In Las tontas no van a cielo Episode #85 (#83 Mex), Santiago mentions "El Innombrable" to Hortensia, and she asks if he means the ex-president (he actually means Patricio). I asked Jarocha, our resident treasure trove of language and cultural information, for an explanation of "El Innombrable". Her answer, quoted below, was fascinating. She says:
The word innombrable means unmentionable. I've heard it used for underwear, but it also means "One that can not or should not be named."
If they talk about an ex-president being innombrable they are talking about Carlos Salinas de Gortari. He was Mexico's president from 1988 to 1994.
- He brought the 1994 economic crisis, the worst we have ever suffered. This caused a chain reaction in the rest of Latin America which is now called "The Tequila Effect."
- The Mexican peso lost most of its value, and it never recovered.
- He stole billions from the public fund.
- He sold Mexican properties and enterprises owned by the goverment to foreign investors.
- He created a form of investment called Tesobonos and all the people who invested there lost their money because it turned out to be a fraud.
- He is rumored to be behind the murders of a candidate to presidency in 1994 and the general secretary of the PRI poltical party.
- He enlarged the Mexican debt, especially with the United States, etc.
- After his term as president he left for France and never came back.