On November 4, 2003, President Vicente Fox of Mexico visited Arizona.  Governor Janet Napolitano, in honor of Mexico's long tradition of poetry and the arts, commissioned a poem by Alberto Ríos in honor of the event.

Ríos wrote and translated the poem, then read it in front of more than 3,000 people at a Town Hall meeting in the Phoenix Civic Plaza.  The poem was printed on handmade paper by artist Karla Elling and was presented to the president as Arizona's gift to Mexico in commemoration of this historic visit.

The original poem is called "Border Lines," "Líneas Fronterizas."