Mexico City - Former Mexican president Vicente Fox had planned a quiet country retirement - writing, reading, enjoying his grandchildren. He was going to stay away from politics after his very controversial presidency ended in 2006. But something went wrong: controversy seems to be tailing Fox.
Last month he opened the gates of his ranch to the magazine Quien, a social publication in which years earlier Fox and his second wife Marta Sahagun had given details of their private life.
The recent photographs of the ranch raised eyebrows as to the former president's wealth.
Mexican dailies and the magazine Proceso started to look into Fox's fortune, and found alleged inconsistencies with his declarations of assets.
There were questions about a red jeep and a Hummer that the former president drives and that are not registered in his name. These led to inquiries into an alleged appropriation of official documents for the Fox Centre, a 20 million US dollar museum-library which is set to be inaugurated soon.
Now the criticism and suspicions of his assets are to be investigated by a special commission of the lower chamber of the Mexican Congress.
And now, instead of reading the newspapers at his ranch, Fox continues to appear daily on the front page.
On Saturday, a statue of Fox erected by city workers in Veracruz was set upon by a crowd that first egged the statue, then fastened a rope and pulled it down just hours later. Sunday's dedication ceremony was cancelled.
Fox, 65, a former president of Coca-Cola for Mexico and Central America, had everything going for him to write his name with golden letters in the history of Mexico.
His triumph as the candidate of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) in the July 2000 election allowed the power to change hands in in Mexico after seven decades of rule by the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI).
During his presidency, Mexican public opinion granted more weight to his virtues than to his faults. Surveys showed him as a popular president, based on his friendly character, his image as a good man - he has adopted four children - and the perception that he was honest.
But in political circles and in the media, accusations started as early as a year into his term - the date of his controversial wedding with "Senora Marta," who until then was his spokeswoman.
There was criticism to the high profile that the first lady assumed, and a scandal over hints that there was a plan to promote her presidential candidacy in a style that is now apparent in Argentina with First Lady-candidate Cristina Fernandez.
There was talk of the couple's "dynastic temptations," and later also of dirty manoeuvres and fraud against the left to secure the victory of current President Felipe Calderon - also of PAN.
There were also doubts as Sahagun's grown children from her first marriage, the Bibriesca boys, became prosperous businessmen amid suspicions of influence peddling which were never proven.
Manuel Bibriesca filed suit, and won, against Argentine journalist Olga Wornat, who denounced the alleged illegitimate amassing of wealth in her book Cronicas Malditas (Damned Chronicles).
Now, Wornat has filed suit against the Mexican state before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for attempting to silence the publication.
The former president has denied all the allegations. In interviews with US television on the occasion of the publication this month of his book of memoirs Revolution of Hope - written with Rob Allyn - he said it is all "nonsense."
In his book, Fox talks about his life and his government. He says US President George W Bush is the "cockiest guy" he has met in his life and calls him a "windshield cowboy" because he is more comfortable riding around in a pick-up at his Crawford, Texas, ranch and did not want to ride one of the Mexican president's horses when visiting his Guanajuato ranch in 2001.
In Fox's case, magazine features, statues, books and other honours serve to keep the allegations of irregularities in the public eye. The former Mexican president may come to regret his decision to change his original plans for a quiet retirement.
