Vicente Fox calls Mexico a 'mess', claims U.S. needs immigration reform

Mexico’s former president, Vicente Fox Quesada, told La Opinion in an exclusive interview that Mexico is currently a “mess” and the only way to recover is to remove President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from power.

"Today we have a lousy government in Mexico. Today we have the worst president perhaps of all times,” Fox told La Opinion journalists in Los Angeles. 

"He [AMLO] has discredited the middle class, he has discredited the Electoral Institute, he has discredited everybody and the only one who has qualified is the army. So he has put the country in the hands of the army. And that is dangerous, very dangerous. History constantly tells us that an authoritarian dictator president, with an army at his disposal, puts an end to democracy, puts an end to liberties, puts an end to the middle classes, puts an end to the educational system. That is exactly what Mexico is going through and it pains and saddens me to say it."

The former president urged U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration to implement an immigration reform, which was being negotiated with the government of George Bush until the tragic events of 2001, he added. 

"We all remember that sad day of September 11 where, it was so brutal, the impact that changed almost everything changed in the world and I remember with President (George) Bush a few words that he said to me. When I spoke to him first to show our feeling for that terrible day, he tells me 'Vincent, everything changed from today, and particularly the priorities of attention of the U.S. government,'” Fox said. 

The reform would have been “very beneficial for the United States and very beneficial for Mexico,” the former president continued.

Despite the passing of the years, Fox told his interviewers that immigration reform is just as necessary now as it was back then, in particular for the U.S. 

"The United States needs the work, the dedication, the productivity of these Mexicans who come here to make a great contribution. And it is in Mexico's best interest to be able to give its people well-paid international opportunities, as it happens in that. So it's win-win, win-win.

Fox, now a businessman promoting cannabis-based products, said that the violence in Mexico was not only a national issue but an international one. The key to stopping violent acts in the country "is to legalize drugs and not only marijuana or cannabis, but all drugs," he added. 

"We are facing a failed government that does not give answers and even less in the number one task, which is to bring peace," Fox said.