Hugo Chavez has died

[Zioneer]

My opinion of Chavez

Good:
Helped the poor in his country
Gave Venezula self-esteem, which Latin American countries seem to lack (not their fault, what with all the US-supported coups)
Helped better relations between ethnic groups in Venezuela (or so I heard)
Didn't bother with violent measures most of the time
Stood up to the US in a non-violent way
Allowed opposition groups to exist freely (though minus points for controlling a media apparatus vilifying them, he didn't need to do that)

Bad:
Egomanic (unavoidable with helping Venezulan pride, I guess)
Soft authoritarian (unavoidable with opposition media literally supporting a coup against him, but still scummy)
Went about opposing the US in a laughable way (though points for it being non-violent). His anti-American moves weren't very effective.


So I don't really know how I feel towards his death. I mean, I'm having the knee-jerk response of "good, he's dead", but intellectually it seems neutral if not a bad thing that he's dead.