Article 80 of the Mexican Constitution reads: “Se deposita el ejercicio del Supremo Poder Ejecutivo de la Unión en un solo individuo, que se denominará ‘Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos'” (The exercise of the Supreme Executive Power of the Union is vested in a single individual, who shall be called “President of the United Mexican States”). The article has kept its original wording since the Constitution was published in February 1917.
Powers Beyond the Constitution
In 1978, the jurist Jorge Carpizo published El presidencialismo mexicano (Mexican Presidentialism) with Siglo XXI. Among the causes of the president’s dominance, he listed “las amplias facultades constitucionales y extraconstitucionales, como son la facultad de designar a su sucesor y a los gobernadores de las entidades federativas” (the broad constitutional and extraconstitutional powers, such as the power to designate his successor and the governors of the states).
In a text published by the Law Faculty of UNAM, Serrano Migallón writes that legal doctrine calls some of the president’s attributions “facultades metaconstitucionales” (metaconstitutional powers). A footnote there refers readers to Carpizo’s book.
We Will Make the Law
In Juan Rulfo’s novel Pedro Páramo (1955), a surveyor has measured some land, and Fulgor Sedano, the administrator of the estate, says that the measurements were correct. Pedro Páramo wants them done again. “Derrumba los lienzos si es preciso” (Knock down the fences if necessary), he tells Fulgor.
Fulgor asks: “¿Y las leyes?” (And the laws?). Pedro Páramo answers: “¿Cuáles leyes, Fulgor? La ley de ahora en adelante la vamos a hacer nosotros” (What laws, Fulgor? From now on, we will make the law).
Settling with the Superior
The Interior Regulation of Mexico’s Ministry of the Interior, in its 2019 version, lists the general powers of its officials. For the heads of the undersecretariats, the first one is “Acordar con la persona Titular de la Secretaría los asuntos de su competencia” (to settle with the head of the Ministry the matters within their competence).
For the heads of the administrative units listed in section B of Article 2, Article 10 begins in the same way: “Acordar con su superior jerárquico la resolución de los asuntos a su cargo” (to settle with their hierarchical superior the resolution of the matters in their charge).
No Waiting Rooms
In January 1935, President Lázaro Cárdenas visited Morelos. The newspaper El Nacional wrote that people there had found “un medio todavía más eficaz y más rápido que el telégrafo para la formulación de sus quejas” (a means even more effective and faster than the telegraph for making their complaints). “Ni antesalas, ni trámites, ni oficinas” (No waiting rooms, no paperwork, no offices).
At the end of the month, the paper printed a box titled “¡Cómo ver al Presidente!” (How to see the President!) for the thousands who wanted to bring him their complaints. The historian Jacqueline Covo concludes that the box showed “que más vale pasar por los intermediarios” (that it is better to go through the intermediaries).
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.
The Supreme Chief of the Revolution
After President-elect Álvaro Obregón was assassinated on July 17, 1928, former president Plutarco Elías Calles began to be called el Jefe Máximo de la Revolución, “the Supreme Chief of the Revolution.” Others held the presidency. From 1928 to 1934, however, no political authority in Mexico was more important than Calles.
The period is known as the Maximato, after his title. President Lázaro Cárdenas ended it on the night of April 9, 1936.
The Big Finger
Under the PRI, the outgoing president chose the party’s candidate for his succession. The practice is called el dedazo, from dedo, “finger.” The dictionary of the Spanish Academy defines it, in its Mexican sense, as the designation of a candidate by the executive “without the usual formalities.” The writer Jorge Castañeda has argued that every PRI president used it.
Until the name was announced, the chosen man was el tapado, “the covered one.” For months, names of possible successors went around. In the end, the president decided.
I Ordered It
On October 17, 2019, an operation in Culiacán, Sinaloa, to arrest Ovidio Guzmán López, a son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, failed, and he was released. On June 19, 2020, President López Obrador said at his morning press conference: “Yo ordené que se detuviera ese operativo y que se dejara en libertad a este presunto delincuente” (I ordered that the operation be stopped and that this alleged criminal be set free).
In October 2022, he repeated that he gave the instruction “to avoid a massacre” and said that his conscience was clear.