The Return of Fox & Calderón Exposes Mexican Far Right’s Misguided Path

ByMexico Solidarity

This article originally appeared in the June 1, 2026 edition of Sin Embargo.

The political dispute in Mexico this weekend had two contrasting scenarios: on the one hand, the event led by the Governor of Chihuahua, María Eugenia Campos, surrounded by historical figures of the PAN party such as Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón; on the other, the message from President Claudia Sheinbaum during the celebration of her two years in office, where she reaffirmed the progress of the Fourth Transformation and warned about the risks of foreign intervention.

In this edition of VERSUS, Ana Lilia Pérez, Alejandro Páez, and José Hernández argued that the image of the former PAN presidents accompanying Maru Campos not only revealed the opposition’s strategy, but also the crisis of project that the Mexican right is going through, increasingly closer to international far-right sectors and further from a political proposal capable of competing with the transformative movement.

Journalist Ana Lilia Pérez considered that the speech given by Sheinbaum represented one of the most forceful positions of her administration.

“I believe it is the toughest, most firm message the President has delivered,” she stated, noting that the President gave a detailed account of the achievements made during these two years in office.

But, beyond the government’s results, Pérez highlighted that the President issued a warning about the political context facing the country.

“She is calling on the public to be informed and to support her in this process, in which she is already warning of a greater threat from the international far right,” she said.

In contrast, she pointed out that the event organized in support of María Eugenia Campos was based on a narrative founded on false accusations.

“The PAN party members held an event to support María Eugenia Campos, where they launched a letter full of lies and false arguments, such as this claim made by the PAN, which is absolutely false, that the Prosecutor’s Office was supposedly calling her to account for having destroyed a drug lab.”

For Ana Lilia Pérez, the opposition’s strategy reveals a reliance on external factors to try to regain lost political power. “In this current power struggle, the right wing is betting on this foreign interference, this interference from Trump and the international right wing, to return to that privileged Mexico they once had,” she warned.

For his part, Alejandro Páez agreed that the images from the PAN meeting exposed the opposition’s limitations. In his opinion, the presence of figures like Fox and Calderón exemplifies the lack of political direction within the Mexican right.

“That’s the best version of the far right, not because you want it in power, but because you have it in the flesh, represented there in one or two photographs, you realize the size of the project, which is a project based on nothing, on the non-project.”

Maru Campos, Governor of Chihuahua, accompanied by former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox. Photo: Cuartoscuro

The journalist pointed out that the main tool the far right has found to remain relevant is permanent confrontation.

“How do you feed that project? How do you feed that non-project? You feed it with hatred, which is the dangerous part because it destroys, yes, it destroys. Hatred persists like lies because they destroy, because they have a goal and they achieve it.”

Páez even argued that the opposition has become trapped in a dynamic of dependence on external figures like Donald Trump.

“The day the Bully leaves, their entire project will collapse,” he said, referring to the role played by international leaders with whom the Mexican right has sought to align itself.

Regarding the PAN event in Chihuahua, Páez said he saw an image of defeat rather than political strength. “I saw the photos of Maru Campos’s event and thought, ‘What a great project.’ I mean, it’s defeat in her lifetime. I don’t know if Maru Campos realizes it, but she’s headed for defeat,” he stated.

Finally, José Hernández argued that the main explanation for the opposition’s weakness lies in the political and cultural transformation that has taken place in recent years. In this regard, he highlighted the role of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in changing the perceptions of broad sectors of society.

Former President Calderón “forgot” to mention his former Secretary of Security, who was accused and imprisoned in the US for drug trafficking. Photo: Mario Jasso

“This revolution of consciousness and this pedagogy that López Obrador carried out every day is fundamental right now, as is not abandoning it,” he stated.

The cartoonist Hernández argued that the morning press conferences became a crucial tool for communicating the transformation project and that Claudia Sheinbaum has recently found her own way of continuing this educational task.

“The morning press conference was a fundamental tool. I feel that Claudia Sheinbaum, in recent weeks, I suppose she has always understood this, but in recent weeks she seems to have found a way to continue with this political pedagogy,” he noted.

For Hernández, the fact that most disconcerts the opposition is that, despite their attempts to stop the project started in 2018, political continuity was consolidated with Sheinbaum’s arrival to the Presidency.

“Their worst nightmare happened exactly two years ago. The government of transformation continues, and they will leave them for another six years down and out, unable to understand what is happening,” he concluded.