Geline Salac

Uruguay's Mujica, world's 'poorest president,' dies

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Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YMYS7eol2ME?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>MONTEVIDEO - Uruguay&#x27;s former president Jose &quot;Pepe&quot; Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter and hero of the Latin American left, has died at the age of 89, the government said Tuesday.</p><p>The humble leader -- who once spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity -- lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January the disease had spread and he would stop treatment.</p><p>&quot;With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,&quot; Uruguay&#x27;s sitting president, Yamandu Orsi, posted on X.</p><p>Leftist leaders from across Latin America and Europe paid tribute to the politician described by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as an &quot;example for Latin America and the entire world.&quot;</p><p>Gustavo Petro of Colombia -- himself a former guerrilla -- paid tribute to &quot;a great revolutionary.&quot;</p><p>The cardigan-wearing Mujica earned the moniker &quot;world&#x27;s poorest president&quot; during his 2010-2015 presidency for giving away much of his salary to charity and living a simple life on his farm, with his ex-guerrilla wife and three-legged dog.</p><p>Mujica himself had rejected the title in a 2012 AFP interview.</p><p>&quot;I do not live in poverty, I live in austerity... I need little to live,&quot; he said.</p><p>He transformed Uruguay, a country of 3.4 million people best known for football and beef, into a bastion of progressive politics on a continent plagued by corruption and strongman rule.</p><p>In later life, he was disappointed at the authoritarian drift of some left-wing governments, accusing repressive leaders in Venezuela and Nicaragua of &quot;messing things up.&quot;</p><p>He was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in May last year, and it spread to his liver.</p><p>His wife Lucia Topolansky said this week he was receiving palliative care.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Humility and greatness&#x27; -</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Tributes poured in from Latin America and beyond.</p><p>Former Bolivian president Evo Morales hailed Mujica&#x27;s &quot;experience and wisdom,&quot; while Brazil&#x27;s government bid farewell to &quot;one of the most important humanists of our time.&quot;</p><p>Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Mujica had lived for &quot;a better world,&quot; while Guatemala&#x27;s Bernardo Arevalo held him up as &quot;an example of humility and greatness.&quot;</p><p>Over the course of five years in power, Mujica legalized abortion and gay marriage and made Uruguay the first country to legalize the use of recreational cannabis.</p><p>He continued to campaign for the left after his cancer diagnosis, working fervently for the successful election campaign of history teacher Orsi, his political heir.</p><p>In a bar in Montevideo, Carlos Casal, a 71-year-old retiree, remembered Mujica as &quot;a good person&quot; who was &quot;humble and hardworking.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- From prison to politics  -</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The blunt-spoken, snowy-haired politician was a fierce critic of consumerism, and as president rejected the trappings of office.</p><p>He attended official events in sandals and continued living on his small farm on the outskirts of Montevideo, where his prized possession was a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.</p><p>In the 1960s, he co-founded the Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla movement Tupamaros, which started out robbing from the rich to give to the poor but later escalated its campaign to kidnappings, bombings and assassinations.</p><p>During those years, Mujica lived a life of derring-do. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and took part in a mass prison breakout.</p><p>But when the Tupamaros collapsed in 1972, he was recaptured and spent all of Uruguay&#x27;s 1973-1985 dictatorship in prison, where he was tortured and spent years in solitary confinement.</p><p>After his release, he threw himself into politics and in 1989 founded the Movement of Popular Participation (MPP), the largest member of the leftist Broad Front coalition.</p><p>Elected to congress in 1995, he became a senator in 2000 and then agriculture minister in Uruguay&#x27;s first-ever left-wing government.</p><p>As president he was praised for his fight against poverty but criticized for failing to rein in public spending.</p><p>He is survived by his wife Lucia Topolansky. They had no children.</p><p>Mujica asked to be buried on his farm, next to his dog.</p><p>bur-mlr-cb/mlm</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p>

<p>Uruguay's former president Jose "Pepe" Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter and hero of the Latin American left, has died at the age of 89, the government said Tuesday.</p>

Uruguay's former president Jose "Pepe" Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter and hero of the Latin American left, has died at the age of 89, the government said Tuesday.

Uruguay's Mujica, world's 'poorest president,' dies aged 89

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Uruguay's Mujica, world's 'poorest president,' dies aged 89

Agence France-Presse

Published May 14, 2025 08:10 AM PHT

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Updated May 14, 2025 08:11 AM PHT

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