Mexico, Planning - understand-culture

The Wandering Republic

On May 31, 1863, during the French intervention, President Benito Juárez told Congress that the government had to leave Mexico City. He left that night with his family, his cabinet and deputies. The government set up in San Luis Potosí, then in Saltillo and Monterrey, then in Chihuahua and Paso del Norte. (Video in Spanish.)

INEHRM, the government’s institute for historical studies, calls this period la República itinerante, the itinerant republic. In 1865, the seat of government moved between Chihuahua and Paso del Norte, depending on the movements of the enemy. Juárez entered Mexico City again on July 15, 1867.

Learning at Home

On March 23, 2020, as schools closed for COVID-19, the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) began Aprende en Casa, “learn at home.” Lessons were broadcast on the public channels Once and Ingenio TV and posted online. Secondary school ran from 8:00 to 11:00 in the morning, preschool and primary school from 9:00 to 12:00. (Video in Spanish.)

The ministry stated that “el receso escolar no significa, en modo alguno, un periodo vacacional ampliado” (the school recess in no way means an extended vacation). In August 2020, the government announced that the new school year would begin on August 24 with Aprende en Casa II, carried also by the commercial networks Televisa, TV Azteca, Imagen and Multimedios.

Seven Hundred Sixty-Three Changes

In February 2022, Excélsior counted 763 changes to Mexico’s Constitution of 1917, made through more than 250 reform decrees. Four articles, 73, 123, 27 and 89, had been changed 144 times between them.

The changes continued. In February 2026, Crónica cited the constitutional scholar Edgar Corzo, who counted 18 reform decrees between October 2024 and December 2025.

The National Drill

On September 19, 2025, Mexico held its national earthquake drill, the Simulacro Nacional. In Mexico City alone, according to the head of government, Clara Brugada, 8.1 million people took part. The city sounded the alert through 13,992 loudspeakers, and 99 percent of them worked. (Video in Spanish.)

The alert comes from the Sistema de Alerta Sísmica Mexicano, the seismic alert system, which began operating in August 1991. A study published in 2022 said that about 25 million people receive its alerts.

For earthquakes, the response is prepared in advance and rehearsed.

The Vocabulary of Soon

Al rato, “in a while,” and with the diminutive al ratito. The Diccionario del español de México of El Colegio de México defines it as “dentro de poco tiempo o al poco tiempo” (in a short time, or a short time later). Its example: “Al rato vamos a comer” (In a while we will eat).

Ya mero, or ya merito, “almost already,” means nearly or almost: “Ya merito se acaban los nopales” (The nopales are almost gone). A la mera hora, “at the very hour,” from mero, precise: “A la mera hora, se arrepintió” (At the last moment, he changed his mind). ¡A buenas horas!, “at good hours,” is said when something comes too late.

Eleven Years to Toluca

Construction of the Mexico City to Toluca commuter train, El Insurgente, began in June 2014. According to UnoTV, it was officially projected for completion in 2018. Its first section, from Zinacantepec to Lerma, opened on September 15, 2023. The section from Lerma to Santa Fe followed on August 31, 2024.

According to UnoTV, the last section was later due to be finished in March 2024. It began full service to Observatorio, in Mexico City, in February 2026. Publimetro wrote that this came “tras once años” (after eleven years). (Video in Spanish.)

Thirty Minutes of Patience

In 2025, the website Sopitas reported a survey by the polling firm Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica on punctuality. According to the survey, 67.1 percent of Mexicans are unpunctual in any situation. Asked how long they would wait for someone, 44.6 percent said up to 30 minutes and 33.1 percent up to 15 minutes.

The report gives no sample size and no date for the fieldwork.

On the Promised Day

In March 2021, President López Obrador gave the army one year to finish the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) at Santa Lucía. “Yo le voy a pedir al general Vallejo que procuremos inaugurarlo el 21 de marzo del 2022” (I am going to ask General Vallejo that we try to inaugurate it on March 21, 2022), he said, according to Excélsior.

The airport opened on March 21, 2022, after 884 days of construction, according to Expansión. At the time of the opening, few airlines had committed to flights from it. (Video in Spanish.)

The airport opened on the date the president had named a year earlier.

By Mere Consent

Article 1796 of Mexico’s Federal Civil Code begins: “Los contratos se perfeccionan por el mero consentimiento, excepto aquellos que deben revestir una forma establecida por la ley” (Contracts are perfected by mere consent, except those that must take a form established by law). Article 1803 says that consent is express when it is given verbally, in writing, by electronic means or by unmistakable signs.

Article 1832 adds that in civil contracts each party is bound in the manner and on the terms in which it appears that party wished to be bound. No particular formalities are needed for the contract to be valid, except in the cases the law expressly names.

The Gentlemen’s Agreement

In September 2021, Mexico’s competition authority, COFECE, fined 17 clubs of the first soccer division, the Liga MX, the Mexican Football Federation and eight individuals a total of 177.6 million pesos.

One of the practices it punished was a “derecho de retención” (right of retention), “mejor conocido como ‘pacto de caballeros'” (better known as the gentlemen’s agreement), according to Expansión. It kept players from negotiating freely with new teams. (Video in Spanish.)

The other practice was a salary cap for players in the women’s league. The league and the federation said the pact had ended in 2018.

The Diccionario del español de México defines an acuerdo de caballeros as a “convenio o pacto cuyo cumplimiento queda atenido a la buena fe de quienes lo hicieron” (an agreement or pact whose fulfillment depends on the good faith of those who made it).