Mexico, Information, Hierarchical Flow

Works of National Security

On November 22, 2021, the federal government published an acuerdo that declared “de interés público y seguridad nacional la realización de proyectos y obras” (of public interest and national security the carrying out of projects and works) of the government. Agencies were to grant an “autorización provisional” (provisional authorization) so that the projects could start. The press called it the decretazo.

The transparency institute INAI challenged it before the Supreme Court, which invalidated it in May 2023. The court’s press release said that the first article “permitía, por su amplitud y ambigüedad, que toda la información relativa pudiera ser considerada como reservada” (allowed, through its breadth and ambiguity, all related information to be treated as reserved).

The Shadow of the Caudillo

Julio Bracho filmed La sombra del caudillo, from Martín Luis Guzmán’s novel of 1929, between February and March 1960. The film was then held back. According to Sensacine, “el veto militar impidió su estreno comercial en México de 1960 a 1990” (the military veto prevented its commercial release in Mexico from 1960 to 1990).

In 2011, the Excélsior columnist Lucero Solórzano recalled the charge made in a statement by the Defense Ministry: “la cinta denigra a México y sus instituciones” (the film denigrates Mexico and its institutions). She wrote that “en 1990, 30 años después, llegó su estreno comercial” (in 1990, 30 years later, it had its commercial release).

The President’s Health

On the night of September 29, 2022, the news site Latinus reported on files hacked from the Ministry of National Defense, SEDENA. They described the health of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, including “una angina inestable de riesgo alto” (a high-risk unstable angina) in a medical log of January 2, 2022.

At his press conference the next morning, he confirmed it, according to Quadratín: “Sí son ciertos, yo estoy enfermo, tengo varios padecimientos” (Yes, they are true, I am ill, I have several conditions). He added: “[N]o hay nada que ocultar. La vida pública tiene que ser más pública” (There is nothing to hide. Public life has to be more public).

Skipping the Boss

In January 2014, the marketing magazine Merca2.0 gave advice on dealing with a difficult boss. Under the heading “Dale su lugar” (Give him his place), it warned: “Saltarte a tu jefe, evidenciar su incapacidad en una reunión o burlarte de él puede ser muy contraproducente” (Going over the boss’s head, exposing his incompetence in a meeting or mocking him can be very counterproductive).

The same month, the accounting news site Noticiero Contable put the advice in a single sentence: “No te saltes la jerarquía, perderás de un plumazo lo que te ha costado años ganar” (Do not skip the hierarchy. At one stroke, you will lose what took years to earn).

What the Boss Wants to Hear

In September 2021, IDC Online reported the Mexican results of “Los Escuchados y los No Escuchados” (The Heard and the Unheard), a survey in 11 countries by the Workforce Institute of UKG and Workplace Intelligence. “El 56% puntualiza en que es más probable que le diga a su jefe lo que quiere oír” (56 percent say that they are more likely to tell their boss what the boss wants to hear).

“El 31% prefiere no hablar para evitar ‘una política interna tóxica'” (31 percent prefer not to speak, to avoid “toxic internal politics”). At the same time, “el 92% de los mexicanos aseguró sentir que sus jefes escuchan sus inquietudes, pero no accionan” (92 percent of Mexicans said that they feel their bosses listen to their concerns but do not act). The article does not say how many workers were surveyed in Mexico.

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.

Up the Chain of Command

Article 42 of the Law of Discipline of the Army, Air Force and National Guard covers complaints. “El militar que tenga alguna queja en relación con las disposiciones superiores” (The member of the military who has a complaint about orders from above) “podrá acudir ante el superior inmediato” (may go to the immediate superior).

If the superior does not deal with it, the complaint can go higher, step by step, “hasta el Presidente de la República, si es necesario” (up to the President of the Republic, if necessary). The article was added in 2004.

The Covered One

Under the PRI, the president chose his successor in secret and revealed him later. The cartoonist Abel Quezada is credited with creating the figure of el tapado, “the covered one.” His best-known cartoon shows a hooded man smoking, with the line “El tapado fuma Elegantes” (The covered one smokes Elegantes).

While the name stayed covered, the press read the signs. In 2017, the political writer Carlos Castillo described how the media “interpretan señales, gestos y guiños” (interpret signals, gestures and winks) to guess the choice.