Recommendations for a New Administration

The challenges presented by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas—having been led by President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, and including Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua as active leaders—are significant and often underestimated.  Nor does Chávez's departure from the scene resolve the problem.  The criminal corruption within these governments, their shared hostility toward the United States, the close links with Iran, their embrace of concepts of asymmetrical warfare against the United States, and the systematic assaults on the independent media, judiciaries, and other democratic institutions all continue to bode ill.