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 Entertainment | Books | May 2005 
Mexico's Embattled First Lady Writes Book
 Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
| | Mexican First Lady Marta Sahagun signs autographs during the presentation of her book in the city of Leon (Photo: AP) |
Mexico City - First lady Marta Sahagun, battered by several unflattering biographies, promoted her own book Friday describing her rise from provincial schoolgirl to the leader of a large and controversial charity organization.
Sahagun's appearance at a book fair in the central state of Guanajuato came just days after a new book by journalist Olga Wornat accused Sahagun's three sons of enriching themselves through preferential treatment by the government.
Sahagun's 131-page book "Caminando," or "Walking," does not directly address Wornat's accusations. But she issued a statement earlier denying them, and has since announced she will file a lawsuit against Wornat for "moral damages."
The allegations listed in the book are merely the latest controversy surrounding President Vicente Fox's wife. Earlier suggestions that she might run for president drew widespread criticism until she announced she wouldn't make the attempt last summer.
In Sahagun's book she casts herself as a feminist, a devoted mother and someone who has been hurt by the constant public criticism.
"I am a woman who is not bowed by criticism, but by the same token that doesn't mean it hurts any less," Sahagun writes.
At a meeting with community activists earlier in the day, Sahagun called on women to "stand firm against those who don't show their faces or hide cowardly behind rumors, firm against those who use calumny."
Sahagun's book is mainly made up of vignettes of women and poor Mexicans the first lady has met through her Vamos Mexico charity.
Critics have accused the charity of mismanagement and using government funds, but no wrongdoing has been proven.
A former housewife, Sahagun divorced her husband, a veterinarian in the central Mexico city of Celaya, after diving into local politics.
She joined Fox's administration when he was governor of Guanajuato state and was his presidential campaign spokeswoman. They married in 2001. |
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