Is Vicente Fox talking too much?

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According to a long tradition, Mexican presidents don’t just retire once their term ends: They are expected to completely disappear from public life. Vicente Fox, president of Mexico until December 2006, has broken that tradition this week with the publication in the United States of his book ‘Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith and Dreams of a Mexican President.’ In his review of the book for The Times, Reed Johnson called Fox ‘a kind of Mesoamerican Mikhail Gorbachev.’ But Fox’s attempt to claim his place in Mexican history, and to remain a relevant figure in Mexico’s political life, has not gone over well in Mexico. After watching news reports of Fox’s appearances this week on CNN’s ‘Larry King Live,’ Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ and other outlets, at least one top member of Fox’s own National Action Party declared he’d heard enough. Asked about Fox’s media blitz, the country’s interior minister told reporters Wednesday that Fox had gone too far. ‘All of us should understand that he who leaves [office] should stay quiet,’ said Francisco Ramirez Acuña, who is arguably the second-most powerful person in the country, after President Felipe Calderon. ‘And we should all learn to shut up once our official duties are completed.’ Fox’s book tour will take him to Caltech on Tuesday.

Posted by Héctor Tobar in Mexico City