businessman and politician who was president of Mexico from 2000
to 2006. His term in office marked the end of 71 years of
uninterrupted rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI). Fox, the second of nine children, was born to parents of
Spanish and Irish descent and raised on a 1,100-acre
(445-hectare) ranch in the state of Guanajuato. He earned a
degree in business administration from the Ibero-American
University in Mexico City and later became a route supervisor
for the Mexican unit of the Coca-Cola Company. After a series of
promotions, he served as the company's chief executive in Mexico
(197579). In 1979 Coca-Cola offered Fox a promotion to become
head of its Latin American operations, but, because this would
have required him to live in the United States, he resigned and
returned to Guanajuato. As Mexico's economy struggled in the
1980s, Fox became convinced that the country needed new
leadership, and he turned to politics. He joined the National
Action Party (PAN) in 1987 and the following y