Latin America in the Post-Chavez Era.

• Author: Johnson, Joe B.
• Position: Book review

Latin America in the Post-Chavez Era: the Security Threat to the United States by Luis Fleischman, Potomac Books, 2013, ISBN-13: 978-1-61234-601-4, E-Book ISBN 798-1-61234-602-1, pp. 277, $29.95 (Hardcover), $16 (Kindle Edition)

After the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last March, can we stop worrying about the spread of his Bolivarian regime and anti-American alliances throughout Latin America? In a new book, conservative scholar Luis Fleischman asserts, "No way." But Fleischman's balanced presentation leads me to a different conclusion. The regime is still intact, but "Twenty-first Century Socialism" is already over.

Fleischman, a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University Honors College, also edits The Americas Report, a blog on hemispheric security sponsored by the conservative Center for Security Policy. You can sample his analysis of this same issue on the blog.

Read this book if you want a detailed account of the Chavez regime's involvement with other leftist leaders in the region, and with narcotics traffickers, Iran and Hezbollah. Fleischman provides balanced information and he labels clearly his opinions. This book is on the right, but it's not partisan. Fleischman quotes experts from all sides. The Forward is by Michael Skol, Ambassador to Venezuela during the first years of the Clinton Administration.

Skol asks: "If Chavez and the Bolivarian revolution do not constitute an enemy that needs to be countered, who would?"

Fleischman makes that case in 150 pages, describing how Chavez built Bolivarian political and ideological alliances with the leaders of Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba and influenced leftist social and political movements throughout Latin America using wealth from petroleum exports. Chavez also supported the Colombian rebel organization FARC, allowed increasing flows of narcotics from Andean producers through Venezuela, and established troubling links with Hezbollah and the Government of Iran. He encouraged deeper relations with China and Russia.

Chavez met no effective resistance from the U.S. and its allies. Fleischman analyzes the passive stance of the Organization of American States (OAS) and other regional actors, especially the United States, all based on optimistic assumptions about Bolivarian intentions and capabilities. The Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations adopted different strategies but none that was forceful or effective. Even today Venezuela remains the United...