Vicente Fox Quesada (Latin American Spanish: [biˈsente ˈfoks keˈsaða]; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006.

[6] The first half of his administration saw a further shift of the federal government to the right,[1][2] strong relations with the United States and George W. Bush,[7] unsuccessful attempts to introduce a value-added tax to medicines and build an airport in Texcoco,[8][9] and a diplomatic conflict with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

[10] The murder of human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa in 2001 called into question the Fox administration's commitment to breaking with the authoritarian past of the PRI era.

[11][12] The Fox administration also became embroiled with diplomatic conflicts with Venezuela and Bolivia after supporting the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which was opposed by those two countries.

[26] Upon reaching college age, Fox moved to Mexico City to attend the Universidad Iberoamericana and received a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1964.

[31] After retiring from Coca-Cola, Fox began to participate in various public activities in Guanajuato, where he created the "Patronato de la Casa Cuna Amigo Daniel", an orphanage.

Following the election, local discontent over allegations of fraud surrounding Aguirre Velázquez's victory led the PRI candidate to decline to take office.

[42] During the course of his campaign, a presidential debate was organized, but the three main contenders (Fox, Francisco Labastida of the PRI, and Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas of the PRD) disagreed on the details.

After the final results were announced, President-elect Fox addressed thousands of supporters and celebrated his victory with them at the Angel of Independence monument in Mexico City.

[citation needed] After securing the election, Fox received substantial media coverage, as well as numerous congratulatory messages and phone calls from world leaders, including then-President of the United States Bill Clinton.

As seen in the graphic, after taking office the particularly high points of his approval ratings were: While the lowest points of his approval ratings were: 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.

[78] 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."

Finally, Russell noted that "during Fox's administration, only 1.4 million formal-sector jobs were created, leading to massive immigration to the United States and an explosive increase in informal employment."

[80] Since leaving office in December 2006, Fox has maintained himself in the public eye by speaking in countries such as Nigeria, Ireland,[81] Canada, and the United States about topics such as the controversial 2006 election and the Iraq War.

"[82] Vicente Fox joined four other Latin American presidents at the One Young World Summit 2014 in Dublin, Ireland,[83] to discuss the Telefónica Millennial Survey.

[84] Vicente Fox is a member of the Global Leadership Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that offers, discreetly and confidentially, a range of experienced advisors to political leaders facing difficult situations.

Vicente Fox gave a video interview in July 2013 to High Times, in which he discussed the failure of drug prohibition, and cited Portugal's decriminalization policies as "working splendid(ly)."

"[89] Moncado said the ban came from Maduro and criticized Fox and the other former Latin American leaders invited as observers (Andrés Pastrana, Jorge Quiroga, Laura Chinchilla and Miguel Ángel Rodríguez) as "political sicarios," "clowns" and "mercenaries" that "sell themselves to the highest bidder to go to various destinations and repeat what they are told.

"[100][non-primary source needed] Fox would later go on to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden and his victory in the 2020 United States presidential election, defeating Trump.

When the time comes to truly deliver to the American people, his "billion dollar show" will finally crumble beneath his feet," Fox wrote, concluding his editorial with, "I find quite sad that America, formerly the most open and cutting edge nation, has chosen to lock itself down inside concrete walls.

"[113][non-primary source needed] In an interview with Anderson Cooper on 25 January 2017, and during an appearance on Conan O'Brien's late night talk show on 1 March 2017, Fox again asserted that Mexico should not have to pay for the wall.

[114] In September 2017, Fox was once again in the news after President Trump announced he would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in six months if the U.S. congress failed to pass legislation to address the issue.

In another tweet, Fox suggested that President Trump's DACA decision was a result of him compensating for earlier failures to pass healthcare legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act.

[119] He faced the subject several times during interviews, such as one held with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, who questioned him about the massive illegal immigration problem of Mexicans into the United States.

"[133] In addition to the library's completion, there has been some indications that Centro Fox was joining hands with UST Global to transform Mexico into a world-class technological economy.

[135] In October 2007, an announcement was made in the municipality of Boca del Río, Veracruz, that a 3-meter (10 ft) statue of Vicente Fox was to be erected to honor the former president.

[citation needed] On 7 August 2021, it was reported and confirmed that Vicente Fox and his wife Martha Sahagún were preventively admitted to a hospital in León, Guanajuato after being infected with COVID-19 during the pandemic in Mexico, but without serious symptoms.

[138] Fox stirred controversy in July 2023 when he shared an image on his Twitter account criticizing some of the Morena contenders for the 2024 presidential elections and supporting the PAN pre-candidate Xóchitl Gálvez.

The image, which made reference to the contenders' ancestries, read: "Sheinbaum is a Bulgarian Jew, Marcelo is a French fifí, Noroña is an alien and Adán Augusto is from Transylvania.

[139] Fox was immediately criticized and accused of being antisemitic and xenophobic by social media users and politicians, even from those belonging to the PAN and the opposition to Morena, who noted that the former President himself was of German and Spanish ancestry.