CONTRERAS: What do you see as this administration’s main policy concerns in Latin America? REICH: There are two general categories–political-security [issues] and economic-social. There’s Colombia, a friendly democracy that’s facing an attack by very well financed groups of terrorists and narco-traffickers and has requested our assistance and deserves our assistance. An example of the economic-social [situation] is Argentina, which is facing a crisis primarily caused by fiscal problems.

What’s gone wrong with countries like Argentina? We can point to populist policies that led to inefficient governments. You have to ask yourself why a country like Argentina with the resources and wealth it has is in the condition that it’s in. The answer has to be bad economic policies and bad management.

You’ve talked about corruption as practically the root of all [economic] evil. I’m not sure it’s the root of all evil, but it’s one of the common denominators we see. It’s perhaps the single largest obstacle to development in the Western Hemisphere.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he wants to improve relations with the United States after the attempted coup against him last April. Do you take him at his word? We do. There has certainly been a lowering of the rhetoric as far as the U.S. is concerned, but we are still troubled by the lack of commitment to dialogue [with] the civilian opposition.

Do you view Chavez as a democratically elected dictator? There’s no question that he was democratically elected. At the same time we are concerned about the existence of groups that the president has created that are being armed. These could pose a threat to stability and to Venezuelan democracy.

Some people suggest your appointment was made primarily to appease the Cuban-American community in south Florida and help ensure Jeb Bush’s re-election as state governor. I think I’m qualified for this job [given] my 35 years of involvement with Latin America. I hope I got this job on the basis of qualifications and merit rather than any other consideration.

Are you dismayed that some Latin Americans like former Costa Rican president Oscar Arias objected strongly to your appointment? He’s the only one, and he was wrong, by the way. Arias said [in an op-ed article] that I evidently lobbied for the lifting of the ban on sales of high-performance weapons to Latin America, and I never did.

But you did lobby for Lockheed Martin in Santiago? Well, I mean there is no such thing as lobbying over there but I represented their interests. As a result, I recuse myself from anything to do with Lockheed Martin.

More and more American tourists and companies are skirting the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. Why do you continue to support that policy? The embargo is just a tool to bring about changes in the government of Cuba that will enable us to lift it.

But do you think there can be any significant change in Cuba as long as Fidel Castro is alive? One never loses hope. Who could have foreseen the changes in Eastern Europe?

How much time do you give Castro? He could remain in power an additional 10 years. The important thing is that [for] every year that that dictatorship remains in power, the Cuban people suffer more. But the moment he’s gone, that system will disappear. I don’t mean two seconds. It could be two days, two weeks or two months, but it is certainly not going to be two years.