SAN FRANCISCO DEL RINCON, Mexico—Mexicans are notoriously suspicious of their politicians and think most of them, including former presidents, are corrupt. However, ask some and most won’t say this is true about Vicente Fox.
Fox, very popular throughout his term from 2000 to 2006, was in fact the first president from a party other than the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which was mired in corruption after 71 years of uninterrupted rule.
During his term, he shunned Latin American socialist leaders and sought close cooperation with the United States in economic and security questions.
“I’m always for freedom in economy and I am always for a good solid public policy structure to motivate and incentivize businesses,” he said. During his tenure, Mexican GDP increased by 30 percent.
After his term ended in 2006, Fox focused on thought leadership and founded the Centro Fox, a presidential library and education center where he helps promote social and economic advancement to children and business leaders alike.
Epoch Times spoke to Fox about the country’s economic competitiveness, the mission and value of the Centro Fox, and how Mexico can solve its violent drug problem.
Epoch Times: You have always been closer to the United States than Latin American socialist leaders. Why?
Vicente Fox: I am always pro-market. I’m always for freedom in the economy and I am always for a good solid public policy structure to motivate and incentivize businesses.
So when I see countries like Venezuela or Ecuador or Argentina with this populism and demagoguery what I see is a very negative, pessimistic future for those economies and those nations.
PAGE 2: HOW FOX WORKS WITH CHILDREN TO PUSH MEXICO TO THE NEXT LEVEL
PAGE 3: HOW FOX MAKES THE CASE FOR DRUG LEGALIZATION TO END THE GANG VIOLENCE
Today in the world you don’t have to be a genius to discover that trading among economies with discipline and fundamental variables of openness, with a good friendly attitude between public sector and private sector is what brings wealth and what creates jobs.
So I’m always on that side and that’s why of course I’m pretty much in favor of the United States.
And almost every successful nation is very pragmatic. They speak about jobs. They speak about investment. They speak about wealth. They speak about education. They speak about health. I think in Latin America we waste much of our time discussing ideologies and this discussion about left or right or capitalism or communism.
What people are expecting from democracies and from governments is a job, better income, a school for my kids, health for my family, control of the environment, and protection of the environment. I think that we should forget a lot about ideologies.
Epoch Times: What are the reasons behind Mexico’s economic renaissance, especially compared to China?
Mr. Fox: Investment that flew out of Mexico to go to China 10 years ago now is coming back. Those manufacturing companies are coming back to Mexico. This is because China has become more costly and the productivity is not there anymore as it was some time ago. Why does Mexico benefit?
No. 1, because of NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement]. NAFTA is a key ingredient in this competitiveness. The Mexican economy has gained because you save a lot of money that went to duties and taxes. So NAFTA is very crucial.
In fact, when NAFTA started 20 years ago the gap between the income of families and workers on the U.S. side and the Mexican side was tenfold. So you would make $1 in Mexico and by crossing the border you would be making $10. That explains the migration phenomenon and issue.
Today, instead of 10 to 1 we have a 5 to 1. I can guess that in the future, maybe one more generation, 20–25 years from now that gap will be zero.
We will have a 1 to 1 situation like United States has to Canada. And then you solve problems on the border. Both economies will be benefitting from this. So NAFTA is a key factor that China doesn’t have with the United States, the largest market in the world.
Number two, I would say that it is our logistic costs. It’s not the same thing to move a vehicle manufactured in Mexico to the U.S. market than moving a car from China to the United States. The logistic cost is extremely low in the case of Mexico and the United States.
Finally, a factor that is becoming very important is time zones. Because it’s important for executives, for corporations when they travel abroad to have low cost on their traveling.
PAGE 2: HOW FOX WORKS WITH CHILDREN TO PUSH MEXICO TO THE NEXT LEVEL
PAGE 3: HOW FOX MAKES THE CASE FOR DRUG LEGALIZATION TO END THE GANG VIOLENCE
It’s not the same thing to travel from Dallas into Mexico, a two-hour flight, $1,000 first class as it is to travel to India or to China to supervise operations there. Your costs will be $20,000 a ticket and a lot of traveling expenses.
But more so, working online is a huge advantage. Especially when technology today is such an important part of manufacturing. It’s not the same thing to be working with your partners in India, you being at noon and India at midnight or 3 o'clock in the morning.
The No. 2 obstacle is education. It’s human talent. It’s human capacity. In global terms for Mexico we’re still way behind the education levels of the vanguard. Europe has around 14–15 years average of education per citizen, the same in the United States or Canada. We are at eight. So have about half of the years of education on average.
In addition, we have the quality of education. The innovation, the capacity of our education system is still way behind.
On the other side we have the opportunities. I think we have all of them. Latin America is rich in natural resources; is rich in minerals and oil; is rich in human talent but it has to be educated.
Mexico specifically has to keep taking advantage of NAFTA, has to move on from manufacturing. We are the No.1 in manufacturing in all of Latin America. I would say that Mexico’s manufacturing sector is stronger and larger than all of Latin America together.
I know it’s going to be boring to be here for 130 years but we'll find things to do. So with this optimistic forecast for the 21st century, we at Centro Fox are convinced, absolutely convinced, that it’s leaders, specific people and persons that build the world.
It’s not institutions, it’s leaders that build and change the world. That’s why we strongly believe that every human being is a leader. And yes we get the question then: Why we don’t see those many leaders?
We think it’s because when you don’t go within yourself, when you don’t do the exercise and ask, ‘Who am I, what am I in this life for, what is my purpose?’ You don’t discover that then you walk through life in mediocrity. You don’t accomplish anything important or special.
Only by doing that exercise, by discovering your leadership, by discovering the power we all have within, our capacity of the brain, our capacity of our spiritual strength, our character, our beliefs, our formation; once you have discovered all of that, there’s no limit—absolutely no limit.
You can go from a rural worker to be president of your nation. You can go from a guy that is in school, in basic school and then become a genius. At the very end it’s recognizing the power we have within. Everything in this life starts with a purpose.
The better your purpose is, the more you grow and the more you reach your dreams. So that’s what we teach here at Centro Fox. We bring in 70,000 kids a year, all of them poor, indigenous kids from rural areas and humble families.
Just to tell them: You were not born to be poor; take that off your mind. You were born to do great things in your life. You were not born to be a migrant or a construction worker.
You were born to be a president of your nation, a great architect, a great virtuoso of the violin. You were born to do great things in your life. Be convinced of that and stay in school up to university or master’s or doctorate.
Get more knowledge, get more strength from your heart and dream high and you will make it.
Epoch Times: So what is your purpose?
Mr. Fox: My purpose is, and my happiness comes from doing this for others. Helping all those 70,000 kids. My purpose and dream is to work as intensely as I can to change things. Especially in relation to poverty, to exclusion, to all things that limit human beings reaching happiness on this Earth of ours, this globe.
Today, more and more people talk about happiness instead of salaries and I think that is great. The aspiration is not how much I can make or how much I want to have. It is my happiness, my joy of doing what I like, doing things for others, putting effort into my community, my nation, my city, my world.
PAGE 1: HOW MEXICO’s ECONOMY IS COMPETING WITH GLOBAL HEAVYWEIGHTS
PAGE 3: HOW FOX MAKES THE CASE FOR DRUG LEGALIZATION TO END THE GANG VIOLENCE
Epoch Times: How can we solve Mexico’s violent drug problem?
Vicente Fox: I'd like to say first that today in Mexico we do not consume drugs significantly. We do not produce drugs significantly. Most of the drugs come from South America through Mexico to reach the huge U.S. market, which some estimate is as big as $50 billion per year.
Of course this comes through the hands of the cartels. That’s why they are so powerful. But the case here is that Mexico is in between those who produce the drugs in the south; which is Colombia mainly, which is Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. And those who consume the drug on in the North. So we are trapped with this problem.
The United States is always trying to keep war out of the territory so they take it to Colombia and get them to commit to fighting drugs within Colombian territory. And now that’s going on in Mexico. We get what I call a tip of $500 million they give to the Mexican government and the instruction, “OK, you do the work Mexico, you fight the war, we don’t want the drugs here.”
This is becoming very complicated because Mexico is paying a high toll in human lives, in blood, in violence in homicides and in human rights violations. Constant violations of due process of the judiciary. So all this together is extremely bad for Mexico.
As a result, the flow of foreign investment is reduced. Even tourism, many people don’t want to go to Mexico because they think here is hell. That you can be killed at any moment on your visit to Mexico.
With this in mind let me first start by saying: The war is not all over Mexico, it basically concentrates on the Pacific Coast where some of the marijuana is produced.
The action is concentrated on the border where all the drugs come and then find their way across to the United States. So we need to get out of this trap. One way out of this trap is legalization.
Epoch Times: What would be the benefits?
Mr. Fox: Because really it’s moving from prohibition into regulation and this is what is already happening in Washington state. It already happened in Colorado state.
It happened in Uruguay and all over the world. The consumption is not prohibited in Mexico. In Mexico it is not illegal, it is not prohibited, it is not criminalized, it is not punished if you consume drugs.
What is illegal and is penalized is producing, distributing, selling, money-laundering. In most of the world now, consumption is not forbidden. This is why the paradigm should be changed. I’m a total promoter of the idea of legalization; of moving from prohibition into regulation.
This is exactly what happened in United States back in the 20th century where the alcohol ban caused a lot of criminality, a lot of violence.
It was not up until that prohibition that illegal consumption of alcohol was removed, then everything came back to a much more peaceful environment. So there you have a very pragmatic aspect of the benefits of legalizing.
No. 2: If this market is worth $55 billion, money that goes into the hands of the cartels. Through legalization you prevent all this money from going to the cartels. It changes into being in the hands of government because you tax the legal selling, production, and distribution of drugs. Like these American states did.
So I think you have a good set of reasons why we should move ahead on legalization, moving out of prohibition into regulation.
Epoch Times: You would still need the United States to legalize everything as well. If only Mexico does it, it’s not enough.
Mr. Fox: In the United States today, in the polls and public opinion, if you do it nationally; today the polls show that 55 percent of all U.S. citizens are in support of legalization.
Of course they are thinking about marijuana. When you speak about all other drugs, public support is more limited. To me the arguments for one are equivalent to the argument for all drugs. I’m in favor of advancing as quickly as possible into legalizing marijuana, but thereafter to include the rest of the drugs.
One path that is being followed is the case of medical use.
When you speak about medical use, then it’s not just marijuana, then it’s all drugs, when they’re authorized by the doctors for medical use. In this case Mexico has to get out of the trap where we are. And the way out is precisely legalization.
Epoch Times: How do you make sure the current cartels don’t just take over the business, keep their vast fortunes and get away with the violent crimes they committed?
Mr. Fox: Look, anything can happen but if you move into the new paradigm, I think that a good move would be to use forgiveness. Let me recall the case of Colombia.
They offered to all cartels and all criminals that if they accepted to submit themselves to Colombian justice they would be ready to forget about the money that they had today and not take it away from them. Even the penalties and everything would be handled differently.
So what he wanted was to give them some concessions so that the whole paradigm would be changed. Would the criminals then become businessmen and participate in the economic chain of either producing, distributing, or selling?
I think that if they change their lives and then come to participate in a legal business and make money and pay taxes, then the case would not be violence and killings it would just be market share for each of the participants.
Maybe the best example is look at Washington state, Colorado state, Uruguay: nothing very special has happened. Everybody has adapted to the new circumstance, so consumers now don’t go crazy for just having drugs because now it’s legal. It’s still costly for them economically speaking; it’s still costly for them in health that they’re losing.
So really the change flows quite easily. When I take Portugal I mean there’s no difference between Portugal and Spain. In one country drugs are legal, which is Portugal, and almost all drugs, not only marijuana, and the other one they are still criminalized. And you don’t even notice when you visit the two countries. Consumption, criminality, violence.
In Portugal, there are numbers that in the case of youth: In the 12 years the use of drugs has been legal it has reduced consumption among youth. On the other side you take away the money from the cartels; you separate the criminal case from the health case.
So you only dedicate the money and the income government receives to information to education to prevention so you keep working with a health issue that is important to solve but you get rid of all the problems in the case of criminals and cartels.
PAGE 1: HOW MEXICO’s ECONOMY IS COMPETING WITH GLOBAL HEAVYWEIGHTS
PAGE 2: HOW FOX WORKS WITH CHILDREN TO PUSH MEXICO TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Vicente Fox was president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006. He now heads Centro Fox, which includes his presidential library, a think tank, and provides leadership courses for children and business leaders alike.
The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
