What do you think of Hugo Chávez? Good guy or bad guy? [View All]

I just got one of those "forward this to all your friends" emails criticizing Hugo Chávez. It calls him "one of the most dangerous dictators in our hemisphere", and claims that "if he had his wishes, he would destroy our government and our way of life." It goes on to say that he came to our country and called our president the devil while standing on American soil, and that "the highest office of our country should be respected and those who blaspheme it (Honest, that's what it says!) with such comments shouldn't be rewarded for their egregious behavior." And of course, it wants me to boycott Citgo.

So tell me, is Chávez a good guy, bad guy, or somewhere in between? Does he really qualify as a dictator? I've heard him called both a fascist and a communist, which seems contradictory to me. Is he either? How corrupt is he compared to our president? I've read that he uses his country's resources to help the poor. Is that true? I'd really like to know what the consensus is here about this man, because "I have NO idea what's going on." :)