Mexico, Information - understand-culture

Widening the Band

On the night of December 19, 1994, Mexico decided to “elevar 15 por ciento el techo de la banda” (raise the ceiling of the band by 15 percent), according to the history of the Bank of Mexico. Expansión later wrote that the government “anunció primero una ampliación de 15% en la banda de flotación del peso” (first announced a 15 percent widening of the peso’s flotation band).

In his own account of the crisis, Carlos Salinas de Gortari wrote that Finance Secretary Jaime Serra Puche “procuró aclarar que se trataba de la apertura de la banda y no de una devaluación” (tried to make clear that this was the opening of the band and not a devaluation). According to El Financiero, the dollar rose from 3.46 pesos on December 19 to 5.60 pesos on December 27.

A Grave Prognosis

In 2006, an editorial in the medical journal of UNAM quoted a line that its author recalled from a code of medical deontology: “un pronóstico grave debe ser disimulado al paciente, pero explicado a los familiares” (a grave prognosis must be concealed from the patient, but explained to the family). The editorial observed that doctors believe they must hide the truth, and sometimes lie, to keep hope alive.

Since 2009, Article 166 Bis 3 of the General Health Law has given patients with a terminal illness the right to “recibir información clara, oportuna y suficiente sobre las condiciones y efectos de su enfermedad” (receive clear, timely and sufficient information on the conditions and effects of their illness).

In a study published in 2008, 96 percent of 50 internal medicine residents at the INCMNSZ, a national institute of medical sciences, said that the patient should know the diagnosis and prognosis. Only 38 percent asked their patients how much they wanted to know about the prognosis.

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.

Notice That

Fíjate que…, or with usted, fíjese que…, means “notice that…” In 2023, the UNAM linguist Josaphat Enrique Guillén Escamilla published a study of mira and fíjate in the educated speech of Mexico City, in the Anuario de Letras. When the markers open a reply, he wrote, they can announce “una justificación, pero también una respuesta despreferida” (a justification, but also an unwelcome answer).

One example from his corpus begins: “Fíjate que oportunidades he tenido” (Notice that I have had chances). The speaker goes on: “únicamente que por cuestiones de trabajo no… lo he podido hacer” (only that, for work reasons, I have not been able to do it).

Levers and Good Trees

For a study published in 2009, two researchers asked 500 adults in Aguascalientes about 60 popular sayings related to corruption. One was Más vale tener palancas que dinero, “it is better to have levers than money.” 83 percent of respondents linked it to corruption.

Another was El que a buen árbol se arrima, buena sombra le cobija, “whoever draws close to a good tree is sheltered by good shade.” 76 percent said they had used it.