Fox’s meltdown fascinates Mexico

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It’s been a very bad week in Mexico for Vicente Fox, the former president -- and he isn’t even in Mexico. Fox is on a book tour of the United States, promoting his biography, while back home his every move seems to generate new stories about apparent accumulation of wealth.

On Saturday, a group of opposition party activists pushed over a statue that had been erected to honor him in Veracruz. And today his successor, fellow conservative Felipe Calderon, took away his Hummer. Said Hummer became a source of controversy when it was revealed that a Mexico City car dealer loaned it to Mexico’s equivalent of the Secret Service free of charge for Fox’s use. Embarrassed by the controversy, Calderon said all such loan arrangements had been terminated, effective immediately. Goodbye Hummer.

Fox defended his use of the vehicle in a contentious interview with CNN en Español this week. On Tuesday, he stormed out of an interview with the Telemundo network when reporter Rubén González Luengas asked insistent and probing questions about his wealth. ‘You’re rude, goddammit, and a bad interviewer!’ Fox spat as he rose to his feet. (In Spanish: ‘Eres un vulgar, carajo, y un mal entrevistador!’)The interview has been played again and again on Mexico’s television networks.

Posted by Héctor Tobar in Mexico City