Former guerrilla
Idol of the left: Uruguay’s ex-President Mujica died
Updated on May 13, 2025 – 9:56 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
He lived on a modest farm and drove a rickety VW Beetle. He donated most of his salary, and was considered the “poorest president in the world”. That brought him a lot of sympathy.
As a guerrilla, he fought arms against the state, as president with political means against poverty. After the end of his term, José “Pepe” Mujica devoted himself to flower breeding. Now the former Uruguayan head of state (2010-2015) has died at the age of 89.
With his modest and assistant manner, Mujica became an idol of the Latin American left. He also lived as president in a simple farmhouse near the capital Montevideo with only three rooms and a coal oven. He drove an old VW Beetle and donated a large part of his salary, which is why he was considered the “poorest president in the world”.
His criticism was primarily the consumer society. “If we multiply the needs, we only spend our lifetime to satisfy these needs. The market dominates us and takes our lifetime,” he said in an interview during his cancer treatment. “We have to fight for human happiness, not for wealth.”
José Alberto Mujica Cordano was born in Montevideo on May 20, 1935. His parents already ran the flower breed that Mujica later took over. In the 1960s he joined the Guerilla Group Tupamaros and participated in raids, kidnappings and bank screws. He was finally arrested and remained in custody for almost 15 years until the end of the military dictatorship (1973-1985), including around 13 years in solitary confinement.
After returning to democracy, Mujica swore the armed fight and went into politics. He was a member of the House of Representatives and later in the Senate before taking over the office of Minister of Agriculture in 2005. At the age of 74, he finally won the presidential election as a candidate for the left coalition of the left coalition.
During his term, the economy grew back, poverty went back. He decriminalized abortions, allowed same-sex marriages, granted asylum from Guantánamo asylum and initiated the legalization of cannabis. After the end of his five -year presidency, he was elected to the Senate again. During the Corona pandemic, he finally gave up his seat out of fear of an infection.
Mujica spent his last years with his wife, ex-Guerillera and former MP Lucía Topolansky, on her modest farm. Every now and then he commented on political issues, for example on a presidential election overshadowed by allegations of fraud in Venezuela. After he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, he underwent radiation therapy.
How people should remember him was asked in an interview when he was already seriously ill. His answer: “The way I am: an old crazy.”
