Mexico, Trust - understand-culture

The Vocabulary of Godparents and Friends

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).

How Confianza Works

In an article in the Revista Mexicana de Sociología, the researcher Larissa Lomnitz described confianza as a relation between two individuals. It “presupone un cierto grado de familiaridad” (presupposes a certain degree of familiarity), she wrote. An increase in confianza in turn promotes exchange.

She describes how compadrazgo, the bond between a child’s parents and godparents, and friendship link the members of networks of reciprocity.

Love Is Repaid with Love

Amor con amor se paga. “Love is repaid with love.” On November 27, 2022, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador led a march through Mexico City from the Ángel de la Independencia to the Zócalo. According to EFE, “Amor con amor se paga,” he said at the start of his speech.

Credit on One’s Word

On April 24, 2020, during the pandemic, the Diario Oficial published the rules for a program of loans of 25,000 pesos to family microbusinesses. It became known as Crédito a la Palabra, “credit on one’s word.”

At a government press conference on May 4, 2020, employers were invited to register for “este crédito de 25 mil pesos a la palabra, sin garantía, sin aval, sin historial crediticio” (this credit of 25,000 pesos on one’s word, without collateral, without a guarantor, without a credit history). According to a government bulletin, 1,386,405 such credits were granted in 2020, in two forms.

Who Inspires Trust

INEGI carried out its survey ENCIG 2023 from late October to mid-December 2023. “87.4 % dijo que sus familiares eran quienes mayor confianza le inspiraban” (87.4 percent said that their relatives were the ones who inspired the most trust in them).

The statistics institute of Jalisco published the results for that state by degree of trust. Mucha confianza, a lot of trust, went to family from 50.2 percent of respondents, to coworkers from 33.6 percent and to neighbors from 21.4 percent.

Masks

In El laberinto de la soledad, Octavio Paz describes a guarded face: “El mexicano se me aparece como un ser que se encierra y se preserva: máscara el rostro, máscara la sonrisa” (The Mexican appears to me as a being who shuts himself in and protects himself: the face a mask, the smile a mask).

Paz finds the same defense in popular speech. “El ideal de la ‘hombría’ consiste en no ‘rajarse’ nunca. Los que se ‘abren’ son cobardes” (The ideal of manliness consists in never “cracking open.” Those who “open up” are cowards). He explains rajarse as “permitir que el mundo exterior penetre en su intimidad” (to let the outside world into one’s intimacy).

Hands in the Fire

Meter las manos al fuego por alguien. “To put one’s hands in the fire for someone.” The phrase means to vouch for a person. A Mexican news site used it in a headline about a politician who would vouch for a colleague.

Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres. “Tell me who you go around with, and I will tell you who you are.” The newspaper El Imparcial explains that the saying suggests that “las personas pueden ser juzgadas por quienes frecuentan” (people can be judged by the company they keep).

Family Firms

In February 2022, El Financiero reported that family businesses make up 90 percent of the business units in Mexico. The newspaper attributed the figure to INEGI data and to specialists, without citing a table.

Chinameca

In 1919, Jesús Guajardo pretended to break with General Pablo González in order to win the trust of Emiliano Zapata. México Desconocido writes that he gained it “con visitas, pláticas y pruebas de colaboración” (with visits, talks and proofs of collaboration). On April 10, 1919, Zapata came to the gate of the Hacienda de Chinameca, in Morelos, and was shot.

According to México Desconocido, Guajardo received “50 mil pesos en monedas de oro” (50,000 pesos in gold coins).

Malinchismo

Malinchismo takes its name from La Malinche, the interpreter of Hernán Cortés. The Diccionario del español de México defines it as the inclination “a preferir lo extranjero o al extranjero” (to prefer what is foreign, or the foreigner).

BBC Mundo writes of La Malinche: “En el imaginario colectivo de México, aún hoy es vista como la mayor traidora de la historia del país” (In Mexico’s collective imagination, she is still seen today as the greatest traitor in the country’s history).