"President Bush's trip to Mexico highlights a litany of broken promises to the Hemisphere.

During the 2000 campaign, President Bush said:

'I will look south not as an afterthought, but as a fundamental commitment' and 'Those who ignore Latin America do not fully understand America itself.'

It is hard to imagine a more damning indictment of President Bush's failed policy toward Mexico and the rest of Latin America than his own words.

U.S.-Mexico relations were supposed to be the crown jewel of the President's Latin America policy. But the relationship sunk to such a low level that President Bush refused to take President Fox's calls for a long time.

The U.S.-Mexico relationship suffered because of President Bush's diplomatic failure on Iraq. President Bush has been too busy punishing Mexico for disagreeing with us on Iraq - the way most of the world did - to promote a relationship that is extremely important to the United States and to the millions of Latinos in this country. This lack of cooperation has paralyzed immigration reform.

At this week's Monterrey Summit, attended by 34 heads of government, the Administration has squandered an opportunity to get its Hemispheric policy back on track by failing to come up with a consensus agenda that addresses the deep-seated crisis facing most countries in the region.

The deterioration of our relationship with Latin America is symptomatic of an administration that doesn't treat its friends with respect, ignores their concerns, and is then surprised when they are not with us in a crunch."