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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2005 
Fox Lashes Out at Press for Coverage
 Wire services
| | Fox's statements defended his administration. |
President Vicente Fox said Monday some journalists are deliberately attacking him and members of his family in print and on the air, attempting to expose nonexistent corruption and incompetence ahead of presidential elections next summer.
A statement read by chief Fox spokesman Rubén Aguilar said "in the last few months, a series of publications have come out with the intention of attempting to defame the president or members of his family; trying to raise doubts about the honor and reliability of the president."
Meeting with reporters for his morning briefing, Aguilar refused to take questions and simply read the statement, which came in response to a news magazine's reports over the weekend raising questions about how Fox financed a remodeling project at his family's ranch in Guanajuato state.
The magazine, Proceso, published an article featuring excerpts of an upcoming book which describes massive spending on the ranch's transformation, and reports vast discrepancies between expenses Fox has reported and the payments received by architects and builders hired for the project.
But the president's statement Monday said, "In the context of the dispute for power with all eyes on the election of 2006, these publications are part of a strategy that is trying to discredit people so as to debilitate institutions and denigrate politics."
Mexican law prohibits Fox from running for a second term, but his center-right National Action Party (PAN) already is wrestling with rival parties for the advantage in 2006. PAN candidates are trailing badly in public opinion polls.
Last week, first lady Marta Sahagún angrily defended her wardrobe budget in an attempt to defuse criticism by lawmakers, who said she used public money to buy clothes.
Sahagún donated the clothes to charity and Fox singled out by name opposition lawmakers who had criticized his wife, accusing them of personally trying to undermine the authority of the presidency.
Fox toppled the Institutional Revolutionary Party in 2000, ending its 71-year hold on Mexico's presidency.
Fox's statement defended his administration, saying "the first democratic government is more obligated than anyone to break with old practices of the past when transparency was impossible." |
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