates or other objects, or they pay a franelero, an informal attendant who watches cars. Chilango describes “apartar lugares con botes, cubetas o recurrir a los llamados franeleros” (reserving spaces with cans and buckets, or turning to the so-called franeleros) as an everyday scene.

On August 15, 2025, the Congress of Mexico City approved 24 to 36 hours of arrest for people who charge for parking or for watching cars on public streets.

The Vocabulary of Trust

Confianza means trust. It also means familiarity between people.

De confianza, a person one can rely on, or a close and intimate one.

En confianza, in private, between people who trust each other.

Agarrar confianza, to grow at ease with someone over time.

Pásale, con confianza, “come in, make yourself at home,” said to a guest.

Tomarse confianzas, to take liberties, to act with more familiarity than the relationship allows.

On Credit at the Corner Store

In 2021, ANPEC, the national association of small retailers, surveyed about 1,200 neighborhood grocery stores. According to the newspaper Por Esto!, 78 percent of the shopkeepers said that customers asked them for fiado, goods on credit. The share of customers asking for credit had roughly doubled, from about two in ten in early 2020 to about four in ten in the first half of 2021.

Whatever Time You Say

“¿Qué hora es?” “La que usted diga, señor presidente.” “What time is it?” “Whatever time you say, Mr. President.” Mexican columnists quote the exchange as a well-known maxim. In 2020, a guest column in Expansión applied it to judges who follow the president.

The columns give no origin for it, and none ties it to a particular president. A variant ends la que usted mande, “whatever time you order.”

The One Who Commands

El que manda, manda, y si se equivoca, vuelve a mandar. “The one who commands, commands, and if he makes a mistake, he commands again.” In a 2019 column in Excélsior, the journalist Félix Cortés Camarillo wrote that he learned the saying from a businessman, don Emilio.