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Uruguay’s former president José “Pepe” Mujica, a guerrilla fighter and cult hero for Left-wingers worldwide, has died at the age of 89 after a lengthy fight against cancer.
“With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguay’s country’s current president, Yamandú Orsi, said on X.
Mr Mujica’s journey from the Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group Tupamaros to mainstream politics, where his popularity stemmed from his trademark laconic philosophising, is unique in Latin American politics.
Coinciding with the years of Uruguay’s 1972-1985 dictatorship, Mr Mujica spent 13 years in prison, with more than half of this time confined in a tiny cell which he was allowed to leave only a couple of times a month to exercise.
In that dark space without books or companionship, Mr Mujica said that he learnt to think.
“To keep myself sane, I began to remember things I’d read, things I’d thought when I was young. Later, I dedicated myself to changing the world, and I didn’t read anything. I couldn’t change the world, but what I’d read when I was young helped me,” he told the Spanish newspaper El País in an interview after his release.
After entering politics as a senator in 2000, he would later become minister for livestock under Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguay’s first Left-wing president.
In November 2009 he won 53 per cent of the vote and was proclaimed president. During his single five-year term, as mandated by Uruguay’s constitution, Mr Mujica legalised abortion, same-sex marriage and the use of marijuana.
He won fame as the “world’s poorest president” for giving away much of his salary to charity, during his 2010-2015 presidency.
He was known to attend 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.
Even after he retired from politics in 2020, his chacra, or smallholding, continued to be a place of pilgrimage for Left-wing politicians, journalists and other admirers.
Mr Mujica was a fierce critic of consumer culture and the environmental damage it has caused the planet.
“We have built self-exploiting societies. You have time to work but not to live,” he once said.
In May 2024, he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, which later spread to his liver.
He is survived by his wife Lucia Topolansky, whom he met when they were both guerrilla fighters. The couple did not have children.
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