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UNT to Present Lecture by Former Mexican President Vicente Fox
Nancy Kolsti
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox will discuss his businesses-centered approach to the development of his nation, the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the opportunities available for international corporations in Mexico during a lecture April 14 (Tuesday) at the University of North Texas.
"Bringing the New Economy to Latin America" begins at 8 p.m. in UNT's Coliseum, which is located on the southeast corner of North Texas Boulevard and Highland Street. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $5 for UNT faculty and staff members. Tickets may be reserved by calling the Information Center in UNT's University Union at 940-565-3805.
Tickets are free to UNT students with identification, with a maximum of two tickets issued per student.
Fox, who was raised in the state of Guanajuato, attended Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City to study business before going to work for Coca-Cola de México. He later earned a top management diploma from Harvard Business School.
After starting out as a route supervisor with Coca-Cola and driving a delivery truck, Fox quickly rose in the company to become supervisor of Coca-Cola's operations in Mexico and later in all of Latin America. As president of Coca-Cola de México, he increased the drink's sales by almost 50 percent, resulting in it becoming Mexico's top selling soft drink.
Fox began his political career in 1988 by joining Mexico's National Party and being elected to the federal Chamber of Deputies, representing the Third Federal District in León, Guanajuato. He ran unsuccessfully for governor of Guanajuato in 1991, but was elected in 1995 after the National Party gained control of the state from the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
He secured his candidacy for the Mexican presidency in November 1999, representing the Alliance for Change, a political coalition formed by the National Action Party and the Green Ecological Party of Mexico. Fox was elected with 43 percent of the popular vote, breaking seven decades of the presidency by members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. He took office in December 2000.
During his tenure as president, Fox succeeded in controlling Mexico's inflation and interest rates and in achieving the lowest unemployment rate in Latin America. He left office in December 2006, with an approval rating of almost 70 percent.
Since leaving office, Fox has been involved in public speaking and the construction of the Vicente Fox Center of Studies, Library and Museum, which was modeled after the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. The Fox Center, the first center of its type in Latin America, allows Mexican citizens to have the liberty to review documents, images and records from a former president for the first time in Mexico's history.
Fox also wrote his autobiography, "Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith and Dreams of a Mexican President," which was released in September 2007. In the book, Fox outlines a new vision of hope for the future of the Americas; speaks out forcefully on global topics such as immigration, the war in Iraq, free trade and indigenous rights; and reveals the ups and downs of relationships with world leaders, including President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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