Venezuela's Hugo Chavez dies: 5 ways to look at his legacy

The controversial leader was a champion of the poor, a ruthless strongman, and a consummate showman

Hugo Chavez: Hero or monster?
(Image credit: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

On Tuesday, the Venezuelan government announced that President Hugo Chavez, the country's longtime leader, had died at the age of 58 following a battle with cancer. Chavez was an intensely polarizing figure in both his native land and around the world, simultaneously praised as an anti-imperialist revolutionary and condemned as a power-hungry authoritarian who was leading Latin America down a dangerous path toward socialism. One need look no further than the headlines to get a taste of Chavez's convoluted legacy: The Los Angeles Times proclaimed, "President Hugo Chavez, hero to Venezuela's poor, is dead," while Bloomberg reported, "Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's anti-U.S. socialist leader, dies." Here, five ways to look at his legacy:

1. He was a champion of the poor

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Ryu Spaeth

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.