The note complained that United States Border Patrol agents had crossed the border and ventured a couple of dozen feet into Mexico to put out a rapidly spreading brush fire.
In large measure, the relationship has stagnated in recent years as Mr. Bush has failed to deliver on a promise of changing immigration laws to allow more guest workers, while conservatives in his party have pushed through tougher measures to control the border, among them a giant wall.
For the United States, there is more at stake in the talks with President Felipe Calderón, a conservative free-trade advocate, than possible progress on an age-old list of frictions between the neighbors: drug trafficking, trade barriers, border security and illegal migration.
For political reasons, however, Mr. Calderón has been reluctant to become the anti-Chávez standard-bearer in public. He said in a recent interview with The Associated Press, "I am not interested in playing a role with Bush in that respect."
His aides say he wants to mend fences with the United States' antagonists, Cuba and Venezuela, as well as with the rest of Latin America. “The United States has a lot to do to regain respect in Latin America,” he said.
The Mexican president would dearly love to see a comprehensive immigration bill passed that would allow more migrants to work temporarily in the United States and would offer citizenship to many of the 6.4 million illegal workers already there. It is unlikely that Mr. Bush can deliver on that now, given the divisions within his own party on the issue and the approaching presidential election, political analysts say.
Like other Latin Americans, many Mexicans have also grown tired of the free-trade policies that were trumpeted in the 1990s as the solution to their economic ills.
In large measure, the relationship has stagnated in recent years as Mr. Bush has failed to deliver on a promise of changing immigration laws to allow more guest workers, while conservatives in his party have pushed through tougher measures to control the border, among them a giant wall.
For the United States, there is more at stake in the talks with President Felipe Calderón, a conservative free-trade advocate, than possible progress on an age-old list of frictions between the neighbors: drug trafficking, trade barriers, border security and illegal migration.
For political reasons, however, Mr. Calderón has been reluctant to become the anti-Chávez standard-bearer in public. He said in a recent interview with The Associated Press, "I am not interested in playing a role with Bush in that respect."
His aides say he wants to mend fences with the United States' antagonists, Cuba and Venezuela, as well as with the rest of Latin America. “The United States has a lot to do to regain respect in Latin America,” he said.
The Mexican president would dearly love to see a comprehensive immigration bill passed that would allow more migrants to work temporarily in the United States and would offer citizenship to many of the 6.4 million illegal workers already there. It is unlikely that Mr. Bush can deliver on that now, given the divisions within his own party on the issue and the approaching presidential election, political analysts say.
Like other Latin Americans, many Mexicans have also grown tired of the free-trade policies that were trumpeted in the 1990s as the solution to their economic ills.
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