In a surprise ceremony at the presidential residence, President
Vicente Fox married his spokeswoman, Martha Sahagun, today.
 |
Mexican
President Vicente Fox kisses his bride Martha Sahagun during
a private wedding ceremony Los Pinos, the presidential residence
in Mexico City. |
The two were married at Los Pinos at 7:30 a.m. local time, presidential
spokesman Victor Suberza said. Videotapes released by the president's
office showed the smiling couple signing a wedding register and
kissing; the bride wore a white fitted suit.
The marriage, ending months of speculation about Fox's relationship
with Sahagun, occurred less than two hours before Fox met Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar for an official welcoming ceremony
at the National Palace in the center of Mexico City.
"Congratulations for the first year of democratic change,
for your birthday, and they coincide with the fact that the president
of the republic has gotten married this morning," Aznar said
as Fox smiled. "Triple congratulations."
There were no immediate details about plans for a honeymoon.
Presidential sources said Sahagun would step down as chief presidential
spokeswoman, and would be replaced by Francisco Ortiz, who is
Fox's public opinion and image coordinator.
Sahagun had worked in Fox's administration when he was governor
of Guanajuato, and rumors that the two were personally close arose
during Fox's successful 2000 presidential campaign, in which Sahagun
headed his press team.
With that election, Fox ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional
Revolutionary Party.
Both Fox, 59, and Sahagun, 49, are divorced and Roman Catholic.
Within days of the July 2, 2000, election victory, the Mexico
City newspaper El Economista cited "sources close to both
of them" as saying that Fox had told his children he planned
to marry Sahagun before his Dec. 1 inauguration.
But Fox's daughter Ana Cristina, who had been serving as first
lady, denied the report and hinted at a dislike of Sahagun: "Mrs.
Martha works with my father," she said at the time. "We
aren't friends and that's it."
The rumors prompted a magazine then published by the Catholic
archdiocese of Mexico City, Nuevo Criterio, to urge Fox to reunite
with his former wife, Lillian de la Concha, whom he divorced in
1991 after a 20-year marriage.
On Dec. 28, Mexico's version of April Fool's Day, the newspaper
La Prensa ran a spoof story saying that Fox would marry Sahagun
on Valentine's Day.
Sahagun ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Celaya, a central Mexican
city in Fox's home state of Guanajuato. She obtained a certificate
in teaching English in Dublin, Ireland.
Fox married his first wife in 1971, and the two adopted four
children. In his autobiography, Fox wrote that the two gradually
grew apart. But he added, "to the day, we maintain a good
relationship because of what we most care about in the world:
our children.
"Since I started my fight to reach the presidency I was
constantly asked what I would do about the first lady, and they
even invent romances for me.
"But I am completely immersed and devoted to my four children
and my duties in politics; that consumes me 24 hours a day. I
soundly reject it when they say a president needs to be married."
(Agencies)