Chavez Dead

[JDPriestly]

85. Did he beat, arrest, jail and fine protestors the way

our governments did the Occupiers?

Did the Venezuelans have to pass through Homeland Security checks on their way in and out of the country?

Did their press push the people to support a foreign war based on lies?

What does it mean to have the right to dissent taken away?

I think that Chavez will be judged by what happens in Venezuela once he is gone. If the people of Venezuela enjoy increasing democratic institutions including elections, he will be viewed as successful -- a leader who moved his country toward democracy.

If he is followed by a left-wing dictatorship, he will be hated.

If he is followed by a right-wing dictatorship, he will be remembered with love, admiration and appreciation for the short period in which the Venezuelan people saw an improvement in their society with regard to education, a movement toward democracy however imperfect and a beloved leader.

So, I think that if he was able to establish enough democratic structure, enough democratic institutions for his people to move toward real democracy, then he will have succeeded. If he did not do that, the Venezuelan people will suffer. That is my opinion. I think it is too soon to judge his legacy.