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 Editorials | Issues | May 2007 
Mexico's Fox Intent on Staying in Game
 Oscar Avila - Chicago Tribune
San Cristobal, Mexico - When he stepped down as Mexico's president in December, Vicente Fox said he would take his trademark cowboy boots, ride off into the sunset to this sprawling ranch in Guanajuato state and lie low for a year.
As he roamed the ranch last weekend, he looked the part of a retiree. Clad in Wrangler jeans, a brown fedora and work boots, he held a hunk of queso fresco in one hand, a tequila shot in the other. "Who wants a beer?" he asked his guests.
But in addition to the braised pork and tortillas, Fox served up a blueprint of how Latin America should move forward: free markets, human rights, transparent democracies and standing up to leftist leaders such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who practice "demagoguery, populism and deceit."
The leader whose historic 2000 election ended seven decades of one-party rule is back in the political arena. Fox said he wants to break the mold of silent Mexican ex-presidents and instead emulate his U.S. counterparts, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
Fox's main pulpit will be the Fox Center, Mexico's first presidential library. Under construction at a nearby family hacienda, the center will house a think tank and 3.5 million documents from his administration. Fox also is crisscrossing the hemisphere for lectures and plans to publish a book in October.
But Fox's activism has proved complicated for his successor, President Felipe Calderon, a fellow member of the National Action Party trying to establish authority after winning a disputed election last year. Some critics say Fox is more intent on stroking his ego and shaping his legacy than serving his country.
"Whoever wants to go to Vallarta, let them do it. But whoever wants to work, let them work," Fox said, nursing a Victoria beer while deer strolled by the lagoon. "I don't want to sit here peacefully, watch the trees and die."
Ambitions unfulfilled
The former Coca-Cola executive and state governor rode into office with high expectations when he broke the Institutional Revolutionary Party's stranglehold on power seven years ago. But he would soon grow frustrated.
Fox's demands for an immigration accord with the U.S. went nowhere after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Leftist political movements in Oaxaca and Chiapas states challenged the government's authority. Opposition lawmakers in Congress left him unable, or unwilling, to pursue economic and political reforms.
While Fox left office with fairly strong approval ratings, many Mexicans consider his 6-year term a wasted opportunity. A poll by the Reforma newspaper found that 55 percent of Mexicans thought conditions had stayed the same or gotten worse under Fox.
Now Fox is setting about to write his own version of that history. In addition to his book, "Revolution of Hope," he is planning to publish his memoirs next year. His upcoming agenda includes speeches in Canada, Ecuador, Panama and the U.S.
The Fox Center will get the word out too, by celebrating milestones of Mexican history: the Mayan empire, the 1910 revolution and "the arrival of democracy" with his election, he said. The center will even feature a replica of his presidential office, leading some to derisively compare the project to a theme park, calling it "Foxland."
Fox pledged to release documents that cover the dark chapters of his presidency, including a showdown of federal police with protesters at San Salvador Atenco last year that left at least two dead. "Here, transparency is a vital matter. You can make your own impressions based on hard facts, not on what one person or another says," he said.
To get the word out about the center, Fox chartered a bus to bring about 25 foreign journalists from Mexico City to the ranch five hours away. When it came time to make a statement, aides stage-managed the lighting and even made sure television reporters could file their dispatches from the ranch.
Fox's main message was that he was willing to stand up to Chavez, the Venezuelan president who has exported his formula of state-controlled enterprises and antipathy toward the U.S. to Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.
His harsh description of Chavez as a would-be dictator echoes many in Calderon's center-right party. But the current Mexican president has tried to avoid a direct confrontation with Chavez as he straddles the line between the U.S. and liberal governments in Latin America.
Critic: Fox hurting successor
Diego Petersen, a Fox critic and newspaper editor in Guadalajara, said in an interview that Fox's ego is complicating Calderon's budding foreign policy. He said the event at the ranch "is an unmistakable sign that this gentleman needs attention. One of the greatest tragedies for an ex-president is when the phone doesn't ring. He can't take it."
Fox discounted that analysis and said the transition out of office has not been difficult. "I really enjoyed being president. Now I really enjoy not being president," he said.
Although Mexican news media report tension between Calderon and Fox, part of a broader power struggle within their party, the former president insists that Calderon is a friend. Fox said he thought "Mexico awaits its best six years with President Calderon."
Fox has found his post-presidency rough going. Liberal lawmakers have filed three complaints of election fraud against him for his alleged involvement in Calderon's victory. Federal authorities are investigating a former campaign aide for financial irregularities.
Amid allegations that he was channeling public money to his presidential library, Fox declared that "not one public cent has gone to the Fox family."
Fox said the project will cost several million dollars and pledged to release final totals soon. He expects construction to be completed by the end of the year.
Ruben Aguilar, Fox's former presidential spokesman and still a close associate, said Mexico should value the expertise of a former president.
"It's absolutely normal," Aguilar said. "It's what happens in every other democracy in the world and what should have been happening in Mexico for a long time."
oavila@tribune.com |
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