Jose Mujica, the bold Uruguayan politician who astonished the world as "the poorest president", dies

Jose Mujica was consistent with the simplicity he preached, renouncing his presidential salary and assets while implementing policies to fulfill his promise to benefit the citizenry. He was a guerrilla fighter, deputy, senator, minister, and president of Uruguay between 2005 and 2008.

Jose 'Pepe' Mujica, the former guerrilla who governed Uruguay with anti-consumerist rhetoric that made him an emblematic figure of the Latin American left, died this Tuesday at the age of 89, according to current President Yamandu Orsi

The "poorest president in the world," a nickname he earned for his austerity, revealed earlier this year that the esophageal cancer he was diagnosed with in May 2024 had spread and that his body could not withstand further treatment. "It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of our colleague Pepe Mujica. President, activist, leader, and leader. We will miss him dearly," Orsi wrote on his X account.

Visibly moved, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced from Beijing that he will travel to Uruguay to bid farewell to his friend.

"I know many people, I know many presidents, I know many politicians, but none can match the greatness of Pepe Mujica's soul. He was truly an exceptional figure," Lula said. Despite his cancer, Mujica was a key pillar of the leftist Frente Amplio's return to power in the November 2024 elections, in which he actively campaigned for Orsi.

"It has a pleasant aftertaste, a bit like a farewell award," he told AFP in an interview after his successor's victory.

Mujica's wake was held on Wednesday at the Legislative Palace, following a funeral procession that will travel through part of Montevideo. In the city's streets, Uruguayans have already begun their mourning

"I knew him. He was a good person, humble and hard-working, and if he made a mistake, well, we're human, we can make mistakes," Carlos Casal, a 71-year-old retiree, told AFP, sitting in a bar in the center of the capital. "How sad! But at the same time, it was so huge that it's more of a physical loss," said Mary Orique, a 45-year-old public employee, with tears in her eyes.

Mujica achieved unprecedented popularity for a leader of a country of 3.4 million inhabitants, stable and nestled between the giants of Brazil and Argentina. His name made headlines around the world in 2012 with a critically acclaimed speech at the UN Rio+20 conference. Without a tie, he took the stage and railed against consumerism

A year later, he was even harsher at the UN General Assembly, where he criticized humanity for having "sacrificed the old immaterial gods" to occupy "the temple with the god of the market."

At his modest estate on the outskirts of Montevideo, which he refused to leave during his presidency, he received personalities such as the emeritus king of Spain, Juan Carlos I.

Serbian film director Emir Kusturica, fascinated by "Pepe's" personality, made a documentary about his life that premiered in 2018. Without mincing words, some of his quotes made headlines around the world.

From a direct insult to FIFA in 2014 to numerous "don't be a fool" responses to journalists. Or when he said "this old woman is worse than a one-eyed man" when referring to then-Argentine President Cristina Kirchner and her late husband, unaware that he had a microphone on.

From Guerrilla to Statesman

During his tenure, the former guerrilla was known for his innovative approach. He promoted the legalization of marijuana with an unprecedented plan that put the state in charge of everything from production to marketing, and he received prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, in agreement with then-US President Barack Obama.

This rebellion against the established order, which led him in his youth to become one of the leaders of the urban guerrilla movement, the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement (MLN-T), active in Uruguay between the 1960s and 1972, also allowed him to endure torture at the hands of the military and 13 years of imprisonment in inhumane conditions. After his release in 1985, he returned to political life and in 1989 founded the MPP, which he led until his death and transformed into the most popular sector of the Broad Front, the governing coalition. Ten years later, he became a congressman, then a senator and minister of livestock and agriculture before becoming president.

The coronavirus pandemic forced him to resign his Senate seat in 2020, but his activism, his dialectical struggles, and his negotiations with political rivals and allies continued. Like cultivating the land and flowers, the passion that flourished on his tractor, on his farm, until his body gave up.

His wife Lucia Topolansky, former guerrilla, former senator and former vice president (2017-2020) was a constant in his life for five decades.

"Finding Lucia was the greatest success in the long run," Mujica told AFP at his home a few months before his death, surrounded by his books and memories. Without her, it would have been "very difficult" to survive, he said.