Note the fact that he just conceded defeat, on a referendum on which he had pinned immense personal hopes -- with less than a 1% vote difference.
A dictator -- or our current administration in Washington for that matter -- would just have tweaked the results a bit to get a win.
The results tonight tell us the election was honest. Venezuela has a democracy. Maybe we can't be sure we have one any more in the US, but Venezuela definitely does. Tonight's results prove it, regardless of who you hoped would prevail.
Let's remember that going forward. All of the wailing about how Chavez was setting himself up to be "dictator for life" was obviously noise. Reasonable people can disagree about whether presidential term limits are more or less democratic than no term limits -- personally, I kind of wish the Republicans hadn't passed that never-again-an-FDR amendment, just in case we're ever lucky enough to find another FDR. To ask people to remove term limits is not a dictatorial action. To accept it when they most narrowly decline to do so shows every intention not to be a dictator.
Chavez is a leader who has let democracy prevail, who has instituted it in fact. His opponents should not be quick to pronounce his downfall in this tactical defeat. Perhaps, by demonstrating as nothing else could, that he has not and will not subvert democracy in Venezuela, it will empower him in new ways.