Bill Richardson.

• Author: Laufer, Peter
• Position: The Monthly Interview - Interview

Only one of the 2008 presidential candidates is Hispanic, and only one has held a top foreign policy position in a former administration. Conveniently, it's the same person in both cases. Bill Richardson, the Democratic governor of New Mexico, grew up in Mexico City. At various times, he has been a congress man, a secretary of energy, and a UN ambassador. (Richardson himself has likened his diplomatic career to serving as the "undersecretary for thugs," referring to tough negotiations with the likes of Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong II). His resume gives him a unique perspective on the United States' rather choppy relations with much of Latin America, where anti-American populists have been faring well in national elections. The Washington Monthly's Peter Laufer and Markos Kounalakis recently asked Governor Richardson what has gone wrong and how he'd go about mending some fences.

WM: It's often said that this administration has lost Latin America. Why is this happening?

BR: We have lost touch with a very important region. American foreign policy, especially in this administration, concentrates on Iraq, and then Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, but not our own hemisphere. That's one problem. The second is the failure to enact an immigration bill, because this doesn't affect just Mexico, it affects many Central American and Caribbean countries. The third point is that we don't get involved with democratic populist movements in the region. We let Hugo Chavez take over on energy, we let Chavez get more political support with democratic movements in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. Those are our strong allies, but their presidents don't like us too much because of Iraq and other negative policies we've pursued.

WM: But all of these perceived anti-American results in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Chile, and Brazil don't have to be negative, if we take a more nuanced and sophisticated approach to what is going on. Is that correct?

BR: We've become identified with trade agreements that have not been pro-people. I think there is a great opportunity for cooperation on things like education and renewable energy with Latin American countries like Brazil. Instead, we promote these big policies that concentrate on building big highways and bridges and create debt, instead of entrepreneurial programs that help people, nutrition, education, and energy. You can have free trade agreements with these countries, but they have to be respectful of issues of environmental...