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

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Ryu Spaeth

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