I don't think I am being a dreamy little-leaguer when I say that multinational Latin American diplomacy has been more successful in the past than the U.S. State Department's unilateral initiatives. Consider the Contadura Group and the Esquipulas Agreement Group back in the eighties. They certainly attained what the so-called Reagan Plan could not. The Cuban "transition" is an even more acutely sensitive and demanding task for the Inter-American community than the Central American peace processes once were.

Alone, America faces many great challenges. Chavez is ready to subsidize the Cuban economy once Fidel dies. For all its faults, Cuba has symbolic value for many Latin American citizens and governments, even the most democratic and pro-market of the lot. Indeed, because of such anti-American sentiment, Cuba's future is both a Latin American concern and Washington's.

Chavez is willing to shed much more than eighty million dollars in order to be a broker in Cuba's political future. A top American priority should be to defuse Latin American mistrust by playing it cool and engaging regional governments in needed diplomacy.

For more on Hugo Chavez as a Fidel manque, you can read Ibsen Martinez's article in Washington Post's "Outlook" coming Sunday.