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.
On September 16, 1867, the physician and philosopher Gabino Barreda gave his Oración cívica (Civic Oration). He closed it with a motto for the country: “libertad, orden y progreso” (liberty, order and progress), with “el orden como base y el progreso como fin” (order as the base and progress as the goal). Barreda became the first director of the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria.
Under Porfirio Díaz, the repressions of his government were justified with positivism, which proposed “Orden y progreso”. A motto often attributed to Díaz himself is “Poca política y mucha administración” (Little politics and much administration).
Como Dios manda, “as God commands.” The Diccionario del español de México of El Colegio de México defines it as “como se debe hacer, como debe ser” (as it should be done, as it should be).
Its example: “No seas cochino y come como Dios manda” (Do not be a slob, and eat as God commands). En forma, “in form,” means as it should be, leaving nothing to be desired: una comida en forma, a proper meal.
The same entry also has a la buena de Dios, “to God’s good will,” which means any way at all: “Hizo la tarea a la buena de Dios” (He did his homework any old way).
Article 19 of Mexico’s Organic Law of the Federal Public Administration says that the head of each ministry “expedirá los manuales de organización, de procedimientos y de servicios al público necesarios para su funcionamiento” (shall issue the manuals of organization, procedures and public services necessary for its operation). The manuals “deberán mantenerse permanentemente actualizados” (must be kept permanently up to date).
The procedure manuals must also be available in an electronic register run by the Ministry of Anticorruption and Good Government.
Article 16 of Mexico’s Constitution says that no one may be disturbed in person, family, home, papers or possessions except by a written order of the competent authority “que funde y motive la causa legal del procedimiento” (that states the legal basis and the reasons for the procedure).
The decree of April 17, 2026 that created the Servicio Universal de Salud begins: “Al margen un sello con el Escudo Nacional” (In the margin, a seal with the national coat of arms).
President Claudia Sheinbaum then issues it under Article 89 of the Constitution, and “con fundamento en lo dispuesto por los” (on the basis of the provisions of the) articles in a long list of constitutional and federal laws.
Article 39 of the Law on the National Coat of Arms, Flag and Anthem states: “Queda estrictamente prohibido alterar la letra o música del Himno Nacional” (It is strictly prohibited to alter the lyrics or music of the National Anthem). The same article forbids performing it, in whole or in part, in compositions or arrangements.
According to Expansión, Article 56 Quintus sets the sanctions for violations of the law. They include a fine of up to 10,000 times the Unidad de Medida y Actualización, the reference unit for fines, and arrest for up to 36 hours.
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.
In October 2016, the Institute of Legal Research of UNAM surveyed 1,200 households for its Third National Survey of Constitutional Culture. According to a press release of the Supreme Court, 84 percent of respondents said that the Constitution is complied with “poco” or “nada” (little or not at all).
According to Animal Político, one in four respondents thought that breaking the law is not so bad, and that the bad thing is to get caught.
El que tiene padrinos se bautiza, “the one who has godparents gets baptized.” Sin padrino, no hay bautizo, “without a godfather, there is no baptism.” Herón Pérez Martínez of El Colegio de Michoacán records both in his studies of the Mexican refranero, the body of popular sayings. He calls the padrino “pariente social muy apreciado en la cultura popular mexicana” (a social relative highly valued in Mexican popular culture).
Cuatismo, from cuate, friend, is the tendency to favor friends, above all at work, according to the Diccionario del español de México of El Colegio de México. A recomendado is a person who comes with a recommendation. The dictionary’s example reads: “Son recomendados del ministro o parientes del subsecretario o amigotes del presidente” (They are people recommended by the minister, or relatives of the undersecretary, or cronies of the president).