“The poorest president in the world.” Pepe Mujica, symbol of the Latin-American left, died at 89
Jose “Pepe” Mujica, the former guerrilla fighter who presided over Uruguay between 2010 and 2015, a figure of the Latin American and critic of excessive consumption, died at the age of 89.
Jose Mujica was known as the poorest president in the world AFP photo
“With deep sadness we announce the death of our comrade Pepe Mujica”wrote on the current president of Uruguay, Yamandu Orsi.
The small South American country has decreed three days of national mourning and announced a privilege in the Legislative Palace in the capital Montevideo, according to Agerpres.
Nicknamed “the poorest president in the world” because he has donated almost all the presidential income to a social housing program, “Pepe” Mujica revealed earlier this year that his tumor at the esophagus, diagnosed in May 2024, spread and that his body no longer supports treatment.
“Obviously I am about to die. The warrior deserves rest”he said.
Until the end, he acted for the left in his country. The reference figure of the Frente Amplio coalition, which first brought to power in 2005 with Tabaré Vasquez, he drove Yamandu Orsi's presidential campaign last November.
“There is something sweet. A little like a good gap”in the victory of his political heir, he said in an interview with AFP.
A truck carrying the body of the deceased left his house at the end of the day.
Among the sighs, compliments and sometimes a few reproaches, Uruguayans talked to AFP about their former president.
“A good, humble, hard -working man”said Carlos Casal, a 71 -year -old pensioner who assures that he was known.
Supported by the counter of a bar in the capital, Walter Larus, a fifty -year -old waiter, sighs: “Politicians like him no longer appear. He felt and lived just like ordinary people.”
Alvaro patiento, a 53 -year -old sociologist, will remember the image of a leader who “inspired millions of people”encouraging them to “contribute with their stone to the foundation of a better world.”
José Mujica believed “in a better world”stressed the Spanish socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez.
“All Latin America is in mourning”added the former Bolivian president Evo Morales.
In Colombia, the left president of Gustavo Petro, and he was a guerrilla fighter, he welcomed one “great revolutionary”.
Also to the left, Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva praised a “human greatness (which) has overcome the borders”and the approval of Mexican Claudia Sheinbaum a “Example for Latin America and the whole world”, through its wisdom and simplicity.
“Thank you for all the courage you gave us (…) goodbye, Pepe”wrote the Frenchman Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the Radical Left Party in France Insouise (LFI).
Mujica reached unprecedented popularity for a leader of this country with 3.4 million inhabitants, located between Brazil and Argentina.
Without a tie, he gave a resounding speech against consumerism in Rio de Janeiro, in 2012, at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
The following year, at the UN General Assembly in New York, he attacked the robbery of Earth's resources and on “The market god”.
José Mujica claimed his peasant roots. He and his wife, Lucia Topolansky, former vice -president and former guerrilla fighter, received guests in their modest farm from the outskirts of Montevideo, who refused to abandon during his presidency.
His spontaneous, directly and often controversial discourse, resulted in critics and mistakes.
In the 1960s, José Mujica was one of the founders of the far -left urban guerrilla movement, the Tupamaros national liberation movement (MLN). Wounded by bullets in 1970, was closed throughout the dictatorship (1973-1985) and tortured.
After his release in 1985, he entered politics and in 1989 founded the popular participation movement (MPP), a pillar of Frente Amplio, which he led to death.
The former guerrilla fighter, who also held the positions of deputy, senator and minister, overturned conventions during his presidential mandate, promoting progressive measures for Latin America, such as the legalization of cannabis, a world premiere in 2013, as well as the abortion and marriage between same -sex.
Tuesday evening, young people from the MPP movement were preparing banners to send you “Pepe” Mujica one last message: “Hasta Siempre” (“Goodbye forever”).
