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 Editorials | Issues | April 2007 
Ex-President Decries Border Fence Plans
 Sandra Dibble - San Diego Union-Tribune
| | Walls are “a big mistake,” Fox said. “What are they hiding from? . . . Who is going to stay within, and who is going to stay out?” |
During an awards ceremony last night, former Mexican President Vicente Fox spoke out against U.S. plans to extend the U.S.-Mexico border fence, saying, “We can do much better than building walls by working together.”
Vicente Fox
Fox, whose 2000 election ended seven decades of single-party rule, was honored by UCSD's Institute of the Americas at the U.S. Grant Hotel for his role in Mexico's democratic transition.
He received the institute's Award for Democracy and Peace, which recognizes leaders who have strengthened democracy in Latin America.
Fox, a member of the National Action Party, is the 12th recipient in two decades, and the second former Mexican president to receive the award. Ernesto Zedillo was the first.
“He was a real leader, who took seriously that democracy means having a lot of different actors with power,” said Jeffrey Davidow, the institute's president and the U.S. ambassador to Mexico during part of Fox's term.
Fox, accompanied by his wife, Marta Sahagun, received several standing ovations from the audience of about 300.
Walls are “a big mistake,” he said. “What are they hiding from? . . . Who is going to stay within, and who is going to stay out?”
Nearly five months out of office, Fox has been keeping busy with public appearances, breaking the tradition of former Mexican presidents who quickly disappeared from the public eye. He is building Mexico's first presidential library and preparing a memoir, “Revolution of Hope.”
He flew to San Diego from France, where he had addressed the European Parliament.
Fox's defeat of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, raised hopes for sweeping change in Mexico. He maintained high approval ratings until the end of his six-year term, but he failed to live up to many of his promises;critics say he squandered opportunities to move Mexico forward.
Drug-related violence increased, emigration rates remained high and the economy did not grow as quickly as Fox had predicted. Social unrest led to violence in the state of Oaxaca, and a proposal for an airport on the outskirts of Mexico City was blocked by farmers wielding machetes. He failed to achieve one of his greatest ambitions, a U.S.-Mexico immigration accord, as the U.S. government shifted its priorities following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
About 60 demonstrators stood across the street, protesting Fox's award.
“For us, he represents the worst of the presidents,” said Olga Torres of the Coalicion Va Por Oaxaca. She criticized Fox for what she said was a “brutal repression” of schoolteachers in Oaxaca.
“Obviously, we're aware that President Fox, like any other president, was criticized for having done this or not having done that,” said Davidow, the institute's president. “But I think he will go down in history as someone who played a very important role in Mexico's democratic transition.”
Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble@uniontrib.com |
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