Death of Hugo Chavez: So, what now for Venezuela?

Everyone loves an underdog, right?

Well, the Venezuelans certainly do, having declared seven days of national mourning following the death of their President, Hugo Chávez.

For 14 years, the underdog Chávez puffed his chest out in defiance of what he called the "Yankee empire".

But was it worth it? Is it really important to defy America if it means toadying up to questionable states such as Syria and Iran? And does it position Venezuela well going forwards, now that that this hugely charismatic and versatile leader is gone?

Chávez’ supporters will point to the fact he removed tranches of government corruption and poured billions of dollars of oil money into social programmes intended to help the poor of his country. They will say that his unique brand of Latin bravado positioned Venezuela - one of the U.S.'s largest suppliers of oil - as an noteworthy voice of dissent.

But his detractors - many of whom have fled the country - will talk of government cronyism, amateur economics and an aggressive approach to press freedom.

Either way, the immediate future should be politically stable by South American standards. Chávez’s deputy, Nicolas Maduro may have blamed the U.S. for Chávez’ death, but this hyperactive reaction is probably an emotional smokescreen.

A particular trait of the Chávez premiership was to employ fist thumping Leftist rhetoric whilst actually implementing comparatively moderate policies.

Chávez’ United Socialist Party, with 5.7m members, is the largest Left-wing party in the Western hemisphere, and have won four successive elections. Despite this, the most recent vote saw the victory margin fall from 26 percentage points to 8, and the April election will provide the acid test to see whether the populace are wedded to the man or his ideology.

In South American politics, the loudest voices are often the least authentic, and though seven days’ mourning are excessive by Western standards, we are talking about a nation whose poverty rate dropped by nearly 40 per cent between 2002 and 2011. It is hard to deny the former president cared deeply about the plight of average Venezuelans.

To many, he put his country, and his people on the map, and this is no mean feat. But now it's there, is the polemical rhetoric necessary?  I think Chávez' successor will hope it isn't. He will hope Venezuela is no longer a country of underdogs.