Fox says

VISALIA — Former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, compared Ellis Island in New York to Puerto Veracruz in Mexico during his keynote address at the 2007 BizTalk Business Conference at the Visalia Convention Center Friday morning.

Both ports have welcomed thousands of immigrants into the countries, he said.

“Migration is an asset Â- a strength of the Nation,” Fox said. “I donÂ’t understand this great nation Â- hiding away Â- building a wall, isolating themselves from the rest of the world. This is the land of the free. Walls donÂ’t work. The Chinese Wall did not work. The Berlin Wall did not work. The West Bank did not work. And neither will this wall.”

Fox went on to talk about the importance of building bridge, and friendships, moving forward, and about the American dream Â- a dream that belonged to all people, he said.

Fox also talked about three key elements for a nationÂ’s success Â- a well established democracy that guarantees absolute freedom to people, a sound market economy, and a powerful social policy that offers health to everyone.

He also called Mexico a solid business partner of the United States, one that has created hundreds of jobs in the United States, and informed the audience that Mexico purchases more than $200 billion in products and services from the United States Â- more than France, Britain and Germany put together, Fox said.

For that reason, Fox said he does not agree with the statement that the American people are losing jobs in the United States.

Fox also touched on his concern on the status of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

Fox shared the hour-long spotlight with his wife, Marta Sahagun de Fox. The couple laughed with the audience and Sahagun de Fox shared some of her domestic secrets for successfully balancing a busy life as the wife of a political figure.

Promising a government of change and a more democratic regime, Fox became president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006. His wife was his communications director as he rose from governor to presidential candidate and president. She was also the first woman to act as the federal governmentÂ’s spokesperson. The couple wed in 2001.

Among the people in the audience were many local dignitaries, including Allen Ishida, Tulare County Board of Supervisors, District 1. Ishida said he was impressed with the former President and First Lady of Mexico, and said that many Americans do not realize the changes that Fox created when he ended a monopoly by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which had governed Mexico since 1929.

“It was enlightening,” Ishida said. “I was impressed. A lot of times you get a certain impression from the press, but meeting him in person was different. They are very classy people. He does offer a little different insight. He’s very proud of the things he has accomplished. I enjoyed listening to him.”

A random sampling of people in attendance found that the majority was in concurrence with his views.

After the keynote address, Fox met for a question and answer session with a group of high school students.

In the front row sat 17-year-old Tatiana Valencia and 16-year-old Maurice Mejia, seniors at Monache High School and news anchors in the MHS Multimedia and Technology Academy — a program designed to offer hands-on opportunities to students in news broadcasting.

Four students from the class, under the direction of Greg Snyder, attended the seminar and had an opportunity to interview Fox and record the event as a class project.

The film footage will be edited at the school and presented as a school news broadcast.

“I was impressed with the questions,” Snyder said. “They’ve been doing this for two to three years and they have the experience in getting up in front of people and asking questions but this was the first time doing this in front of someone of that stature.”

After the student session, MonacheÂ’s two student anchors had the opportunity to be interviewed themselves, as several print and television news reporters asked the students questions about their experience and about their unique class.

“We’ve done quite a lot of stuff and been through quite a few projects but this is by far the biggest and the best thing I’ve ever been involved in,” Valencia said.