By I-Hsien Sherwood (i.sherwood@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Apr 08, 2013 05:11 PM EDT
Tags Margaret Thatcher

The usual condolences and remembrances are pouring in from around the world as news of the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher reverberates through the media.

"It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning," Lord Timothy Bell, her former adviser, said today.

Thatcher was a polarizing figure in her day, and the effect of her legacy is still hotly debated years after she left the political scene, so many expressions from other politicians have been equally polarizing. "Lady Thatcher didn't just lead our country, she saved our country," tweeted current British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"Margaret Thatcher's belief in freedom & optimism about the future overcame all. Her determination is our generation's inspiration," tweeted George Osborne, an MP from the Conservative Party. Responses to Osborne's tweet are unpublishable, but Twitter users made their no secret of their hatred of Thatcher.

She is widely regarded as being responsible for breaking the back of the British manufacturing sector, and that industrial capacity has never recovered. Millions of people were put out of work by her policies, though conservative-minded politicians and economists say the reforms she enacted were necessary to keep the country afloat.

"With the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend," American President Barack Obama said in a statement.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Thatcher was partly responsible for the end of the Cold War. "In the end, we were able to achieve mutual understanding, and this contributed to a change in the atmosphere between our country and the West and to the end of the Cold War," he said.

Many other people decry her hard line social policies.

"Thatcher described Nelson Mandela as a 'terrorist' I was there. I saw her lips move. May she burn in the hellfires," tweeted George Galloway, an MP for the Respect Party.

Watch some of her greatest speeches below, and learn why she was called "The Iron Lady."

Bruges

Iron Lady Speech

Last Stand against Socialism

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