Pundits question former Mexican president's affluent lifestyle

MEXICO CITY — Photos in a Mexican celebrity magazine have opened a window on Vicente Fox's post-presidential life and prompted a public debate about political enrichment in Mexico.

The magazine, Quién, published a cover story this month on Fox and former first lady Martha Sahagún at their newly renovated ranch, complete with a pool, artificial lake and expansive gardens.

Mexican newspaper columnists and radio hosts immediately questioned whether the former leader had earned enough as president to afford such luxuries, raising the specter of corruption that had clouded many earlier Mexican administrations.

Lino Korrodi, the finance manager for Fox's 2000 presidential campaign who later had a falling-out with his friend, said the ranch was a mess before Fox became president because he didn't have the money to maintain it.

"It is evident he got rich during his six years in office, in a very shameless and cynical way," Korrodi said in comments published Wednesday by the newspaper El Universal.

During a visit to Rome on Thursday, Fox repeatedly refused to respond to reporters' questions about the issue.

Fox struggled in business ventures and drained his savings while serving as a congressman and state governor with the conservative National Action Party. Fox's historic election in July 2000 ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party and enhanced Mexico's status as a democracy.

Fox earned $245,000 a year as president, and since leaving office in December, he has received a presidential pension of nearly $270,000 a year.

Mexico expert George Grayson, of the College of William & Mary, said Fox's wealth is small compared with the massive fortunes of former presidents such as Jose Lopez Portillo and Carlos Salinas, whose brother, Raul, was discovered to have more than $100 million in European banks.

Author Fox not kind to his "amigo" Bush

MEXICO CITY — President Bush "is the cockiest guy I have ever met," former Mexican President Vicente Fox says in a new autobiography that pokes fun at the U.S. president's bad Spanish and false cowboy bravado.

The two leaders referred to each other publicly as "amigos" but their alliance soured after the Sept. 11 attacks turned the U.S.'s attention toward Iraq and Afghanistan and away from Latin America.

Fox, a conservative and a rancher like Bush, says in his book, "Revolution of Hope," that their first meeting in 1996 — when they were both state governors — left a mark.

"He is quite simply the cockiest guy I have ever met in my life," Fox wrote, according to an advance copy of the book.

When it came to language skills, Fox said, Bush was "a bit sheepish as he tried out his grade-school-level Spanish" at that meeting in Austin, Texas.

Fox, known for his trademark cowboy hat, was unimpressed when Bush turned down his offer to let him ride his favorite horse during a visit to his Mexican ranch.

"Even now, George will be the first to admit that he's a 'windshield cowboy,' more comfortable driving his pickup truck around Crawford than he is on the back of a horse," Fox said.

Reuters