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Mexico First Lady rules out candidacy Mexico's First Lady Marta Sahagun on Monday ruled out plans to seek the presidency on her own in 2006, ending speculation that at times has overshadowed the actions of her husband, Vicente Fox.
"I will not be a candidate for presidency of the republic," Sahagun said in an announcement at the presidential residence of Los Pinos.
"We will go home together" when Fox's term ends on Dec. 1, 2006, she said, though she added that her political commitment would not end. "I will never renounce my commitment to the most unprotected" in society.
Sahagun has been compared to a conservative Hillary Clinton, both for her ambitions and for the criticism focused upon her. She had long toyed openly with the idea of a presidential run. "The moment is right for great decisions. This is mine," she said Monday.
Critics complained she was unfairly using her position as first lady as a presidential springboard — a sensitive issue in Mexico as it tries to escape from a legacy of presidents choosing their successors and where the constitution limits them to one term.
The private charitable foundation she heads, Vamos Mexico, also has been accused of spending too much on administration, of receiving improper favors from the government and of serving as a vehicle to promote her.
Yet most polls have shown that she is the most popular possible presidential contender within Fox's National Action Party, trailing only Mexico City's opposition party Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in overall preference.
Monday's declaration seems to have been prompted by fierce criticism in a July 5 resignation letter by Fox's chief of staff, Alfonso Durazo.
"The country has certainly advanced politically, enough that it is ready for a woman to reach the presidency of the republic," Durazo said. "Nonetheless, it is not prepared to have the president leave the presidency to his wife."
Sahagun echoed some of those words in her statement.
Sahagun also denied allegations that she has meddled in Fox's policy decisions.
"I want to make it clear that I have never intervened not will I intervene in institutional decisions that belong only to the president of the republic," she said.
Fox said last week that his wife had no plans for the presidency and that the two would retire to their ranch. "We're going horseback riding on Dec. 1 or Dec. 2 of 2006. We invite you to come and take photos," he said.
Sahagun, however, had postponed a formal declaration, keeping the controversy alive.
Analyst Jose Antonio Crespo said that despite Sahagun's renunciation of candidacy, "the damage has been done" to Fox's image due to the long period of uncertainty.
Sahagun was married to somebody else and raising a family in the central Mexican town of Celaya when she grew interested in politics, made an unsuccessful run for mayor and went to work for Fox when he was governor of Guanajuato state. In 1998, she left her first husband Manuel Bribiesca. Fox's former wife had left him for another man in 1991. Sahagun became press secretary for Fox's campaign, then for his presidential administration. In July 2001, they married — shocking some Mexicans because both are Roman Catholics yet divorced. The marriage also caused friction within Fox's family, where his adopted daughters had clearly yearned for their father and mother to reunite. |
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