Former Mexico President Vicente Fox said Friday the U.S. and Mexico need to build bridges between the two countries, not walls.
Fox was the keynote speaker at the Border Energy Forum, an annual meeting of U.S. and Mexico energy industry leaders that took place in San Diego this week.
“You don’t build walls. That’s stupid, building walls,” he said in an exclusive interview with KPBS at the forum. “You build bridges. You build partnerships like we have in Canada, United States and Mexico. And we benefit all three together.”
Fox said the forum was an example of that bridge-building, and that the U.S. and Mexico have already increased cross-border collaboration on energy needs, including oil, natural gas and renewables.
“We’re getting closer and closer, building bridges,” he said.
Fox discussed everything from immigration to trade to Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump. He called Trump “crazy,” “ignorant” and “a false prophet” with a large following.
“That false prophet will take those followers into the desert,” he said.
Fox said Trump’s proposal to build a 2,000-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border would hurt trade between the two countries.
“The founding fathers of this nation believed in freedom,” he said. “They never thought about isolating yourselves, building walls. That only shows fear.”
He said Trump is disseminating a false image of Mexicans.
“It’s not that we’re drunk all day. It’s not that we take siestas. It’s not that we’re violent and we’re killing each other. That’s not Mexico,” Fox said. “(Mexico) is a solid partner of the United States, and we have a strong loyalty toward each other through the friendship we have built, and the neighborhood we have, and NAFTA which makes us partners.”
He said Mexico’s problems of cartel-related violence and corruption can only be solved through the cross-border legalization of all drugs.
“I think states and governments do not have the right to control and impose our behavior,” Fox said. “We as human beings were born free, and it’s our choice to do good or to do bad. What we need is to be informed, educated and in prevention.”
He said drug legalization would eliminate drug-related violence in Mexico, and that Mexico shouldn’t be wasting resources on a drug war when its main role in the trade is as a trafficking route.
“It’s not our war. It’s not our problem,” Fox said. “We don’t produce drugs. We don’t consume drugs. We are only being used as a transit to the big market in this great nation.”
When asked about what the U.S. and Mexico can do to address the problem of illegal immigration, he said:
“Migrants are great people. As a matter of fact, they are my heroes. A migrant has courage. A migrant has decided to (endure) any risk to make a better (life) for him and his family. Migration is an asset. The only thing you have to do is regulate.”
