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E. EDUARDO CASTILLO, Associated Press
Updated 03:05 p.m., Monday, June 4, 2012

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Former President Vicente Fox is asking Mexicans to unite behind the Institutional Revolutionary Party's candidate if he wins the presidency, a stunning call given that Fox ended that party's 71-year grip on power in historic 2000 elections.

Fox's comments over the weekend angered members of his own governing National Action Party, whose candidate is badly trailing Enrique Pena Nieto of the PRI, as the former ruling party is known, in the polls.

"It is clear there is an apparent winner" in the July 1 election, Fox said, referring to Pena Nieto's lead in the polls. He added that "we should unite around the winner."

When Fox defeated the PRI as the National Action candidate, his victory was seen as heralding the arrival of true democracy to Mexico. The PRI had governed Mexico since 1929 with what critics said was a blend of authoritarianism, corruption and electoral fraud.

That's why members of his own party were enraged when Fox called it unfounded fear that a PRI win in July would mark a return to Mexico's authoritarian past.

"We shouldn't be afraid that authoritarianism will return, that is a farce," Fox said. "Today we have an authentic balance of powers ... today we have democratic structures."

National Action party leader Gustavo Madero said Fox was expressing "an attitude that kept Mexico sunken in authoritarianism for seven decades."

National Action's presidential candidate, Josefina Vazquez Mota, called Fox's comments "completely senseless."

"He says that it doesn't matter if authoritarian rulers return, because now we have a democracy," she said.

"With all due respect, Vicente Fox is wrong," Vazquez Mota said. "That authoritarian Mexico can never return to the nation's life."

Fox's comments even outraged leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has recently overtaken Vazquez Mota in the polls.

"That's low," he said. "I can't believe he is wavering in support for his own party's candidate, and now, out of opportunism, he is supporting Pena Nieto."

Fox has distanced himself from the conservative National Action's current leadership.

Previously, he has suggested that the PRI was likely to win, and that the government should strike a deal with drug traffickers to ease the country's violence.

The latter call was particularly irritating to Fox's successor and current president, Felipe Calderon, who has made battling the drug cartels the centerpiece of his National Action administration.

Fox has been one of the most outspoken and unpredictable of Mexico's ex-presidents. For decades, former leaders in Mexico were expected to exit the political stage and keep largely quiet once their terms ended.


In this Wednesday, May 2, 2012 file photo, former Mexican President Vicente Fox waits to begin a press conference in Mexico City. Fox who broke the Institutional Revolutionary Party's 71-year grip on power is calling on Mexicans to unite around the candidate of the former ruling party, should PRI candidate Enrique Pena Nieto win. The comments have angered members of his own conservative National Action Party. In 2000 elections, Fox defeated the PRI, which had held the presidency since 1929.
Photo: Alexandre Meneghini / AP

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Ex presidentes del PAN, PRD y PSD formalizan apoyo a Peña Nieto

El ex dirigente del PAN, Manuel Espino; la ex presidenta nacional del PRD, Rosario Robles; y el ex dirigente del PSD, Alberto Begné, hicieron oficial su apoyo al candidato del PRI-PVEM a la Presidencia, Enrique Peña Nieto, con la firma del Plan de Concertación Mexicana.

En un evento realizado en el Jardín Foresta, en la colonia Lomas Altas en el Distrito Federal, también el experredista, René Arce; la ex panista, Lía Limón, quien recientemente anunciaron su adhesión a la campaña del ex gobernador del Estado de México, formalizaron este respaldo con la firma del documento, en donde Peña Nieto asume compromisos de inclusión de la sociedad y respeto a la pluralidad de ideas, en caso de que llegue a la Presidencia de la República.

En su discurso, Arce advirtió: “el apoyo que le damos no es incondicional, porque somos diferentes en muchas cosas” y resaltó que “no sé cuánto habrá tomado para ver en una mesa a sinarquistas y socialistas, pero todos demócratas. Eso nos une“.

Durante su discurso, Manuel Espino consideró que la adhesión al proyecto de Enrique Peña se debe a la necesidad de tener un plan de camino para el país, similar al que se hizo en su momento para llevar a cabo otros movimientos sociales.

Por su parte, el candidato presidencial, garantizó que “en un futuro próximo e inmediato” se sentarán a revisar el proyecto.


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We all know what really bring$$ you together, compa.


I was afraid after the big PAN victory that there would be some really ugly social unrest after the inevitable reality of betrayal set in.

I vastly underestimated the Mexican sense of pessimism reality. Most already knew it would be just more of the same.

And now here we are with a new facade.

Pffffft.

Jeeeezo...Fox should just put a big price tag on his forehead. What a phenominal whore.

My personal take on this is that many of the PAN party leaders now accept that they cannot possibly win in the July 1st election. While they still hate the PRI party, they are scared to death of Lopez Obrador turning into another Hugo Chavez..

Is it true, that Americans in Mexico are discouraged from participating in Mexican politics? Even discussions, or say...having a political bumper sticker on your car? Just asking.

Originally Posted by Doc Rey

Is it true, that Americans in Mexico are discouraged from participating in Mexican politics? Even discussions, or say...having a political bumper sticker on your car? Just asking.

Pretty much.......a good way to show up on the radar screens, which can't always be good!!!

Originally Posted by Teniente

Pretty much.......a good way to show up on the radar screens, which can't always be good!!!

Nonsense. We're not allowed to participate, but we can have opinions.....even bumper stickers.

Where are these "radar screens?" Is there really someone out there who gives a shit what we think?

I care Dennis...

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

I care Dennis...

I was refering to our "keepers" and "judges."

Sorry to dig up a sort of old posting.

As BajaGringo said "I care, also"
(Maybe that is because our wifes are Mexican and gives us a little closer link than most ex pat's)

I think " FOX" is a idiot for speaking out the way he did and does!

I also think that the Mexican Media is misleading people also.

In my opinion (and my wifes), we hope that PRI does NOT win.
The man is a puppet and will mirror the 71 years that PRI controlled Mexico.

BajaGringo: they are scared to death of Lopez Obrador turning into another Hugo Chavez..

- Maybe not a bad thing for ONE term to shake up things. -

Maybe PAN could have found a better candidate than Josefina Vazquez Mota.

Who knows maybe this was all planned;
You know that everything is planned conspiracy