Interview With Joaquin Lopez-Doriga of Televisa

QUESTION: Señorita Rice, Mexico is your neighbor, friend and partner, but it hasn't been treated as such. Why?

SECRETARY RICE: This has been the president's fifth trip to Mexico. He has been to the region 8 times since he's been president. We've had excellent meetings with the President of Mexico, first President Fox, now President Calderon. The President came to office saying that good foreign policy belongs in the neighborhood, it begins in the neighborhood, and I think he's lived up to that. We have wonderful trade, we've worked on border modification, to make it easier for goods and people to travel safely on our borders. I think we've had a very, very strong record of engagement, and the president intends to continue that record of engagement over the next two years.

QUESTION: Immigration is a bilateral problem and the answer you provide is a brutal fence: the wall. Why?

SECRETARY RICE: I don't think you're going to find a president more devoted to comprehensive immigration reform than President Bush. He knows it first hand as the governor of Texas, and now as President of the United States. Of course the United States is going to defend its laws, and insist that people respect its laws. The President also, though, has said that it's important to have a policy that is humane. That recognizes that immigrants are often people who are just seeking a better life, and come to be able to feed their families. He wants to have a temporary worker program so that people can come out of the shadows; so that they will not be subject to the terrible tragedy that happens when people are transported in these containers by coyotes. He's working with our Congress to bring about comprehensive immigration reform, both to respect our laws, and to make it possible for people to work in the Unites States, and to work in a humane and legal environment. And so, I think if you look at this President's record, and you look at everything that he's said, Mexico is not going to find a better friend on issues of immigration.

QUESTION: Drug trafficking seems to contaminate the relationship all the time. What do you have to do?

SECRETARY RICE: You're so right. Drug trafficking is a huge problem. It's a problem for Mexico, it's a problem for the United States. Increasingly it's a problem in the entire region, for instance in Central America; and is, of course, producing not just drugs on the streets, which is bad enough, but violent crime, as well. And so, the President, and President Calderon had a very extensive discussion of the drug trafficking problem. We need, of course, to share intelligence. We need to make certain that we are training law enforcement officials, we need to make certain that we are working on the border to prevent the trafficking and drugs and, often, the trafficking of arms that comes with that. The President has always said, President Bush has always said that America also needs to work on the demand side, there obviously is demand in the United States for these drugs. But this is a terrible problem. It is putting these poisons on the streets, and taking citizens into crime and horrible situations. We talked here, as well as when we were in Guatemala, about perhaps having a regional approach to the drug trafficking problem. We've done a lot, and President Calderon has been, I think, very resolute, very decisive in dealing with this problem in his first few months in office. But we have to help each other. This is a problem that we share, and it's a tragedy for both our peoples.

QUESTION: President Bush talked about the private capital in Pemex, and the general answer in Mexico is no, no way. Why are you so interested in the privatization of Pemex?

SECRETARY RICE: I'll be very clear. It's up to Mexico what happens with Pemex. It's a decision for Mexico, it's a decision for the Mexican government. I think we all need to be concerned about reliable supplies of energy. We all have to be concerned that we are all so dependant on oil that the international economy, the world economy can only grow if there's a reliable source of oil, we all have to be concerned about investment in oil fields, so they can continue to produce. But the means by which Mexico meets the concerns about investment and meets its concerns about reliable supply that's obviously up to the Mexican government. We also all should be looking at alternative means of fuel and energy. When we were in Brazil we talked about biodiesel, we talked about the need perhaps for ethanol, we need to diversify our sources of energy, as well as make certain that while we are still relying on hydrocarbons, and we will for some time, that we do so through the best investment policies possible and through reliable supply.

QUESTION: Are we still paying for saying no to the Iraq war?

SECRETARY RICE: The United States and Mexico have an excellent relationship, and we've had an excellent relationship throughout this administration. We've had our differences, friends have differences, neighbors have differences. Clearly on Iraq we had a difference. We believed very strongly that the people of Iraq needed to be liberated from this terrible dictator. He was a dangerous man in the world's most dangerous region and indeed it's very hard to help people who have been solving their differences by violence and by oppression for all of these years to finally turn to politics to try and solve their differences. But that is an issue that is behind us in terms of the decision to go to war, but I believe that everybody, every responsible state in the International System now wants Iraq to succeed. We want the Iraqi people to be secure, we want the Iraqi people to be able to solve their differences peacefully, and we all would benefit from a Middle East in which there is greater freedom, greater democracy and greater stability.

QUESTION: So, no hard feelings?

SECRETARY RICE: No, we understand that people had differences about the decision to go to war. But everywhere that I go now people say: "we want Iraq to succeed." It's in the interest of the world to have Iraq stable, not to allow Iraq to become a haven for Al Qaeda and for terrorists, and everybody understands, too, that the Middle East will be better of if indeed it has stable democracies at its core.

QUESTION: Are you sure everybody understands the war?

SECRETARY RICE: In the war in Iraq we had our differences, I certainly understand that. But now that the country has been liberated from Saddam Hussein, now that the Iraqi people are fighting for their freedom, now that everyday they face violent men who will walk into a square and blow up innocent children, blow up innocent women, who will go to a police station where men are enlisting to try and protect their fellow citizens, and blow up that police station, we all now have an interest in defeating these violent terrorists, and we are trying to help the Iraqi people trying to do that. I think all responsible States now have an interest in a stable and secure and democratic Iraq.

QUESTION: Will the bilateral relationship now with President Calderon be different than with President Fox?

SECRETARY RICE: I am certain that there will be differences of emphasis as different presidents have different programs and different emphases, but we have some longstanding and enduring strengths in our relationship. When you look at the volume of trade between our peoples, when you look at the close relations across borders-- I come from a border state, I come from California-- and we have close relations. People need to be able to move freely and safely across our borders. I‘ve worked very hard with my counterparts here in Mexico, and I know I will continue to work very hard with Foreign Secretary Espinosa as we try and make our border more modern, more secure. As we try to deal with the problems of crime and drug trafficking, as we try to extend the benefits of free trade, and not just to the border of Mexico and the United States, but throughout the country. The President has a great interest in the development of this country, of health care, of education. We have many, many Mexican students who are studying in the United States. I was a professor at Stanford University, I taught many students from Mexico. We have great interchange between our peoples. And so, I am sure these enduring elements of our relationship will remain, and the two presidents are off to a very good start. President Bush had an excellent relationship with President Fox, and I think he's off to a good start with President Calderon as well.

QUESTION: Muchas gracias.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much.

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