BARCELONA — As the six-foot five former president of Mexico, Vincente Fox, marched across the stage, he declared that he had three loves: his wife, credit unions and micro lending. He became convinced of the power and need for micro finance when he encountered Grameen Bank.
"Poverty has the face of women," he said, but its source is lack of democracy, military dictatorships and corruption. Fox is passionate about putting all people on the same starting line. Levels of poverty in Mexico are 45% and unacceptable to him. The country is also plagues by drug wars, and this year has been hit by swine flu, shutting down the economy for several days.
He sees financial co-operatives as one way out of poverty, not just in Mexico but in all countries. "Human capital must be built," he said. He talked about the right of every individual to a good education, health care and financial services, ingredients that are necessary for them to accomplish their own success. He talked about his own successes in providing health care to his people during his term of office. Because many Mexicans take their children out of school to add to the family income, his government paid scholarships to families that kept their children in school.
Micro credit is his key to bringing people out of poverty everywhere, he said. Providing access to small amounts of credit allows families to operate small businesses. Capital is needed by small family enterprises as much as by large companies, and he proposed the concept of small, local stock exchanges working on the same principles as the large ones.
He believes in market capitalism, but did not use the word free. After the session, he said that a free market is vital but only with responsibility and regulations that protect its integrity.
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