Bush Meets The Neighbors

President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox's meeting Monday on the sidelines of a hemispheric summit, just days after the White House announced a new U.S. immigration initiative, is a chance for the two leaders to end their strained relationship — and earn political capital as well.

Mr. Bush annoyed Fox when he put immigration reform on the back burner after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. Their relationship further soured when Mexico failed to back the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

But the two were expected to be smiling — at least for the cameras — when they met in Monterrey, Mexico, at the Summit of the Americas, a gathering of 34 democratically elected leaders in the Western Hemisphere.

"Fox has an opportunity to hail the Bush immigration proposal as a political victory, given that he has been asking for an immigration agreement since day one," said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, director of the Mexico project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "I think to some extent, Bush will use it as a photo-op for reaching out to the Hispanic voters."

The president's fourth trip to Mexico — the country he has visited more than any other — will give the president a forum in which to mend fences with a number of nations in the hemisphere, reports CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.

The meeting with Fox tops Mr. Bush's summit schedule. The two are expected to discuss border security, trade and the president's proposal for a temporary worker program for illegal migrants already in the United States and foreign workers who have been offered U.S. jobs.

After Mr. Bush announced his immigration proposal on Wednesday, Fox said it did not meet all his administration's goals. "We're going for more," he said. Fox softened his reaction on Fox News on Sunday, saying the proposal was "interesting."

Fox would eventually like to see free movement of workers between Canada, the United States and Mexico, But, he said: "I think that in life you have to get what is real and what you have at hand and not keep on dreaming all the time."

The Mexican leader also defended the recent cancellation of several Aeromexico flights from Mexico City to Los Angeles that were deemed a security risk by U.S. officials. "You cannot take risks when life or death is involved," he said.

Between other bilateral meetings with President Ricardo Lagos of Chile and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Mr. Bush's schedule Monday called for remarks at the summit's opening ceremonies. He planned to promote free trade, open markets, clean elections and anti-corruption steps to help strengthen democracy in the hemisphere.

Mr. Bush will discuss the mad cow situation when he meets for the first time with Canada's new prime minister, Paul Martin, reports Knoller.

An administration official said the United States also planned to announce it will return to Peru $20 million allegedly stolen by Vladimiro Montesinos, a former Peruvian intelligence chief, and stashed in American bank accounts.

Amid the congenial handshakes, disagreements were expected. Latin American nations butted heads with the United States until nearly dawn Sunday in failing to agree on several points of a draft document to be debated at the two-day summit.

The United States wants the draft to call for re-emphasizing a 2005 deadline for finishing negotiations on a Free Trade Area of the Americas, a hemisphere-wide trade zone that is one of Mr. Bush's top policy goals for Latin America. Brazil and Venezuela say the summit is not the place to discuss it.

The United States also wants to kick corrupt governments out of the Organization of American States, a move opposed by several Latin American nations.

On Sunday, Fox indicated he didn't believe the trade pact, known as the FTAA, should be included in the summit's agenda.

"The summit was not called upon to discuss the FTAA," he said, adding that separate negotiations were being held on the proposed accord.

Other discussion topics at the summit, held in Mexico's third largest city, include strengthening democracy, ending poverty, security and helping small businesses with low-interest loans.

Argentina's President Nestor Kirchner is upset about recent U.S. criticism over its warming relations with Cuba. U.S. officials privately worry that President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who warned U.S. officials on Saturday not to "stick their noses" in his nation's affairs, is working with Cuba to oppose pro-American democracies in the region.

Brazil, in retaliation for new security measures imposed on foreigners arriving at U.S. airports, imposed measures of its own against American visitors to its nation.

Some Latin American leaders accuse America of being heavy-handed. They argue that the United States has neglected social issues, such as raising the standard of living for some 200 million people — nearly one-half the region's population — who live in poverty.

"Young Latin American students grow up with the story about how the United States intervenes everywhere and has always been intervening in the hemisphere," said Phil McLean, who served more than three decades in the U.S. Foreign Service, including assignments in Latin America, and worked at the Organization of American States. "Obviously, what's been going on in Iraq has re-stirred those particular feelings."