S. American country holds an alternative view (8)
I believe the answer is:
panorama
'view' is the definition.
(I know that view can be written as panorama)
's american country holds an alternative' is the wordplay.
's american country' becomes 'panama' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'holds' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'an alternative' becomes 'or'.
'panama' enclosing 'or' is 'PANORAMA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for panorama that I've seen before include "'Vista, view (8)'" , "Overall view" , "Picture" , "Wide-angle shot" , "Wide-angle view" .)