Vicente Fox

Vicente Fox Quesada (born July 2, 1942) was elected president of Mexico for the period 2000-2006. The 2000 presidential election was historically significant because he was the first president elected from an opposition party since Francisco I. Madero in 1910.

Fox was born in Mexico City, and grew up on a farm in the state of Guanajuato. His education included the Universidad Iberoamericana and seminars imparted by lecturers from the Business School of Harvard University. After the end of his education he went to work for the Coca-Cola Company, starting off as a route supervisor and driving 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.

Fox joined the National Action Party (PAN) in the 1980s, and in 1988 was elected to congress representing León, Guanajuato. He ran for governor of Guanajuato in 1991, and many thought he had the most votes, but the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate was declared the winner in what a number of observers considered a dishonest fix by the PRI. In the ensuing uproar and after behind-the-scenes negotiations with president Carlos Salinas, the governorship was given to Carlos Medina Plascencia of the PAN on an interim basis.

In 1995 Fox again competed for the governorship of his state; this time he won by an undisputed wide margin and took office. His term as governor was noted for honesty and transparency of government, and the economy of Guanajuato flourished. Fox was nominated, unopposed, as the PAN party's presidential candidate for 2000 and won the election.

The PAN party promotes free market economies and conservative values and policies (the party is normally associated with the Roman Catholic church).

Since assuming the presidency, he has on several occasions referred to himself and Marta Sahagún, his wife and former spokeswoman, as "the presidential couple" (la pareja presidencial). Critics have pointed out that this nomenclature is inconsistent with the terms of the Mexican Constitution (Art. 80: Supreme executive power is deposited in a single individual, who shall be called 'The President of the United Mexican States') and take it as an indication of Sahagún's own political — perhaps even presidential — ambitions.