Making the scene: new U.S. ambassador to Mexico faces wide range challenges.

The scrutiny has always been intense. "It's like a kabuki dance: just the wave of a fan or the raising of an eyebrow excites comment," explained George Grayson, a professor of government at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. "American ambassadors just can't stay out of the newspapers."

Confirmed in November by the United States Senate, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza became the focus of the Mexico City media, and expectations remain high here for this grandson of four Mexican citizens, who has close ties to the White House.

The new ambassador has stoked hopes that Mexico and the United States can revive talks on immigration, and he will be arriving at a crucial time when the North American Free Trade Agreement is being questioned by Mexican farmers. While keeping a low profile may be impossible, Grayson recommends that a new ambassador start by steering clear of comments that harm bilateral relations. In the long run, an ambassador should remember to act as envoy of the United States to Mexico--and not as an apologist for Mexico in Washington.

Garza took over officially in November from Jeffrey Davidow. A Bill Clinton appointee and tactful career diplomat, Davidow transmitted Mexico's viewpoint with clarity to the White House.

"Davidow could do that because he was a seasoned, skilled, incredibly well-connected diplomat," said Grayson, who helped brief Garza in Washington during the confirmation process. "Garza can do it because he's a FOG." A Friend of George, that is.

The friendship between George W. Bush and Tony Garza is said to date back as early as 1988 when Bush campaigned on behalf of Garza, who then was running for Cameron County judge in southern Texas. Running as a Republican in a heavily Democratic region, Garza was elected--and re-elected.

Later as governor, Bush tapped Garza to serve as the Texas secretary of state. This politically fortuitous friendship has given Garza a generous measure of clout and status, raising expectations among Mexicans that they are dealing with an inside player in Washington's current administration.

Federal Dep. Tarcisio Navarrete, a secretary on the lower house Foreign Relations Commission, calls Garza's appointment "a good signal" from the United States.

"It's going to help a lot toward promoting the big issues of the bilateral agenda," Navarrete said. "It's going to provide Mexico with a great mediator with the United States."

Navarrete emphasized that Garza will need to diversify his contacts like no other ambassador before him to communicate with a Mexican government that now shares power among political parties. "It's a complex picture, but our government institutions are working," Navarrete said. When it comes to policy, one issue should come first, he said. "Number one is immigration and it has to do with the deaths on the border," Navarrete said. "This will be the most urgent call we make to the United States.

Being born and raised in Brownsville, across the Rio Bravo from Matamoros, can't hurt Garza when it comes to discussions about the border and immigration issues. "The border, so far from D.F., so far from D.C.," Garza said in early interviews with the Mexican press, playing off of a famous phrase attributed to Mexican President Porfirio Diaz.

Garza also emphasized the importance of immigrants to United States history and culture without making specific promises on policy. Mexican leaders, such as Dep. Navarrete, are sure to ask for more. "Despite the enormous emphasis the United States is putting on security and terrorism, we need--the United States and Mexico together--to look for a point of agreement so that Mexico can say immigration and the rights of immigrants are not incompatible with security," Navarrete said.

Garza may have arrived at a good time to coordinate with newly assigned Cabinet secretaries in the administration of President Fox. The departure of famously outspoken Foreign Relations Secretary Jorge Castaneda, whose frustration with U.S. relations and progress on immigration was cited in resigning his post, has given Garza a clean slate to work with, according to Antonio Ocaranza, a former presidential spokesman and current communications director for Vitro.

Garza will have the luxury of starting his job at nearly the same time as Mexico's new Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez and Economy Secretary Fernando Canales.

"I think they can all start from scratch," Ocaranza said. "Each one of them also comes with a specific assignment from their presidents...What you have now is President Fox saying to Derbez, 'Let's have a different destination.'

With Ocaranza, as with so many others, Garza's perceived access to the Bush White House increased his stature on arrival. "We perceive Tony as President Bush's envoy, said Ocaranza.

Garza's grandparents hail from the. states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. But Mexican heritage has not always been a clear advantage for U.S. ambassadors in a country sensitive to politically patronizing appointments. A Mexican-American fluent in Spanish, Ambassador Julian Nava was picked for the post by President Jimmy Carter during the 1980 presidential campaign and came to be regarded as ineffective at best. President Reagan's first appointment, fellow actor and Mexican-American John Gavin, produced an ambassador whose overstated confidence in understanding Mexico only helped antagonize Mexicans.

Political and cultural relations have changed dramatically since the days of ambassadors Nava and Gavin, according to Ocaranza. "Regardless of previous ambassadors of Mexican descent, Garza is the first of his kind," said Ocaranza, citing a new "decentralized" relationship between two economically intertwined countries.

The multi-billion-dollar relationship between Mexico and the United States means there are that many more stakeholders that Garza can call on for help. "He's also the first U.S. ambassador in a new Mexican political environment. Davidow shared parts of the Zedillo administration years and had to adjust to Fox. Garza doesn't have to adjust to his own past activity like Davidow. He will find fewer obstacles."

Mexico's new political environment still includes potentially large disagreements that Garza may have to confront. Hurt by the Jan. 1 phase-out of tariffs on U.S. goods, Mexican farmers are urging their government to renegotiate Nafta. Experts say unobstructed competition with U.S. agribusiness is likely to put many Mexican farmers out of business. And the jobless may later look toward the United States for better opportunities, increasing illegal immigration.

Another thorn in the side of Mexico-U.S. relations, Mexico's water debt to the United States, appeared to be resolved by an agreement in early January. On a more personal level, Garza has taken on a hyper-social job in a family-oriented country without the help of a spouse.

The ambassador has never been married. But spouse or not, an ambassador's schedule is extremely busy and full of social friends, according to professor Grayson. On a macabre note, he observed that Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador kept a frenetic political schedule, despite the protracted terminal illness of his wife, Rocio Beltran, who died of lupus on Jan. 12.

Federal Dep. Samuel Aguilar Solis said for Garza to succeed the ambassador ultimately needs to remain open and sensitive to Mexico's concerns.

"There are in this world countries that don't only contemplate war, countries like our own that are involved in commerce, that are concerned about questions of immigration, that are concerned with cooperation and development," said Aguilar, a member the lower house Foreign Relations Committee.

"An ambassador without a doubt represents the interests of their government. But he needs to be justly sensitive to the interests of the country and government where he is. If not, the relationship will not move forward."

Morgan Lee is a Mexico City-based freelance writer and correspondent for the Albuquerque Journal.