I'm not GP, but the first statement doesn't make too much sense. As a Venezuelan, I think he means the second one.

I see, I knew that the two met on several occasions, so I thought perhaps one may have significantly influenced the other.

How are people viewing this news in Venezuela?

Well, I'm not currently living in Venezuela, but throughout my network I see much rejoicing. It is not an accurate representation of Venezuela though.

A sample statement (not mine) to show how much of an effect he's had:

" As it turns out, I'm not happy on this day of Chavez's -official- death. The things he managed to do to our society, the way his every whim ruled and stepped over all of our lives, what his deranged followers turned him into, how he made it ok to hate and dehumanize his opponents, what he did to specific individuals who opposed him, the lives ruined by unbounded crime and social decay ...all that, my friends, earns him a word that I have associated with him for a long time, in a way that almost makes it hard for me type: a monster. Something to be feared, a force so strong you must run away from to keep out of its path of destruction.

So I cannot manage to be happy. Trying to be happy requires forgetting for a second of the nefarious crimes and wounds he inflicted on Venezuela that will far outlive his physical presence.

The apprehension of how his wicked legacy will haunt us for generations drowns all else. No room for happy. "