Citizenship

In general, we are taught to trust professionals such as doctors and lawyers. They are typically held to higher standards for ethics and responsibility than most occupations. When in Mexico, I have come to trust the medical professionals and believe that they have the patients' interests first and foremost in mind within the constraints endemic in their industry. However, from comments from Mexican acquaintances and friends, the horrible experiences of a good Mexican friend, and my own scant personal experiences, I can not say the same for the lawyers in Mexico. This is a serious problem. I don't pretend to be able to take out my own appendix and I don't want to have to navigate any legal system without the help of a competent and trustworthy legal professional. So here are a couple of legal questions thrown out to the lay world:

1) In general, do you trust lawyers in Mexico?

2) Is it in the best interests of a foreigner hoping to make a life in Mexico to endeavor to become a Mexican citizen? Are there downsides to becoming a Mexican citizen?

As always, mil gracias to Rob for this wonderful forum and to my fellow Zihua-lovers for your advice, comments, and experiences.

I don't find Mexican lawyers more or less trustworthy than U.S. lawyers. I was raised my first formative years very close to the U.S. legal system. Even thought I was going to go to law school before changing my mind, thank goodness. Clarence Thomas sets a pretty low ethical bar for U.S. Supreme Court Justices. Mexico's justice system has systemic problems, but it also has some very good judges. Using threats and influence, too many citizens get judges to twist "justice", and like the USA, the entire penal institution is "for-profit", starting with the custodians. AMLO now wants to change the rules to elect people for judgeships who have no experience as part of his Reforma Judicial, so that may soon change and obviously screw things up even worse.

I'm a Mexican citizen because this is where I live and work and have my family. I didn't travel here to vacation or retire. From my first day here 50 years ago it never occurred to me to speak English with locals or to live a separate social world.

Absolutely nothing I would remotely consider a "downside". Al contrario.