Vicente Fox

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Vicente Fox Quesada
President of Mexico
In office December 1, 2000 – November 30, 2006
Preceded by	Ernesto Zedillo
Succeeded by	Felipe Calderón
Born	July 2, 1942 Mexico City, Mexico
Political party	National Action Party
Spouse	Marta Sahagún de Fox

Vicente Fox Quesada^[1] (born July 2, 1942) was President of Mexico from 2000 to 2006. He was elected in the 2000 presidential election, a historically significant election that made him the first president elected from an opposition party since Francisco Madero in 1910.

Contents 1 Personal life 1.1 Early life 1.2 Marriage 2 Presidency 2.1 Relations with Congress 2.2 Relations with Latin American countries 3 Legacy 3.1 Foreign policy and migration 3.2 Science and Technology 4 Controversial comments 5 See also 6 Notes

[edit] Personal life

[edit] Early life

Vicente Fox was born in Mexico City on July 2, 1942, the second of nine children in his family. His father was José Luis Fox Pont and his mother was Mercedes Quesada. His paternal grandfather, José Luis Fox Flach, was born Joseph Louis Fuchs in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, son of German Catholic immigrants Louis Fuchs and Catherina Elisabetha Flach.^[2]

Some have claimed that Vicente Fox's grandfather was of Irish descent, but the Cincinnati Federal Census records (1850, 1860) show that he was of German descent. The Fuchs ('fox' in German) family changed the spelling of their last name to Fox after 1870. In 1890, Joseph L Fox worked as a shipping clerk for Emerson & Fisher, the carriage makers. ^[3] Given the company's failure, ^[4] and Cincinnati's economic stagnation, Joseph emigrated in 1898 to the nearest region that welcomed Catholic immigrants, Mexico, and changed the spelling of his name to José Luis Fox Flach. ^[5]

In 1915 he purchased a ranch in San Francisco del Rincón in Guanajuato, ^[6] since then the Fox family seat. Vicente was born in Mexico City, but spent his childhood and his adolescence on the ranch. He moved back to Mexico City to attend the Universidad Iberoamericana where he pursued a business degree until 1964. He completed his bachelor’s degree in 1999. In 1964, he went to work for The Coca-Cola Company where he started as a route supervisor and drove a delivery truck. He rose in the company to become supervisor of Coca-Cola's operations in Mexico, and then in all of Latin America. After this work experience, he returned to Guanajuato to participate in social and political activities. Inspired by Manuel Clouthier, he decided to join the PAN in the 80s. He was a deputy representing Guanajuato in 1988, and he later ran for Governor of Guanajuato twice. The first time was in 1991, where he failed, and in 1995 he won by a sizable majority. In 2000 he ran for President of Mexico as candidate of the Alliance for Change.^[7]

[edit] Marriage

Vicente Fox married a receptionist at Coca-Cola, Lilian de la Concha, whose mother had discouraged the relationship with the man she described as "that Apache." They adopted four children, and in 1990, after 20 years of marriage, Lilian left Vicente for another man. ^{[8] [9]}

Vicente married for the second time while in office. On July 2, 2001, he married Marta Sahagún, who had been his Public Relations advisor. ^[10] For both, this was their second marriage, and the subject of a divorcee remarrying, particularly in the case of Marta Sahagún, stirred the mainly Catholic population of Mexico. ^[11]

[edit] Presidency

[edit] Relations with Congress

In his last annual state of the union address in 2006, President Fox was prevented by leftist lawmakers from delivering his speech. He gave a televised address to the nation.^[12]

[edit] Relations with Latin American countries

Vicente Fox had several controversies with Latin American countries such as with president of Argentina, Néstor Kirchner related to the FTAA during the 2005 Mar del Plata Summit of the Americas, with the president of Chile regarding the new OAS Secretary General election, 2005 ^details and president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, about his presumed support for the U.S. president George W. Bush.

[edit] Legacy

According to Enrique Andrade, a Mexico City-based attorney and business consultant, during Fox's presidency annual inflation was consistently under 10%, the peso's devaluation to the United States Dollar was unsubstantial, and central bank reserves were significant.^[13]

Andrade also credited the Fox administration with increasing respect for freedom of speech, as well as access to public information. ^[14]

[edit] Foreign policy and migration

Before Vicente Fox, Mexico had a Foreign Policy "doctrine" known as the Doctrina Estrada (Estrada Doctrine, so named after its creator, Genaro Estrada). The Doctrina Estrada was a foreign policy directorate that favored an enclosed view of sovereignty. It claimed that foreign governments should not judge, for good or bad, governments or changes in governments in other nations, because it would imply a breach to its sovereignty. ^[15]

President Fox appointed Jorge Castañeda to be his Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Castañeda immediately broke with the Estrada Doctrine, promoting what was called by critics the Castañeda Doctrine. The new foreign policy called for an openess and an acceptance of criticism from the international community, and the increase of Mexican involvement in Foreign Affairs. ^[16] editorialists in the media and think tanks like COHA, have heavily criticized Mexico's new foreign policy for being overtly submissive to the U.S. ^{[17] [18][19]}.

Fox created a plan to develop Central America, called the Plan Puebla Panama. He has been criticized for his support of it. ^{[20] [21] [22]}

During Fox's term, Mexico actively sought (and gained) a temporary position in the UN Security Council^[23]. During this appointment, Mexico failed to support the U.S. lead invasion of Iraq.^[24] damaging US-Mexico relations. ^[25].

Mexico hosted several International Summits during Fox's administration^[26]. In the Monterrey Summit of 2001, which ended in the adoption of the Monterrey Consensus, President Fox and his Foreign Relations cabinet were protagonists of one of the most serious diplomatic scandals of his administration. For the Summit, many heads of State where invited to the International Conference on Financing for Development. However, in the early stages of the meeting Cuban President Fidel Castro surprisingly stood and said that he was leaving the city because of a "a special situation created by my participation in this Summit". Fox repeatedly denied Castro's allegations that he was asked to leave the summit, as per the U.S. request^[27]. A few days after the incident, a recorded phone call between Fox and Castro where the Mexican president asks Castro to leave before George Bush arrived to the summit was leaked to the press. ^[28].

During Fox's administration, Mexico pushed negotiations for a "comprehensive immigration reform" that addressed the problem of illegal immigration to the United States. The issue has been called "The Whole Enchilada" by Fox's administration, and states that "immigration reform in the United States should address mutual border problems, the rights of undocumented immigrants, and the development of regions in Mexico that 'expel' migrants". ^[29]. Even though this reform has been used as Fox's flagship for foreign policy to the U.S., according to former U.S. embassador to Mexico Jeffrey Davidow, no formal negotiations occurred between the parties, all discussions on the subject were informal. ^[30]

The border migration policy that Fox hoped to achieve included a Guest Worker Plan, "The best thing that can happen to both our countries is to have an orderly flow, a controlled flow, of migration to the United States. "^[31]. This reform was supported by president Bush and approved by the U.S. Senate, however, the bill was rejected by the House of Representatives^[32]. Today the hopes for the approval of the bill are lower than ever and have been complicated by the recent approval of the SBI (Secure Border Iniciative), a bill that includes building a 700 mile triple fence between the U.S. and Mexico.^[33][34].

During Fox's presidency the net migration rate in Mexico increased 152% from -2.84 migrants per 1,000 habitants in 2000 ^[35] to -4.32 in 2006 ^[36]; comparably in the same period the population growth decreased 35% from 1.57% ^[37] to 1.16% ^[38]. Fox, who has said to be "proud" of the Mexican Immigrants in the U.S. ^[39] has acknowledged the importance of remittances by both legal and illegal Mexican workers in the U.S. (now the #1 source of revenue for the country) ^{[40] [41]}; sparking criticism from U.S. conservatives that claim that Mexico advocates soft migration policies to continue the influx of foreign generated capital instead of promoting a healthier economy that offers better opportunities to mexicans slowing migration to the US^{[42] [43]}

[edit] Science and Technology

According to René Drucker Colín, coordinator of basic science research for Mexico's premier research institution, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, "no other government in recent history has neglected research in the basic sciences as Fox's" ^[44]. Fox's plan for the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia, CONACYT, was that by 2006 this organism would receive 1% of the GDP, however the budget for this organism for FY 2006 was 0.33% of the GDP. ^{[45] [46]}

[edit] Controversial comments

In May 2005, a controversy arose over comments Fox made during a news interview in which he said, "There is no doubt that Mexicans, filled with dignity, willingness and ability to work are doing jobs that not even blacks want to do there in the United States". This angered many African-Americans in the United States, prompting many black leaders to demand an apology from Fox. The Reverend Al Sharpton requested a formal apology from Fox to the African-American community and called for an economic boycott of Mexican products until an apology was received; he and many African-Americans felt that Fox's comments were insensitive and racist. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, during a news conference concerning Fox's statement about African-Americans, said that he felt that the comments were, "unwitting, unnecessary and inappropriate" and added that "[Fox's] statement had the impact of being inciting and divisive".^[47] Another controversial comment ocurred when he mentioned that Mexicans nowadays have more washing machines in their homes, but not of the "two-legged kind". This irritated many feminist movements inside Mexico and abroad.

Fox is also known for mistaking the name of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges as "José Luis Borgues". In September 13, 2006, during the commemoration of the Niños Héroes, he misnamed an important Mexican navy figure, José Azueta Abad, as "Juan Azueta" in front of many navy cadets.

In yet another controversial move he decided to cancel the parade commemorating the 96th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution to take place November 20, arguing that it's an obsolete celebration in which nobody wants to participate anymore. Some analysts consider that this is a response to Andrés Manuel López Obrador's alternative presidency assuming to take place the same day. Criticism changes regarding the different sources: while some consider it a smart decision, others view it as a sign of political weakness.^[48]

In November 2006, the TV network Telemundo released a video recording previous to an interview with President Fox where he states: "Ya hoy hablo libre, ya digo cualquier tontería, ya no importa, ya total, yo ya me voy", which means "I'm, free. Now I can say any stupidity. It doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm already leaving". Then, during the interview he talked about the violent situation in Oaxaca. The President's office complained about the release of this images and said he was not aware of the camera and microphones being turned on. News agency EFE accused Telemundo of acting unethically, for the video is their intellectual property.^[49]

[edit] See also

• List of national leaders

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vicente Fox

[edit] Notes

Persondata
NAME	Fox Quesada, Vicente
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Mexican president
DATE OF BIRTH	July 2, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mexico City, Mexico
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH

Preceded by: Ernesto Zedillo	President of Mexico 2000–2006	Succeeded by: Felipe Calderón
Preceded by: Carlos Medina Plascencia (interim)	Governor of Guanajuato 1995–2000	Succeeded by: Ramón Martín Huerta (substitute)
Preceded by: Diego Fernández de Cevallos	PAN presidential candidate 2000 (won)	Succeeded by: Felipe Calderón