Fox Quesada, Vicente (1942– )

Mexican populist politician from the centre-right Partido Acción Nacional (PAN; National Action Party), president 2000–06. Under Fox, Mexico's economy avoided the financial crises seen under previous presidencies, inflation was kept in check, and the economy grew steadily. Mexico's foreign policy became more open, and relations with the USA remained close. He was succeeded as president in 2006 by Felipe Calderón – his former energy secretary –, who narrowly won the July 2006 presidential election, with 36% of the vote.

In 1995 Fox was elected governor of Guanajuato province (at the second attempt – he was defeated in 1991). Leading an Alliance for Change coalition, he won the 2000 presidential election with 43% of the vote, breaking the 71-year hold on power of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI; Institutional Revolutionary Party). He formed a national unity cabinet, which included former PRI officials, business people, and left-wing academics. Among his first actions as president were sending a bill on indigenous rights to Congress and withdrawing soldiers from Chiapas, to calm the Zapatista rebellion. But he faced opposition from within Congress to giving greater autonomy to the Chiapas region. He sought to boost economic growth to 7% per annum, through pro-market reforms, however growth actually slowed from 5% per annum to 2%.

The son of a rancher from Guanajuato, in northern Mexico, Fox studied business at the Iberoamerican University in Mexico City and at Harvard University, USA, as a postgraduate. Fluent in English, Fox rose through the ranks of Coca-Cola in Mexico, serving as the company's president 1975–79, before setting up his own business. In 1988 he joined PAN and was elected to the Mexican Congress, representing Guanajuato. He quickly gained a national profile when he accused President Carlos Salinas de Gortari of the PRI of having won the 1988 election through fraud.