José Mujica, Uruguay's Humble Leftist Leader, Dies at 89
José Mujica, Uruguay's Humble Leftist Leader, Dies at 89
"In his lifetime Uruguay became a model democracy in Latin America and the world, thanks in part to Mujica’s leadership," said AS/COA's Brian Winter to FT.
Uruguay’s former president José Mujica, an icon of Latin America’s left who was nicknamed the “world’s poorest president”, has died aged 89. Mujica, a former guerrilla widely known as Pepe, led a centre-left government in Uruguay from 2010 to 2015.&
He was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2024. “We are going to miss you very much dear old man,” Uruguay’s current centre-left President Yamandú Orsi, a longtime protégé of Mujica, said as he announced his death on X on Tuesday. “Thank you for all you gave us and for your deep love for your people.”
Mujica became famous far beyond Uruguay, a tiny country of 3.5mn, after forgoing Montevideo’s presidential palace to live in a small farmhouse where he drove an old Volkswagen Beetle and gave away most of his salary. His unusual choices distinguished him in a region where many leftwing leaders have been dogged by corruption accusations.
He also implemented world-leading progressive reforms, including making Uruguay the first country to legalise marijuana in 2013. [...]
Brian Winter, executive vice-president of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, a Washington-based think-tank, said “people across the political spectrum appreciated his democratic spirit — the one-time guerrilla who ultimately embraced his former rivals at home, and his emphatic rejection of the Venezuelan dictatorship”.
“In his lifetime Uruguay became a model democracy in Latin America and the world, thanks in part to Mujica’s leadership,” he added...
