Hugo Chavez was as colorful as he was polarizing. Celebrating his 10th year in power four years ago, he held a jewel-encrusted sword of his hero, 19th-century revolutionary Simon Bolivar, and reminded a Caracas crowd what he was about.

"There is no other path to redemption for the human being than socialism," the Venezuelan president said, flanked by like-minded Latin American leaders helping him mark his anniversary.

After his death on Tuesday, detractors and fans had plenty to say about his fiery character and leftist pursuits, and it's hard to remember they're talking about the same guy.

He wrecked Venezuela's economy and trounced on democratic institutions and people's liberties, some say. He improved the lives of the poor and rightly stood up against "imperialist" nations, say others.

One of the more interesting tributes came from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who declared on his Farsi-language presidential website that Chavez was a great leader who will "resurrect" along with Jesus.

How many different ways can people look at Chavez? Here are a few:

Champion of the poor

Chavez, who led virtually uninterrupted from 1999 until his death, launched big poverty-reduction programs and paid for them with Venezuelan oil income. The programs worked on measurable levels, fans say.

The percentage of Venezuelans living under the poverty line declined from a peak of 62% in 2003 to 29% in 2009, according to World Bank statistics. Between 2001 and 2007, illiteracy fell from 7% to 5%.

His programs brought food and housing to the poor. And because Chavez gave subsidized oil to Cuba, the island sent doctors to Venezuela to provide free health care to the needy.

Chavez's efforts impressed some Hollywood figures, including Oliver Stone, who followed Chavez for the 2009 political documentary "South of the Border."

"I mourn a great hero to the majority of his people and those who struggle throughout the world for a place," Stone posted to Twitter this week. "Hated by the entrenched classes, Hugo Chavez will live forever in history. My friend, rest finally in a peace long earned."

Then there's the discounted heating oil that Chavez would supply to the poor in the U.S. Northeast through Venezuela's national oil company Citgo. Detractors say it was a cynical poke at the U.S. government, which he considered his imperialist enemy. But agencies helping the poor in the United States took the oil.

Economy destroyer

Critics say Chavez ended up hurting all Venezuelans by wrecking the economy. One way he did this, they say, was to nationalize some companies and interfere in others, thereby scaring off foreign investment.

Under his brand of socialism, dubbed Chavismo, oil specialists were fired and replaced by party loyalists, and foreign oil contracts were radically altered or canceled, making investment in Venezuela risky business for international firms.

"These factors have really led to shortages in basic staples. So, Venezuelans for example suffer from a lack of, in some cases, baby diapers, or flour, or corn meal ... so this is just an example of the distortions in the economy that have been a result of Chavismo," Kathryn Rooney Vera of Bulltick Capital told CNN.

Chavez left Venezuela saddled with high inflation -- 22.2% year-on-year in January, according to the Central Bank of Venezuela. Some analysts say the country's economy is in tatters, as it had to massively devalue its currency 30% to the U.S. dollar last month.

Enemy of human rights, democratic institutions

Critics contend Chavez became increasingly authoritarian, gradually turning formerly independent institutions -- such as the judiciary, the electoral authorities and the military -- into partisan loyalists.

In 2004 he created new seats in the country's Supreme Court and filled them with government supporters. He eventually was granted the ability to rule by decree for months at a time, and he pushed through a constitutional reform that allowed indefinite re-election.

Human Rights Watch this week issued a report slamming Chavez for undercutting "the ability of journalists, human rights defenders, and other Venezuelans to exercise fundamental rights."

Foe of the media

Chavez increasingly used legislation to clamp down on broadcasters and other media. His government relentlessly went after opposition broadcaster Globovision, accusing it of violations ranging from failure to pay taxes to disregarding a media responsibility law.

The broadcaster is the last remaining TV network that carries an anti-Chavez line, since the president refused to renew the license of another opposition station, RCTV, allegedly over telecommunication regulation violations.