Guanajuato.- The actor and former governor of California (USA), Arnold Schwarzenegger, said on Friday that the former president of Mexico, Vicente Fox Quesada (2000-2006), inspired him to venture into politics. During his lecture at the Citek 2019 Business Summit forum, which Fox hosts in San Cristobal, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, the fellow entrepreneur and bodybuilder recalled when he saw the former Mexican president in 2000.
During the filming of the film “Collateral Damage” in Mexico, I watched on television an out-of-the-box politician: it was Fox, then a PAN presidential candidate, who made history that year by breaking the PRI’s hegemony, the actor commented.” Every night I watched as he was going on his horse, his speeches, and the things you said were so inspiring, and you were a foreigner, a businessman who started in a Coke truck. That for me was very inspiring and had an effect on me for me to get into politics in 2003,” he revealed.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vicente Fox. Source: EFE
Fox subsequently visited Schwarzenegger in 2006, when Schwarzenegger was seeking re-election in the California government.According to the bodybuilder, that action (Fox’s visit) sent a very strong message to the Latin American electorate that allowed him ultimately to win the votes.
Since then we have had this relationship,” Arnold said, adding that he loves Mexico, “I made four movies here, and I loved people, I’ve always been a fan of Mexico since day one.”
He recounted that his time in the governorship of California (2003-2011) was complicated and that if he won the election it was because he convinced the electorate that he was a different politician, like Fox.
Typical politicians have ruined the state, why don’t they try something different?” he recalled that he asked voters.
In his keynote lecture, Schwarsenegger revealed details of his time as governor of California and anecdotes of filming. He noted that it was complex to deal with the lawmakers of his state because it is difficult to please everyone. “It was a much bigger challenge than I thought.” As a final message, he said that “we are all the same, no matter where you come from.”
The actor received cowboy boots made in the Mexican city of León, Guanajuato state, and a Mexican charro hat that bore his name embroidered in gold letters. Schwarzenegger bid farewell to the Terminator-style audience: “See you, baby.”
