 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2007 
Mexico's Fox Gives Up Presidency, Not Spotlight
 Elissa Strauss - NY Daily News
go to original
| | Vicente Fox |
Mexican immigrant families on both sides of the border.
But when he moved back to his ranch in the state of Guanajuato after leaving the presidency in 2006, he witnessed the effects of immigration in a somewhat more personal way.
"Many friends with whom I had played with as a kid are now in the U.S.," Fox told Viva last week.
"I admire them; they are examples for me," he continued, referring to all immigrants. "We miss them in Mexico, their families miss them — [but] they are living the migrant dream."
Traditionally, Mexican presidents recede from the spotlight after ending their terms. But Fox, Mexico's first non-Institutional Revolutionary Party leader in 71 years, is not your ordinary president.
Without diplomacy to worry about, he has not hesitated to express exactly how he feels in his new book, "Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith and Dreams of a Mexican President" (Viking, $27.95), co-written by Rob Allyn.
"I wanted to bring in a new culture," he said. "I love challenges, I love to take risk. The readers will find this."
The book, just released in English in the U.S., weaves together the story of his youth and rise to the presidency with his candid opinions on a variety of topics.
President Bush, with whom he has had a rather ambivalent relationship, is called "quite simply the cockiest guy I have ever met in my life," Hugo Chávez of Venezuela runs a "bully-populist regime of oil-funded demagoguery," and Fidel Castro has "inexhaustible energy and brilliant, diverse intelligence."
Fox also weighs in on issues like the Iraq war — which he opposed since the start, and offers a four-part exit plan in which "Bush would have to eat humble pie" — and, most importantly, immigration.
"The main purpose of the book is to share with the U.S. public my feelings about immigration," he said. "We can have a better attitude. This could be a positive win-win situation for the United States and Mexico."
Fox vouches for New York, a city he knows well since he was president of Coca-Cola México.
"The Statue of Liberty has moved this nation to become the leader of the world," he said. "Building a wall [along the U.S.-Mexico border] would go against these values."
Fox presents a number of arguments, mostly economic, for why immigration is healthy for both nations.
"The proposal is right there in Congress, supported by many, but fear is dominating," he said. "It is like the ostrich hiding its head in the sand. It is not going to help."
Fox, who was on CNN's "Larry King Live" Monday night and signed books at Barnes & Noble Union Square yesterday, does not find any of the 2008 U.S.
presidential candidates especially promising on immigration reform, but concedes a veiled endorsement for Hillary Clinton.
"I would love to see a woman leading the nation. Woman are open-minded. They have vision and love and care."
elissaavery@gmail.com |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us