It's particularly interesting how Venezuela has expelled 2 U.S. officials out of fears of them trying to stage a coup.

While Chavez is not a man that I would like to have as my President, I do have to admire his charisma, passion, and willingness to stand up against the United States (while it's arguable if those reasons were right or not). At the very least he did improve their economy, lowered the poverty rate, and improved education in the country.

He was a major player in Latin America, and it will be interesting to see how this transition goes over and if the next leader will be remotely United States friendly. There's a Reddit thread going on discussing this where a couple of Venezuelan Users will be giving frequent updates as to the state of the country. It's also suspicious/slightly silly that the man who is supposed to take interim control of the country, Nicolas Maduro, is claiming that Chavez was poisoned with cancer

At the same time, it's worth noting that not everything improved under his leadership. For instance the murder rate has increased drastically, making it more dangerous for civilians than countries such as Mexico and Iraq.