Editing Vicente Fox (section)

==Presidency==
[[File:Vicente Fox flag.jpg|thumb|150px|Fox on July 30, 2005]]
{{See also|Presidency of Vicente Fox}}

===Public image===
During his campaign for president, Vicente Fox became well known for his cowboy style and quirkiness. As a speaker, Fox usually attracted big crowds in the early years of his presidency.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/1999/07/26/mexico/|title=Taking back the barrio|first=Koren L.|last=Capoza|date=26 July 1999|access-date=6 November 2016}}</ref> At {{convert|6|ft|4|in|cm|0|abbr=on|order=flip}}, Fox easily stood out in most crowds, and is believed to be one of the tallest presidents in Mexico's history.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/813206.stm|work=BBC News|title=Profile: Vicente Fox|date=3 July 2000|access-date=27 May 2010}}</ref> After his inauguration, President Fox usually wore suits for formal occasions, but opted to wear his signature boots and jeans during his many visits around Mexico.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://archives.cjr.org/year/01/4/images/foxmexico.jpg&imgrefurl=|title=Google Images|access-date=6 November 2016}}</ref>

Fox spread his image as one of peace and welcomed many to his own ranch in [[Guanajuato]], Mexico. When Fox welcomed U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] to the ranch, both presidents were wearing Fox's signature black cowboy boots, prompting ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' to call it "The Boot Summit".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=|title=Google Images|access-date=6 November 2016}}</ref>
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====Approval ratings====
[[File:APROBACION FOX.png|thumb|500px|Approval ratings of the Fox administration. Data from GEA-ISA Structura
{{legend|#00FF00|Approve}}
{{legend|#FF0000|Disapprove}}
{{legend|#C0C0C0|Doesn't know/no answer}}]]
When Fox took office on 1 December 2000, his approval rating neared 80%. During the rest of his presidency, his average approval rating was of 53%, while his average disapproval rating was of 40%.

As seen in the graphic, after taking office the particularly high points of his approval ratings were: 
* August 2002 (58% approval, 39% disapproval, 3% unsure), after Fox suspended the construction of a new airport in the [[State of Mexico]] following months of [[Community Front in Defense of Land|protests by local residents]] who had resisted their displacement.<ref>{{cite news |title=Derrotan los ejidatarios a Fox: Cancela el aeropuerto en Texcoco |url=https://www.proceso.com.mx/243768/derrotan-los-ejidatarios-a-fox-cancela-el-aeropuerto-en-texcoco |access-date=27 January 2020 |publisher=Proceso |date=1 August 2002 |archive-date=27 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127023140/https://www.proceso.com.mx/243768/derrotan-los-ejidatarios-a-fox-cancela-el-aeropuerto-en-texcoco |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* May 2003 (57% approval, 37% disapproval, 6% unsure), after Fox announced that Mexico would not support the [[US invasion and occupation of Iraq|US invasion of Iraq]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Fox se reunirá con el ex presidente Bush en México |url=https://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/30550.fox-se-reunira-con-el-ex-presidente-bush-en-mexico.html |access-date=27 January 2020 |agency=Reuters |publisher=El Siglo de Torreón |date=8 May 2003}}</ref>
*Throughout 2006, his average approval rating was 58% and his average disapproval rating was 37%, as Fox was in his last year as president and the public focus was on the [[Mexican general election, 2006|Presidential elections of that year]]. The popularity enjoyed by Fox during this period, however, didn't seem to largely benefit the Presidential candidate of his party ([[National Action Party (Mexico)|PAN]]) [[Felipe Calderón]], who was controversially declared winner with only 35.9% of the votes, against [[Andrés Manuel López Obrador]] of the [[Party of the Democratic Revolution|PRD]] who officially obtained 35.3% of the votes and claimed that the election had been fraudulent.

While the lowest points of his approval ratings were:
*March 2002 (39% approval, 52% disapproval, 9% unsure), in the wake of the "''Comes y te vas''" ("Eat and then leave") scandal: during the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development, which took place between 18 and 22 March 2002 in the city of [[Monterrey, Mexico|Monterrey]] and was hosted by Fox, a diplomatic incident occurred when on the night of the 19th Fox received a letter from Cuban leader [[Fidel Castro]] informing him that Castro intended to attend the event on the 21st, as he had been invited by the United Nations. Hours after receiving the letter, Fox made a telephone call to Castro in which he expressed his surprise at Castro's intention to attend the conference and scolded him for not telling him earlier. During the call, Fox suggested to Castro that he and the Cuban delegation arrive on the 21st as scheduled to make their presentation, and finally attend a lunch with the other leaders, after which they would return to Cuba. Fox was apparently worried that US President [[George W. Bush]], who was also scheduled to arrive on the 21st,<ref>{{cite web |title=Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/bush-george-w |access-date=27 January 2020}}</ref> would be offended by Castro's presence at the conference, which is why Fox suggested Castro to leave after the lunch. Castro was outraged at the proposal, and told Fox that in response, he would make the contents of the call {{endash}} which he was secretly taping {{endash}} public, which he indeed did. The media quickly caught onto the incident, dubbing it "Comes y te vas" ("Eat and then leave") after Fox's suggestion towards Castro to leave the conference after the aforementioned lunch. The scandal badly hurt the Fox administration, as it made him seem subservient to the United States and it also broke with the Mexican diplomatic tradition of neutrality towards Cuba.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mexico's Fox apologises to Castro |work=[[BBC News]] |date=25 April 2002 |access-date=3 November 2013 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1946089.stm}}</ref><ref name="Lacey">{{cite news |author=Marc Lacey |title=Top diplomats of Cuba and Mexico meet |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 December 2009 |access-date=3 November 2013 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/world/americas/12havana.html}}</ref>
*February 2004 (42% approval, 48% disapproval, 10% unsure), in the midst of scandals surrounding the First Lady [[Marta Sahagún]], who was accused by an article in the [[Financial Times]] of using public funds to run her "Vamos México" foundation. In the same month, Sahagún announced that she intended to become the PAN candidate for the 2006 Presidential elections, an announcement that was deeply unpopular within the party.<ref>{{cite news |title=Financial Times revela anomalías en las cuentas de Vamos México |url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/2004/02/02/006n1pol.php?origen=index.html&fly=2 |access-date=27 January 2020 |publisher=La Jornada}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Vargas Elvira |first1=Rosa |title=Anuncia Marta Sahagún que ya no buscará ser consejera panista |url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/2004/02/17/003n1pol.php?printver=1&fly= |publisher=La Jornada |access-date=27 January 2020}}</ref>
*Throughout the rest of 2004 and 2005, Fox's approval rating on average was 45% and his average disapproval rate was of 49%. His generalized descent in popularity during this period is attributed to the highly controversial process of [[Desafuero of Andrés Manuel López Obrador|Desafuero against Andrés Manuel López Obrador]] beginning in May 2004, when the [[Attorney General (Mexico)|Attorney General]] of the Republic, supported by the Federal Government, accused López Obrador, then Mayor of Mexico City, of disobeying a federal judge's order regarding an expropriation case, and requested both the removal (''desafuero'') of López Obrador's constitutional legal immunity and his dismissal as Mayor of Mexico City. Due to López Obrador's very high approval ratings in Mexico City<ref>{{cite news |title=López Obrador mantiene índices altos de aceptación, revela sondeo |url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/2005/01/08/013n2pol.php |access-date=27 January 2020 |agency=Agence France-Presse |publisher=La Jornada |date=8 January 2005}}</ref> and the fact that Fox himself had harshly criticized his administration on previous occasions, López Obrador's supporters protested the ''desafuero'' process and accused Fox of trying to prevent López Obrador from participating in the 2006 presidential elections (given that if he was officially charged, López Obrador would have lost all of his civil rights, including the right to run for the Presidency in 2006, unless he was either quickly acquitted of all charges or managed to serve his sentence before the electoral registration deadline). The process went on for 12 months, and was nearly unanimously criticized by national and foreign media,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/07/opinion/07thu2.html |title=Let Mexico's Voters Decide |work=The New York Times |author=Editorial Desk |date=7 April 2005 |access-date=16 June 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050410232010/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/07/opinion/07thu2.html |archive-date=10 April 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28426-2005Apr5.html |title= Decision on Democracy |newspaper= The Washington Post |author= Editorial desk |date= 6 April 2005 |access-date= 16 June 2008 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121112203531/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28426-2005Apr5.html |archive-date= 12 November 2012 |df= mdy-all }}</ref> climaxing in April 2005. On 7 April, the [[Chamber of Deputies (Mexico)|Chamber of Deputies]] voted by 360 to 127 (with two abstentions) to lift López Obrador's constitutional immunity; nonetheless, after a massive rally in support of López Obrador took place in Mexico City on 24 April 2005, with an attendance exceeding one million people (at the time, the biggest political manifestation in recent Mexican history)<ref>[http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2005/04/25/index.php La Jornada > Lunes 25 de abril de 2005<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Fox decided to stop the judicial process against López Obrador. 
*May 2005 registered the lowest approval rating for Fox (35% approval, 59% disapproval, 6% unsure) in the aftermath of both the chaotic Desafuero process and the controversial comments made by Fox regarding African Americans that same month.

====Controversial comments====
[[File:Fox Lopez Obrador Montiel.jpg|right|thumb|Fox (left) with [[Andrés Manuel López Obrador|López Obrador]] (center) and former México State governor [[Arturo Montiel]] (right) in June 2003]]
[[File:Fox-Bush in Crawford TX.jpg|thumb|right|Fox and his wife [[Marta Sahagún|Marta]] with US President [[George W. Bush]] and First Lady [[Laura Bush]] in [[Crawford, Texas]], March 2004]]
* In March 2002, two days prior to the International Conference on Financing for Development held in [[Monterrey]], [[Nuevo León]], Fox called Cuban President [[Fidel Castro]] and instructed him to limit his comments about the United States and suggested that Castro leave Mexico after he delivered his speech and ate his meal.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} Castro later called this a "despicable betrayal."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/24/world/castro-s-attack-on-fox-places-cuban-mexican-ties-in-danger.html|title=Castro's Attack on Fox Places Cuban-Mexican Ties in Danger|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Tim|last=Weiner|date=24 April 2002 }}</ref>
* In May 2005, a controversy arose over comments Fox made during a meeting with Texas business people 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 African-Americans in the United States, prompting many black leaders to demand an apology from Fox. Reverend [[Al Sharpton]] requested a formal apology from Fox to the African-American community and called for an [[boycott|economic boycott]] of Mexican products until an apology was received.  Sharpton, along with many African-Americans felt that Fox's comments were insensitive and racist. 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."<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/14/fox.jackson/ "Mexican leader criticized for comment on blacks"], CNN, 15 May 2005.</ref>
* Fox was also known to have mispronounced the name of Argentine writer [[Jorge Luis Borges]] as "José Luis Borgues" in the [[Real Academia Española|Royal Congress of the Spanish Language]]. This error sparked accusations of an "uncultured" President.<ref name="autogenerated2">[http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/403553.html "Vuelve Fox a incurrir en error cultural en discurso"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403020321/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/403553.html |date=3 April 2007 }}, El Universal, México.</ref>
* On 30 May 2005, President Fox told reporters that the majority of the [[female homicides in Ciudad Juárez]] had been resolved and the perpetrators placed behind bars.  He went on to criticize the media for "rehashing" the same 300 or 400 murders, and said matters needed to be seen in their "proper dimension."<ref>{{cite news |title=México: Congreso pregunta por Juárez |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_4595000/4595373.stm |access-date=19 September 2019 |work=BBC Mundo |date=31 May 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=News in English, 05-05-31 |url=http://www.hri.org/news/greek/eraen/2005/05-05-31_1.eraen.html |access-date=19 September 2019 |agency=Hellenic Radio (ERA) |date=31 May 2005}}</ref>
* In 2006, after Bolivian President [[Evo Morales]] refused to sell natural gas, Fox said, "Well, they'll either have to consume it all themselves or they're going to have to eat it."<ref>[https://archive.today/20130221044537/http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?id_nota=220357 "Evo pide a Fox que no trate de humillarlo por presunta negativa a vender gas a México"] 24 March 2008.</ref>
* On 8 March 2006, in the wake of the murder of Canadians Domenico and Nancy Ianiero at a resort in [[Cancún]], Fox said there was evidence that pointed to Canadian suspects from [[Thunder Bay]], in an apparent attempt to portray Cancún as a safe vacation resort. Fox's comments were criticized by the Ianieros' lawyer [[Edward Greenspan]] for compromising the investigation, which the Canadian press characterized as mishandled by Mexican authorities.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bungling-of-ianiero-murder-case-tied-to-mexican-tourist-trade-lawyer-1.818663 |title=Bungling of Ianiero murder case tied to Mexican tourist trade: lawyer |publisher=CBC News |date=17 July 2009 |access-date=4 February 2019}}</ref> Thereafter, attorney general Bello Melchor Rodríguez later stated that Canadians were never considered as suspects.<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/suspects-in-ianiero-murder-likely-canadian-fox-1.605608 Suspects in Ianiero murder likely Canadian: Fox] 29 March 2006</ref><ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/mexico-murders/ A timeline of the case] 26 July 2006 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314230438/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/mexico-murders/ |date=14 March 2013 }}</ref>
* In November 2006, the TV network [[Telemundo]] released a video of a previously recorded interview with President Fox in which he stated: "Ya hoy hablo libre, ya digo cualquier tontería, ya no importa, ya total, yo ya me voy" which means "Now, I speak freely. Now, I say whatever nonsense. It doesn't matter anymore. Anyway, I'm already leaving." Then, during the interview he talked about the violent situation in [[Oaxaca]]. The President's office complained about the release of this footage and said he was not aware of the camera and microphones being turned on. News agency [[EFE]] accused Telemundo of acting unethically, because the video was EFE's intellectual property.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elporvenir.com.mx/notas_coment.asp?nota_id=95084&cmt=16429|title=El Porvenir – Nacional – 'Puedo decir cualquier tontería... ya me voy: Fox|date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928043229/http://www.elporvenir.com.mx/notas_coment.asp?nota_id=95084&cmt=16429|access-date=4 February 2019|archive-date=28 September 2007}}</ref>
* In 2006, Fox decided to cancel the parade commemorating the 96th anniversary of the [[Mexican Revolution]] which was scheduled to take place on 20 November, arguing it was an obsolete celebration that nobody wanted to participate in any more.  Some commentators considered that this was a response to [[Andrés Manuel López Obrador]]'s assumption of an alternative presidency to take place the same day. Others considered Fox's move a smart decision, while others viewed it as a sign of political weakness.<ref>[http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?id_nota=267946 "Cancela Fox, porque son 'tiempos democráticos', el desfile deportivo del 20 de noviembre; PRI considera que cedió la plaza a López"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012115432/http://cronica.com.mx/nota.php?id_nota=267946 |date=12 October 2007 }}. 24 March 2008.</ref>
* In a lecture in the United States, in which he was a keynote speaker, he identified Peruvian writer [[Mario Vargas Llosa]] as a Colombian Nobel laureate (Spanish by naturalization).  At the time, however, Vargas Llosa was not a [[Nobel Laureate]].<ref name="autogenerated2" /> Later, in October 2010, Fox congratulated Vargas Llosa on Twitter for winning the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], but he incorrectly attributed the Nobel Prize to Jorge Luis Borges.<ref>[http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/714424.html Fox incurre en error al felicitar a Vargas Llosa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010023447/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/714424.html |date=10 October 2010 }}. 7 October 2010.</ref>

===Legacy and assessment===
[[File:Fox,_Bush,_Martin.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Fox with US President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister [[Paul Martin]]]]
Although Fox's victory in the 2000 election and the end of seven decades of PRI rule raised great expectations of change among the Mexican people, his administration was criticized for failing to fulfill those expectations, as little progress was made in fighting corruption, crime, poverty, unemployment and inequality. Few key reforms were implemented during the Fox administration, which became characterised by a growing sense of [[power vacuum]] as Fox was increasingly perceived by Mexican society and political actors as a "[[Lame duck (politics)|lame duck]]" incapable of pushing the ambitious reform agenda that swept him into power in 2000.<ref name="ortega">{{cite news |last1=Ortega Avila |first1=Antonio |title=La revolución fracasada de Fox |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2005/07/02/internacional/1120255208_850215.html |newspaper=El País |access-date=30 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sexenio foxista, entre los escándalos y la decepción |url=https://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/234046.sexenio-foxista-entre-los-escandalos-y-la-decepcion.html |website=El Siglo de Torreón |date=4 September 2006 |access-date=30 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Batres Guadarrama |first1=Marti |title=Vicente Fox, el fracasado |url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/2006/11/30/index.php?section=opinion&article=026a2pol |publisher=La Jornada |access-date=30 November 2018}}</ref> Alejandro Cacho points out that "Fox incarnated the hope of alternancy [...] and he managed to kick the PRI out of [[Los Pinos]], but his government was a disappointment. Corruption persisted; in fact, his sons-in-law (the Bribiesca-Sahagún brothers) became rich quickly and without explanation. The economy wasn't much better than it had been under Ernesto Zedillo, the wages didn't increase significantly, neither did jobs. His "[[Presidency of Vicente Fox#Cabinet|super cabinet]]" ["gabinetazo", as Fox himself referred to it] created more controversy than it did good results. His wife, [[Marta Sahagún]], had a big influence in the presidential decisions".<ref name="¿Queremos candidato o presidente">{{cite news |last1=Cacho |first1=Alejandro |title=¿Queremos candidato o presidente? |url=https://elheraldodemexico.com/opinion/queremos-candidato-o-presidente/ |access-date=12 January 2020 |publisher=El Heraldo de México |date=5 June 2018 |archive-date=12 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112052216/https://elheraldodemexico.com/opinion/queremos-candidato-o-presidente/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Having assumed office with an approval rating of 80%,<ref name="ortega"/> by the time he left office in 2006 his public image had become exhausted by the controversial presidential elections of that year and the few reforms implemented.

In terms of the significance of Fox's presidency, historian Philip Russell asserts that, "Marketed on television, Fox made a far better candidate than he did president.<ref name="Russell, Philip 2011 593">{{cite book|author=Russell, Philip|title=The History of Mexico: From Pre-Conquest to Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K5xdBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA593|year=2011|publisher=Routledge|page=593|isbn=9781136968280}}</ref>
He failed to take charge and provide cabinet leadership, failed to set priorities, and turned a blind eye to alliance building."  Fox himself asserted in 2001 (one year into his administration) that he much preferred his experience as candidate than actually being president.<ref name="¿Queremos candidato o presidente"/>

Russell also pointed to 2006 comments by political scientist [[Soledad Loaeza]], who noted, "The eager candidate became a reluctant president who avoided tough choices and appeared hesitant and unable to hide the weariness caused by the responsibilities and constraints of the office."  Russell also asserted that Fox "had little success in fighting crime. Even though he maintained the macroeconomic stability inherited from his predecessor, economic growth barely exceeded the rate of population increase. Similarly, the lack of fiscal reform left tax collection at a rate similar to that of [[Haiti]] . . . ."  Finally, Russell noted that "during Fox's administration, only 1.4&nbsp;million formal-sector jobs were created, leading to massive immigration to the United States and an explosive increase in informal employment."  Ultimately, however, Russell concluded that Fox will be viewed by history as a transitional figure who was able to defeat one of Mexico's long-entrenched political parties.<ref name="Russell, Philip 2011 593"/>

In a national survey conducted in 2012 by BGC-Excelsior regarding former presidents, 32% of the respondents considered that the Fox administration was "very good" or "good", 25% responded that it was an "average" administration, and 42% responded that it was a "very bad" or "bad" administration.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Beltran |first1=Ulises |title=Zedillo y Fox los ex presidentes de México más reconocidos |date=29 October 2012 |url=https://www.imagenradio.com.mx/zedillo-y-fox-los-ex-presidentes-de-mexico-mas-reconocidos |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126173838/https://www.imagenradio.com.mx/zedillo-y-fox-los-ex-presidentes-de-mexico-mas-reconocidos |archive-date=26 January 2020|publisher=Imagen Radio |access-date=26 August 2023}}</ref>