However poor his health condition, Hugo Chávez must have enjoyed a certain measure of satisfaction earlier this month when leaders from across the Western hemisphere gathered in Caracas for the first meeting of the new Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a hemispheric forum that explicitly does not include the United States or Canada. 

The cancer-stricken Venezuelan president had been planning the inaugural CELAC summit for some time, and it marked a huge triumph for his regime. More specifically, it served to (1) enhance Chávez’s perceived legitimacy while demoralizing his democratic opponents; (2) boost the stature of leftist autocrats in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua; (3) elevate the diplomatic standing of Communist Cuba, which was suspended from the Organization of American States (OAS) from 1962 to 2009 and refuses to rejoin; (4) drive a wedge between Washington and its traditional allies; and (5) weaken U.S. influence in the region.