AP Interview: Brazil candidate Silva says time to improve US ties, push human rights

Marina Silva, presidential candidate of the Brazilian Socialist Party, speaks during an interview with AP in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014. Silva was thrust into the Socialist Party's presidential nomination when its candidate of choice, Eduardo Campos, died in a plane crash last month. Since then, her anti-establishment profile has propelled her to a neck-and-neck race with the actual Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. Silva says that if elected she’ll work to repair ties with the U.S. damaged by American espionage in Brazil. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) (The Associated Press)

Marina Silva, presidential candidate of the Brazilian Socialist Party, speaks during an interview with AP in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014. Silva was thrust into the Socialist Party's presidential nomination when its candidate of choice, Eduardo Campos, died in a plane crash last month. Since then, her anti-establishment profile has propelled her to a neck-and-neck race with actual Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. Silva wants Brazil to be a global leader in human rights and the environment and that she’ll underscore her personal commitment to human rights with regimes like Cuba, where she says a transformation to a democratic regime is possible. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) (The Associated Press)

Marina Silva, presidential candidate of the Brazilian Socialist Party, speaks during an interview with AP in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014. Silva was thrust into the Socialist Party's presidential nomination when its candidate of choice, Eduardo Campos, died in a plane crash last month. Since then, her anti-establishment profile has propelled her to a neck-and-neck race with the actual President Dilma Rousseff. If elected Silva says that she’ll work to repair ties with the U.S. damaged by American espionage in Brazil. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) (The Associated Press)

Front-running Brazilian presidential candidate Marina Silva says that if elected she'll work to repair ties with the U.S. damaged by American espionage in Brazil.

She also wants Brazil to be a global leader in human rights and the environment. Silva says she'll underscore her personal commitment to human rights with regimes like Cuba, where she says a transformation to a democratic regime is possible.

Silva spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday in an exclusive, hour-long interview in Rio de Janeiro.

It's the first time she's granted an interview to a foreign media outlet since being thrust into Brazil's presidential campaign after the death of her Socialist Party's original candidate in a plane crash last month.

Heading into next month's vote, Silva is tied in polls with incumbent Dilma Rousseff.