Mexico, Teamwork - understand-culture

Born Here or Chosen

Before the 2026 World Cup, Mexicans argued about naturalizados, players born abroad who became Mexican citizens, in the national team. In 2025, Récord reported a warning by the commentator Roberto Gómez Junco: “Si abusas con los naturalizados, caes en una falsa representación” (If you overdo the naturalized players, you end up with a false representation). Some critics called his view xenophobic.

The player Héctor Herrera later told TUDN that he would not call naturalized players. Each player, he said, should represent the country where he was born. In February 2026, the naturalized player Álvaro Fidalgo answered in Récord that the coach decides. “Aguirre es el que manda” (Aguirre is the one in charge), he said. (Video in Spanish.)

Serve the Country

Haz patria, mata a un chilango, “serve your country, kill a chilango,” was a slogan against people from Mexico City who moved to other parts of the country in the 1980s. A chilango is a person from Mexico City. A 2009 article in the magazine Chilango says that it spread “como un graffiti anónimo contra los invasores” (as anonymous graffiti against the invaders).

A 2015 academic article on the anti-chilango movement in Baja California attributes the slogan to the columnist Héctor “el Gato” Félix Miranda. The same article says: “El antichilanguismo fue un fenómeno de papel” (Anti-chilango feeling was a paper phenomenon).

The Outsiders

José Tomás de Cuéllar’s novel Los fuereños (The Outsiders) appeared in 1883. It follows a family from the provinces through Mexico City. A fuereño is a person from outside.

In the novel, the people of the capital treat the family as “simplemente fuereños” (simply outsiders), as a 2020 study in the journal Connotas notes. UNAM Global writes that the urban middle class saw such newcomers as “una amenaza para sus aspiraciones” (a threat to their aspirations).

Brigades on Bicycles

On the afternoon of September 19, 2017, an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 struck Mexico City. A year later, Expansión described what residents organized by themselves. “Brigadas de ciclistas y motociclistas se encargaban de ir de un punto a otro de la ciudad” (Brigades of cyclists and motorcyclists went from one point of the city to another).

In the streets, people put out extension cords with signs that said conecta tu celular, “plug in your phone.” (Video in Spanish.)

At the collapse sites, “a cada voluntario se le asignaba alguna actividad en específico” (each volunteer was given a specific task). Engineers and architects offered to check damaged houses without charge.

The Goalkeeper Up Front

Jorge Campos was a goalkeeper. At Pumas, Adolfo Ríos held the starting place in goal. In the 1992-93 season, as Excélsior tells it, Campos “apareció como delantero con Pumas” (appeared as a forward with Pumas) in the clásico against América. He scored against the América goalkeeper, Alejandro “Gallo” García. (Video in Spanish.)

Favor for Favor

Favor con favor se paga. “A favor is paid with a favor.” In 2011, Evangelina Tapia Tovar and Genaro Zalpa studied corruption in Mexican sayings in the journal Relaciones, of El Colegio de Michoacán. One section of their article is titled “Más vale tener palancas que dinero” (Better to have levers than money).

A palanca, they write, “va creando un compromiso con la persona que lo hizo” (creates a commitment to the person who did it).

One person they quote says that whoever has pulled a lever once “ya está comprometido a volverlo a hacer” (is already committed to doing it again). The authors write that levers contribute to “tortuguismo burocrático” (bureaucratic slowness), which pushes people to look for faster paths, even illegitimate ones.

The Returned Hand

In Mexican communities, mano vuelta, “the returned hand,” is a form of reciprocity in which effort is repaid with effort. A 2022 article in the Revista Latinoamericana de Antropología del Trabajo describes it as the creation of “una deuda social” (a social debt) “que se deberá pagar prestando un esfuerzo” (that must be paid by lending effort). Different regions, the article notes, call it mano de vuelta, guelaguetza or tequio.

The Patron

The Diccionario del español de México defines patrón as a person “que dirige o manda en alguna cosa, que es propietaria de una fábrica o un negocio y que contrata trabajadores” (who directs or commands something, who owns a factory or a business and hires workers).

Its second sense is the saint “a cuya protección se encomienda una iglesia, un pueblo, una persona” (to whose protection a church, a town or a person is entrusted).

El mero mero is the most important person. The dictionary’s example: “¿Quién es el mero mero de esta oficina?” (Who is the top man in this office?).

Silent Disapproval

Hacerle la ley del hielo a alguien, “to apply the law of ice to someone,” means that a person or a group agrees to stop dealing with someone.

The Diccionario del español de México of El Colegio de México gives the example “Sus compañeros de trabajo le hicieron la ley del hielo por envidia” (His coworkers gave him the ice treatment out of envy). In 2018, Milenio listed the ley del hielo among the forms of workplace harassment.

Darle el avión a alguien, “to give someone the airplane,” means to pretend to pay attention to what someone says. In one of the dictionary’s examples, a speaker says that the end of a term shows whether the students valued the teacher or only gave the teacher the airplane.

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.