Mexican Business Elite on Alert: Former Presidents Calderon, Fox Lose Strength as Opposition Representatives

Mexican business tycoon Claudio X. Gonzalez and other magnates rushed back to Mexico City in January only to attend a dinner with José Ángel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, and until now the poster boy of what Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador calls the "neo-liberal era".

The evening that took place in the Lomas de Chapultepec posh neighborhood, according to some attendees, began with a somewhat rarefied air. Although Gurría had stated in the first days of his visit that the Mexican economy was not on the right track, he later conceded some aspects of the plan being carried out by Finance Secretary Arturo Herrera. This was followed by accolades for the current administration in what many see as a move towards his desire to become president of the influential IDB in D.C.

The conversation, however, quickly turned to politics. Claudio X. was alarmed by the recent low profile assumed by former presidents Felipe Calderón and Vicente Fox, both of whom came from center-right party PAN, historically representing free markets and industry. Three weeks ago, the once critical former presidents stopped publicly challenging López Obrador and now they only send an occasional message through social media.

Calderón's low-key approach, many agreed, is an obvious response to the political complications that the detention in the U.S. of his former Public Security Secretary, Genaro García Luna, might pose for him. With Fox, something similar is happening with the investigation of the Legionaries of Christ and their offshore societies.

According to those present at the secret meeting, in reality the arrest of García Luna is the way in which the Trump administration rewards López Obrador for giving in on immigration, security, and trade matters.

A story is circulating in the upper echelons. Supposedly, the CEO of a major airline told Calderon that he had to tone down his criticism of the president because, when the García Luna case file is unsealed in Mexico, his name will be among the first to be investigated.

A similar anxiety surrounds former President Fox, which is why he recently attempted a rapprochement with Santiago Nieto, head of the UIF (Finance Intelligence Unit) through media mogul Olegario Vázquez Aldir. His efforts were unsuccessful.

The problem observed by Claudio X. is that without these two figures, the opposition is left without a serious voice to counter the administration. The PRI party is immersed in its recovery process, the PRD hardly exists anymore, and MC is still a minor political player.

At the same time, according to the businessman, the Government also continues to accumulate political satellite projects that reinforce its power. Groups such as the Progressive Social Networks, PES (Social Encounter Party), the PT (Labor Party), Green Party, Fuerza Por México and even a new environmental political project led, for now with little success, by the president's former driver.

The project that existed within conservative political circles to bring Calderon and Fox into the Chamber of Deputies has lost momentum. For this reason, there has been talk within the PAN in recent days regarding the return of former presidential candidate Ricardo Anaya, who suffered a brutal defeat against the current president in 2018. For now, Anaya spends more time in the United States than in Mexico.