MEXICO CITY, March 10 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lauded Mexico as a "remarkable story" and said Thursday that it had made "great progress," in comments apparently aimed at improving strained relations between the two neighbors.
Rice also stressed the need for cooperative border security, saying terrorists were "doing everything they can" to get into the United States.
 
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"There's no secret that al Qaeda will try to get into this country and into other countries by any means that they possibly can," she said during her first visit to Mexico as secretary of state. "They will do everything that they can to cross borders."
Her visit, which Mexican officials immediately called "positive" and "friendly," comes ahead of President Bush's meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, scheduled to be held in Texas this month.
Rice said at a news conference that the United States did not support vigilante groups patrolling the U.S-Mexico border, an issue that has caused widespread alarm among Mexicans. Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans illegally cross the border every year in search of jobs and a way out of poverty.
She also said Bush was committed to "immigration that is humane, that respects American laws and that also recognizes the economic reality between Mexico and the United States." Bush has said he supports a guest-worker program, and Congress is scheduled to take up the issue soon.
Relations soured between the neighbors recently after the U.S. government issued reports on human rights and drug trafficking that included unfavorable remarks about Mexico, as well as a warning to travelers on parts of the border over drug-related violence. Those comments prompted indignant responses from Mexican officials, who said the United States should not interfere in Mexican affairs.
In a television interview this week, Fox strongly rejected the U.S. criticisms, which he called shameful. "If this is the way they plan to have a partnership with Mexico, they are very mistaken," he said. "We don't need pressure or threats. What we need is a solid dialogue and an exchange of ideas."
Other Mexican politicians have joined in the criticism of Washington, in part as a crowd-pleasing warm-up to the 2006 presidential race. Fox cannot run for a second term, and the early front-runner is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the populist mayor of Mexico City.
Rice used much of the news conference to praise Mexico's accomplishments under Fox's leadership. However, she also said that "it is not the position or the right of the United States to be involved" in the upcoming elections.
Rice announced that Mexico and the United States had reached an agreement on a dispute along the 2,000-mile border in which Texas farmers had accused Mexican farmers of failing to abide by a water treaty that divides the scarce natural resource. She also said the United States would fund a $10 million grant to help Mexicans with banking services and small-business loans.
Geronimo Gutierrez, a top Mexican foreign relations official, called Rice's one-day visit "positive." He predicted it would "set the tone and pick up the pace" of bilateral relations on issues important to both countries.
