|
|
Marta Sahagún de Fox (born Marta Sahagún Jiménez) became the First Lady of Mexico on July 2, 2001 when she married President Vicente Fox Quesada.
Sahagún was born in Zamora, Michoacán, on April 10, 1953, and for a few years worked as an English instructor at the Universidad Lasallista Benavente. Her first marriage was to Manuel Bribiesca Godoy in 1971 and they had three sons: Manuel, Jorge and Fernando. Bribiesca and Sahagún separated in 1998 and divorced in 2000; their religious (Christian Catholic) marriage was declared null and void by the Church in 2005.
Since 1988 she has been an active member of the National Action Party (PAN). After losing her bid to become the mayor of Celaya, Guanajuato, she met Vicente Fox. In 1995, Sahagún became his spokeswoman, first at the state government, then during his presidential campaign and finally during his first year in the presidency. On July 2, 2001, she and Fox surprised the media by marrying in a private early-morning ceremony. Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, who was on a state visit to the country, unknowingly announced the wedding to the media by congratulating the couple (the state visit's agenda included a reference to "President Fox and his wife"). Rumours of bickering among Marta and Fox's children (especifically his grown daughters) from his first marriage (he divorced years before being president) arose, and books about Marta and her role in his husband's Presidency began to appear.
On September 24, 2001 Sahagún founded a national philanthropic organization named Vamos México (Let's go, Mexico!). This was quickly criticized as a way for self-promotion and funding towards the presidency in 2006. Its first fund drive was on a historic building, Chapultepec Palace, in a dinner attended by most financial and business leaders. Vamos Mexico 's stated purpose is to concentrate funding and channel it into the diverse private philantropy foundations already in existence. The idea of the President's wife managing the funds of Mexico's philantropic organizations was seen as undermining to the current efforts, specially since Marta never showed a previous interest in philantropy. In fact, after marrying Fox she refused to become head of the DIF, a government national institute for children and family welfare, a post traditionally offered to (and accepted by) the President's wife.
On January 31, 2004, the Financial Times published an extended report questioning management practices and the lack of transparency in the organization, accusing it of spending less than 35% of its income on charity. The accusations were strongly denied by Sahagún in an open letter citing frequent audits, though some disparities in accounting arouse, which were blamed on human mistakes.
During the first months of 2004 Sahagún reiterated that Mexico was "ready to have a woman as president", refusing to say whether she was that woman or not. However, a new scandal made the headlines: it was discovered that the National Lottery, a government organism (gambling is mostly banned in Mexico), funded Transforma Mexico (Transform Mexico), a fund quickly linked to Sahagún's Vamos Mexico. This not only created controversy and a congressional probe, but caused changes in the government: the private secretary of Vicente Fox publicly quit, stating in an open letter that he didn't agree with the way Fox supported the political ambitions of his wife. A few days later Fox announced a new general director for the National Lottery. By the middle of July the pressure was so great that President Fox assured the press both he and Marta would go home after ending his term, and announced his wife would give a press conference about that. That press conference was delayed once, but finally, after one week, Marta Sahagun announced she would not run for the presidential office in 2006, and would go home with Vicente Fox.
In February 2005, her religious (Christian Catholic) marriage with Manuel Bribiesca was declared null and void by the Church. In practical terms a divorce, this means the Church found after analyzing her case (she alleged domestic violence by her husband) that her marriage never happened at all, so she can have a religious wedding (for the first time, not again). Fox's religious marriage still stands, however.
See also
External links
- Mexico's first lady eyes following Fox to presidency (http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/susana_hayward/7818880.htm)
- El Balero: Marta Sahagún de Fox (http://www.elbalero.gob.mx/kids/government/html/gobierno/martasahagun.html)
- Univisión: Primera dama mexicana quiere presidencia (http://paginau.univision.com/content/content.jhtml?cid=330823) (in Spanish)
- Presidencia de la República: Marta de Fox (http://martadefox.presidencia.gob.mx/biografia.php) (in Spanish)
- Vamos Mexico response to the Financial Times (http://www.vamosmexico.org.mx/informes/carta_fvm_times.pdf) (PDF document, in Spanish).nl:Marta Sahagún