The Estela de Luz, officially the Monument to the Bicentennial of National Independence, stands on Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City. It was due to open on September 15, 2010, for the bicentennial. It opened on January 7, 2012, more than fifteen months later. (Video in Spanish.)
In 2013, the federal audit office ASF found that its cost had risen 192.0 percent above the original contract, to 1,304.9 million pesos, according to Excélsior.
On May 7, 2026, Mexico’s Ministry of Public Education and the education authorities of the 32 states agreed to end the school year for basic education on June 5. The reasons given were the heat and the World Cup, which began on June 11. The calendar had set July 15 as the last day.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said: “Todavía no está el calendario completo” (The calendar is not complete yet). On May 11, the national council of education authorities decided to keep the 2025-2026 school calendar as originally planned. (Video in Spanish.)
Mexico’s telecommunications regulator, the CRT, set June 30, 2026 as the deadline for registering every mobile phone line. On April 1, with 17.33 percent of the lines registered, Ricardo Castañeda of the CRT said: “no podemos ampliar el plazo, es un plazo legal establecido en ley” (we cannot extend the deadline, it is a legal deadline established in law).
On June 25, Expansión reported that 63 million lines, 39.1 percent, had been registered, and that the CRT had set a new calendar. Depending on the last digit of the number, the new deadlines ran from August 15 to December 31, 2026. (Video in Spanish.)
From January 1, 2022, goods transported in Mexico required an electronic invoice with the complemento Carta Porte, a digital waybill. The tax authority SAT first allowed errors without fines until March 31, 2022. It extended this grace period to September 30, and on August 22, 2022 to December 31, 2022.
In November 2022 the SAT extended it again, to July 31, 2023. On July 16, 2023, two weeks before that date, it extended it to December 31, 2023. (Video in Spanish.)
The constitutional reforms of 2017 gave Congress a maximum of 180 days to issue a national code of civil and family procedure. In May 2022, Morena deputy Aleida Alavez said, as reported by Expansión: “Tenemos más de cuatro años de retraso en atender el mandato constitucional” (We are more than four years late in meeting the constitutional mandate).
The same report named a law on the suspension of rights and guarantees. The human rights reform of 2011 had ordered Congress to issue it within one year. More than a decade later, it had not been issued.
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.
Ahora means “now.” Mexicans add the diminutive and say ahorita, “little now.” The word can mean right now, in a moment, or later. A study in the linguistics journal of El Colegio de México found that in Mexico City ahorita is used in contexts where it cannot be read as an exact moment.
For real urgency, speakers double the diminutive: ahoritita.