Former Mexican President Vicente Fox is best known at home as the man who ended 70 years of one-party rule in the year 2000, but failed to live up to expectations as president.
Fox has since reinvented himself for an international audience as Donald Trump’s most vocal critic, lambasting him with expletives on Twitter, and slamming his planned border wall. Stephen Woodman and the Guadalajara-based journalist Duncan Tucker sat down with the former president to discuss Trump, drugs and pensions for their podcast Viva México. Here is an extract from the interview.
You’ve been one of Donald Trump’s biggest critics in the last year. Why did you decide to take on such an active role in speaking out against him?
I decided to play the role of a shadow in front of Señor Trump for a couple of reasons. Number one, I was deeply offended when he spoke so badly about Mexicans, Mexico and Mexicans in the United States. I think he was extremely aggressive. I don’t think we deserve what he said about Mexicans: that they’re rapists and criminals. So that was enough reason to tell him that he is wrong. Number two, he expressed the idea of building a wall, a great wall, between Mexico and the United States. It’s his privilege, it’s his right to build whatever wall he wants, as high and beautiful as he wants it. But he has to understand that U.S. taxpayers are going to pay for that wall.
Many Mexicans feel that President Enrique Peña Nieto has been too weak in his response to Trump. Has the Mexican president done enough to stand up to him?
When President Peña invited Señor Trump to visit Mexico before he was president we all thought it was a great historical mistake. What do I mean by a mistake? What I mean is that Trump was doing badly in his electoral campaign. He did not show any presidential abilities or any statesmanship capacities. So by coming to Mexico he was able to rebuild his position in front of U.S. audiences. And when he came back to the United States he had the label of being more presidential. So maybe that historical mistake made Trump become president of the United States.
You’ve been a big advocate of the rights of the Venezuelan people in the face of government repression. They are very different situations but violence and corruption keeps worsening in Mexico. Doesn’t this country need more high-profile leaders to speak out?
The comparison is not valid. Venezuela is one thing. Mexico is a different thing. We do have big problems in Mexico, with corruption and with violence. We have to work on it. I hope the next president of Mexico, the next leader and the whole of Mexico will give the mother of all battles against these two evils, these two cancers. And now the examples are around. In the case of drugs and violence, the answer is the legalization of drugs. All drugs. That’s my position. With that, we can take away the money from the cartels and we can defeat them… Number two, we should try to sit down with them and negotiate. I’m sure they don’t want to be killing each other forever. I’m sure that what they’re looking for is business. And everything can be arranged sitting around a negotiating table.
Since leaving office, you’ve spoken out in favour of the legalization of all drugs. Why weren’t you able to take steps towards making that change when you were president?
I did not because the problem was not as severe as it today. We should recall that in 2006 Mexico had a much better crime rate. 2006 was a paradigmatic year in that sense … President Calderon made the big mistake, the historical mistake of bringing in the army to lead the battle against cartels … hundreds of thousands of kids have died on the streets. So it has to be stopped. And it can be done with the right strategy.
There’s been a lot of controversy in Mexico over the size of the pensions that former presidents receive. Is it fair that a former president should claim public funds when they have many more opportunities to earn money than the average Mexican worker?
I don’t know of any nation that doesn’t have a similar program for former presidents. Almost every single nation has that. I think it’s a very wise idea. In the case of extended corruptions like we have in Latin America I think it is very wise to have this pension plan, this compensation for former presidents. I think if you can ensure a former president that the rest of their life they will have a decent income and that the rest of their life they will have fringe befits like Medicaid insurance … they will behave much more honestly than when you don’t have that.
If you were still president today, how would you approach the NAFTA talks with the Trump administration?
I think Nafta needs a reshape. It can be improved considerably. It’s now 22 years since the structuring of Nafta. But it is stupid, I said stupid, for Trump to do what he’s trying to do. To build a wall. To isolate that great nation from the leadership that it has in the world. If you renounce, if you enclose that nation in four walls, you’re going to kill the greatness of the United States. And somebody else will fill up that empty space of the leadership that you’re resigning. Please open your eyes. Please, U.S. citizens. Watch out. This false prophet is going to take you to the desert.
Viva México is a monthly English-language podcast offering news and views on Mexico in the age of Trump. It is available on soundcloud.com/vivamexpodcast. The podcast also has a Twitter account: @VivaMexPodcast.