Mexico, Problem-Solving, Improvised Fixes

Ventilators in Five Months

On July 14, 2020, Mexico’s science council, Conacyt, presented two mechanical ventilators for COVID-19 patients. Ehécatl 4T was designed by the engineering center CIDESI. Gätsi was designed by the company Dydetec with support from CIDESI and Conacyt. The first lot was 500 units of each model. (Video in Spanish.)

According to Conacyt’s presentation, as reported by El Financiero, the ventilators were made in five months, “cuando en condiciones normales se llevarían de tres a cinco años” (when under normal conditions it would take three to five years). In January 2022, answering press criticism of delays and costs, Conahcyt stated that 1,130 ventilators had been made.

The Pothole Campaign

On October 16, 2024, eleven days into her term, Mexico City’s head of government Clara Brugada launched the Bachetón, a campaign to fill potholes. By early March 2025, she said, “se atendieron 83,198 baches” (83,198 potholes were attended to). On March 18, 2025, the city started a second round, the Mega Bachetón, with 500 crews. (Video in Spanish.)

In August 2025, the think tank IMCO wrote that the campaign patches the same streets again and again without addressing why they deteriorate. Agustín Ortega García, a specialist at the Universidad Iberoamericana, told Infobae that when the damage is only patched, “la afectación persiste y el bache inevitablemente volverá a abrirse” (the damage persists and the pothole will inevitably open again).

The Vocabulary of Getting By

Arreglárselas, to manage. The Diccionario del español de México of El Colegio de México defines it as finding a way to solve a problem “improvisando los medios o recursos que para ello se requieren” (improvising the means or resources that it requires). Salir del paso, to get out of a tight spot. The dictionary defines it as resolving a situation “a veces improvisadamente” (sometimes in an improvised way).

Áhi se va, “there it goes,” is a colloquial way of saying that something will do as it is. The dictionary’s example is Entrégalo, áhi se va, “Hand it in, it will do.”

Hechizo, as an adjective, describes something made “improvisadamente, sin ajustarse a las reglas o a los procedimientos genuinos” (in an improvised way, without following the rules or the genuine procedures), as in una turbina hechiza, a makeshift turbine.

Self-Construction as Art

The artist Abraham Cruzvillegas was born in Mexico City in 1968 and grew up in Colonia Ajusco. According to Art21, the houses there were built “in ad hoc improvisations according to personal needs and economic resources.” Cruzvillegas uses the term autoconstrucción, self-construction, as the title and the concept of his work.

The Frame of an Unfinished Parliament

Under Porfirio Díaz, Mexico commissioned a Federal Legislative Palace from the French architect Émile Bénard. According to Excélsior, “la construcción fue suspendida en 1912 dejando abandonada su estructura metálica” (construction was suspended in 1912, leaving its steel frame abandoned). From 1933, the architect Carlos Obregón Santacilia used part of that structure to build the Monumento a la Revolución. The monument was completed in 1938. (Video in Spanish.)

Mexican Ingenuity in the Headlines

On June 15, 2025, the newspaper El Imparcial published a story under the headline “Ingenio mexicano” about a woman who used the rain to fill the water tank on her roof. She went viral.

On May 4, 2026, the same newspaper reported that a taxi driver “se vuelve viral en redes por su ingenio mexicano” (goes viral on social media for his Mexican ingenuity) after he adapted a ventilation system with PVC pipes.

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.