Vicente Fox

Vicente Fox Quesada^[1] (born July 2, 1942) is the current President of Mexico. He was elected in the 2000 presidential election, a historically significant election that made him the first president elected from an opposition party since Francisco Madero in 1910. His current term ends on November 30th, 2006.

Vicente Fox Quesada
72nd President of Mexico
Incumbent
Assumed office December 1, 2000
Preceded by	Ernesto Zedillo
Succeeded by	Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
Personal details
Born	July 2, 1942 Mexico City
Political party	National Action Party
Spouse	Marta Sahagún

According to Enrique Andrade, a Mexico City-based attorney and business consultant, during Fox's presidency annual inflation was consistently under 10%, the peso's devaluation to the United States Dollar was unsubstantial, and central bank reserves were significant.^[2]

Andrade also credited the Fox administration with increasing respect for freedom of speech, as well as access to public information ^[3]

Early life

Vicente Fox was born in Mexico City on July 2, 1942, the second of nine children in his family. His father was Jose Luis Fox and his mother was Mercedes Quesada. As a young child his family moved to San Francisco del Rincón in Guanajuato where he spent his childhood and his adolescence. He moved back to Mexico City to attend the Universidad Iberoamericana where he got a Business degree. He also attended seminars Business Management put on by the Harvard Business School. In 1964, he went to work for The Coca-Cola Company where he started as a route supervisor and drove a delivery truck. He rose in the company to become supervisor of Coca-Cola's operations in Mexico, and then in all of Latin America. After this work experience, he returned to Guanajuato to participate in social and political activities. Inspired by Manuel Clouthier, he decided to join the PAN in the 80s. He was a deputy representing Guanajuato in 1988, and he later ran for Governor of Guanajuato twice. The first time was in 1991, where he failed, and in 1995 he won by a sizable majority. In 2000 he ran for President of Mexico as candidate of the Alliance for Change.^[4]

Marriage

Vicente Fox had his second marriage while in office. On July 2, 2001, he married Martha Sahagún, who had been his PR advisor. ^[5] For both, this was their second marriage, and the subject of a divorcee remarrying, particularly in the case of Martha Sahagún, stirred the mainly catholic population of Mexico. ^[6]

Relations with Congress

In his last annual state of the union address in 2006, President Fox was prevented by leftist lawmakers from delivering his speech. He gave a televised address to the nation.^[7]

Relations with Latin American countries

Vicente Fox had several controversies with Latin American countries such as with president of Argentina, Néstor Kirchner related to the FTAA during the 2005 Mar del Plata Summit of the Americas, with the president of Chile regarding the new OAS Secretary General election, 2005 ^details and president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, about his presumed support for the U.S. president George W. Bush.

Foreign policy

The border migration policy has become a centerpiece of Mexican foreign policy with the United States. He requested the U.S. to create a Guest Worker Plan that according to Fox would provide increased security to the USA. "The best thing that can happen to both our countries is to have an orderly flow, a controlled flow, of migration to the United States."^[8]

In May 2005, a controversy arose over comments Fox made during a news interview in which he said, "There is no doubt that Mexicans, filled with dignity, willingness and ability to work are doing jobs that not even blacks want to do there in the United States". This angered many African-Americans in the United States, prompting many black leaders to demand an apology from Fox. The Reverend Al Sharpton requested a formal apology from Fox to the African-American community and called for an economic boycott of Mexican products until an apology was received; he and many African Americans felt that Fox's comments were insensitive and racist. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, during a news conference concerning Fox's statement about African-Americans, said that he felt that the comments were, "unwitting, unnecessary and inappropriate" and added that "[Fox's] statement had the impact of being inciting and divisive".^[9]

• List of national leaders

• Template:Es icon Personal site
• Template:Es icon Office of the President of Mexico site
• Template:En icon CNN: Mexican leader criticized for comment on blacks

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