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Revision as of 05:59, 4 September 2006

Vicente Fox Quesada


72nd President of Mexico
In office December 1, 2000 – December 1, 2006
Preceded by	Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León

Personal details
Born	July 2, 1942 Mexico City, Mexico
Political party	National Action Party
Spouse	Marta Sahagun

Vicente Fox Quesada (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 runs through 2006.

Early Life

Vicente Fox was born in Mexico City on July 2, 1942, being 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 Rincon 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 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.

Presidency

Relations with Congress

In the last annual state of the union in 2006, President Fox was prevented by PRD opposition lawmakers from delivering his speech. He, instead, gave a televised address to the nation. PRD lawmakers did this as a protest for the Federal Police protecting the Legislative Palace. However, the decision from sending the police to defend the Palace was done after threats by the PRD of inciting violence inside congress.

Relations with Latin American countries

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

The most important controversy Fox had was during a United Nations summitt in Monterrey, called International Conference on Financing for Development. During the summit, Cuban President Fidel Castro declared that Fox had asked him to leave the city before George W. Bush arrived. The incident stirred a great controversy in Mexico, particularly with the oppostion. Fox denied asking Castro to leave, and then the Cuban President released a recording of Fox asking him to leave. The incident was interpreted by some as Castro setting "a trap" against Fox, and impacted negatively in the credibility of both heads of state.

Legacy

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Economy

President Vicente Fox has favoured a contractionist economic policy that favors financial stability over inflationary growth. As a consequence, it has produced mixed results, and so analysts are not in agreement about the quality of his achievements.

President Fox produced the lowest inflation in three decades, which was also single-digit. This is a great achievement considering that just a few years prior the country suffered from hyperinflation

Critics, particularly from the left, argue that Fox's policies produced a net loss of jobs (180,000 jobs lost from 2000 to 2005) .

However, other areas of the economy have been positive. His inflation control has been praised. President Fox has delivered the lowest, single digit, inflation in decades. In the 1980s, Mexico had suffered of hyperinflation, and since 1993 the inflation rate had usually been double-digit, but since Fox the inflation has been of 4% in average. This has been achieved through control in government spending and a contractionary policy that is heavily critiziced. However, it has created a stability in prices and investor confidence that has resulted in record-highs in the Mexican Stock Exchange . Further, this inflationary policy has produced the lowest interests rates for credit in decades, and the construction industry has benefited from the largest housing program in history, resulting in a sprawl of new homes nationwide.

Another achievement is his program "Oportunidades", a federally funded social assistanceship program. Representatives from other nations have inspected the program with plans to replicate it in their countries.

Because of the stability that his inflation policy provides, President Fox has, incorrectly, called his economic policy "growth with stability". This was a policy of Mexican presidents between 1958 and 1970 where they achieved economic growth of approximately 6% . However, such policies included a strong control of the exchange rate through direct government intervention, internal market orientation (instead of open market globalization), and heavy investment in government owned companies. Because of this, Fox's economic policies do not qualify as "growth with stability". Poverty has decreased dramatically during President Vicente Fox's government. Income has grown from 2000 to 2006 an average 26% . However, lower incomes have grown much more than higher incomes, and so critics point to the middle class to deny any reduction in poverty.

Near the end of his Presidency, analysts agree that, in general, the economy of Mexico is solid. However, it is clear that many structural reforms are necessary for the country to grow at a larger pace.

Health

Another creation of the Fox administration is the national system of medical insurance (Seguro Popular, "People's Insurance") covering families, consisting mostly of self-employed and part-time workers, left out of existing systems. For a small fee calculated against their socio-economical level a whole family can be insured against common maladies and events like pregnancies. Initially criticized for giving only a limited coverage and requiring a fee (though all government insurance schemes require one), it is the first that addressed a long-forgotten part of the population. Some time later its coverage was expanded to include cancer and cataracts for vulnerable groups (children and senior citizens).

Law enforcement

Also, more than 103,000 persons related to drug traffic and cartels' activities have been imprisoned during Fox's administration. The amount represents several times the number of detainees imprisoned during at least two previous presidential periods. However, several dangerous prisoners have escaped, such as Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán former leader of the Sinaloa cartel. Moreover, some Northern states, like Tamaulipas and Sinaloa, are in the middle of a crime war. Analysts concur in pointing that this crime war is a result of criminal rings reacting to the efficiency of the government in detaining organized criminals. The President has responded by instituting a program called "Mexico Seguro" (Secure Mexico), which has allowed to detain over 11,000 criminals.

In 2006 Mexico's government attempted to find a way to decriminalize possession of small quantities of illicit drugs, including crack cocaine, heroin, and meth, while stiffening penalties for dealing. The president's spokesman said that the law "allows better action and better coordination in the fight against drug dealing." However, Fox sent the legislation back, asking that the decriminalization be removed.

Foreign policy

Before Vicente Fox, Mexico had a Foreign Policy "doctrine" known as the Doctrina Estrada (Estrada Doctrine, so named after its creator, Genaro Estrada). The Doctrina Estrada was a foreign policy directorate that favored an enclosed view of sovereignty. It claimed that foreign governments should not judge, for good or bad, governments or changes in governments in other nations, because it would imply a breach to its sovereignty.

President Fox appointed intellectual Jorge Castañeda to be his Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Castañeda immediately broke with the Estrada Doctrine, promoting what was called by critics the "Castañeda Doctrine", which called for more participation and openess in Foreign Affairs.

Indeed, during Fox's administration, Mexico promoted free trade around the world. In 2002, the Monterrey Consensus, a major international reference point for Financing Development, was adopted by the United Nations.

Mexico actively sought (and gained) a temporary position in the UN Security Council.

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."

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Preceded byErnesto Zedillo Ponce de León	President of Mexico 2000–present	Succeeded byIncumbent
Preceded byCarlos Medina Plascencia (interim)	Governor of Guanajuato 1995–2000	Succeeded byRamón Martín Huerta (substitute)
Preceded byDiego Fernández de Cevallos	PAN presidential candidate 2000 (won)	Succeeded byFelipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa