Old blue hunchback, wooden matero in the hands, black beret (in honor of Uruguayan gauches) and loose sweaters or shirts alternatively of a suit. These accessories were associated with the full planet – due to the fact that José Mujica, the erstwhile president of Uruguay, and earlier guerrillas and political prisoner, was even known to those who know small about Latin America. They consisted of his recognizable kind and image of a modest and honest man.
When he became head of state, he did not decision to a presidential residence in the prestigious Prado territory – he continued to live on a tiny farm on the outskirts of Montevideo. In 2015, he made available his rooms to respective twelve Syrian refugees, whom he had previously actively supported. He rejected all luxury and spent most of his wage on social programs. In a word, he actually lived in harmony with the ideas he preached. For years he remained not only 1 of the key leaders of the Latin American left, but besides her voice of conscience.
“This is simply a form of fighting for my individual freedom for me,” he acknowledged in 1 of the interviews shortly after being sworn in as head of state. “I don’t want to complicate my life with material things. Therefore, I inactive live the same life as 40 years ago – in the same neighborhood, surrounded by the same people and the same things. I have not ceased to be an average man just due to the fact that I am the President.”
The Way to the Revolution
He came from a tiny household of farmers with Italian-Basque roots. His father died erstwhile José was only 8 years old. In order to support her financially, he began working in a local bakery and flower store as a child.
Because of the hard situation of the family, he stopped schooling before graduating from advanced school and began to be curious in politics at about the same time. After he became active in the actions of the right-wing National organization for respective years (which included Uncle Mujiki), his political sympathy began to decision to the left. In 1962 he left the ranks of the National organization and together with his fellow Enrique Erro formed the People's Union, founded in agreement with the Socialist organization of Uruguay.
Then there was a revolution on his horizon. Mujica joined the National Liberation Movement of Tupamaros, a left-wing formation that had just created its foundations under the leadership of socialist Raúl Sendic, and a fewer years later it turned into an urban combat organization. This was a reaction to government policy: in June 1968, president Jorge Pacheco began to brutally suppress workers' protests that spread across the country. He suspended civilian rights guaranteed by the Constitution and introduced a state of emergency, which translated into further suppression of demonstrations, repression and torture.
Tupamarists then declared war on political and financial elites. For greater social justice they fought with the firearm in hand – they killed state officials, kidnapped Western diplomats, organized bank robberies, burned offices of wealthy companies.
Mujica besides took part in many of the increasing forces of the group. As he admitted years later, he was inspired by the Cuban Revolution; he was carried with youthful energy and spirit of that time. Like his companions, he felt that change must be violent. He didn't believe in negotiating, talking, half means. However, he himself, as he claimed, did not hotel to violence. Although he supported the actions of the Guerrilla, he never killed anyone. For his story, he managed to outsmart death respective times.
Three Lifes José Mujiki
This first happened in 1970: together with respective comrades Mujica, he prepared to rob a group of entrepreneurs who secretly collected assets in a abroad currency to avoid paying taxes. The robbery was being prepared at a coffee shop, but the police warned them. They ran out of the place, pulling out a gun, and then 1 of the police shot Mujica, who suffered severe injuries, miraculously sneaking distant from death. After a hard operation and a fewer weeks in the hospital, he went to jail – but from there he managed to escape, getting outside through an underground tunnel.
Once again, “Pepe” was detained in 1972, even before the coup d'état, which brought Uruguay a military dictatorship a year later. He went to a military prison where he was brutally tortured and held at the bottom of a dark, deep well. "The worst thing about this experience was loneliness. Inability to talk to another man, no books, no paper, no pencil. I was in isolation, no 1 even knew I was alive. From this loneliness and madness I started talking to my only companions: ants and frogs," he said years later.
Mujika's next life began in 1985 erstwhile he was released after nearly 13 years in prison and 12 years in the regime. Uruguay then welcomed democracy, and political prisoners were covered by widespread amnesty. "Pepe" became active again in politics: he joined the Universal Participation Movement (Movimiento de Participación Popular), which later entered the larger left-wing coalition – the Wide Front.
He was successively a deputy, senator and minister, and the more active he was, the more frequently criticisms about his past arose, mainly from the right side of the political scene. Adversaries turned him on to combatants, called him a terrorist. They mentioned that if it had not been for the action of Tupamaros, there would not have been a subsequent coup.
Mujica never hid his résumé, but usually explained that Uruguayan democracy was already “a disease” in the late 1960s. That the government was increasingly dealing with those who fought for a decent life, and that the military coup would have happened anyway.
One of the defenders of the erstwhile president is author and reporter Martín Caparrós. Shortly after Mujika died, he said in an interview with the Argentine radio Con Vos: “Many politicians joined revolutionary movements in their youth. After all, this cannot prejudge the assessment of the achievements of specified persons, their life-form achievements. Even if he was engaged in combat, he was later held responsible: he was long in prison. He paid a very advanced price for his dreams.”
Towards Justice
In 2010, at 74, Mujica won the presidential election. He took office after another progressive politician from the Wide Front, Tabaré Vázqueza. He went his way, continuing left-wing reforms. He benefited from the unchangeable economical situation in Uruguay, and thanks to its presidency the standard of surviving of a large part of society improved even further.
Mujika's five-year-old governments contributed, among others, to a 50% increase in minimum wage and an increase in state investment in social programmes, including the housing programme. In the first year of his term, "Plan Juntos" was created – it was based not only on the construction of inexpensive and more accessible housing but besides on a social inclusion programme, in which poorer residents had easier access to education and greater opportunities to find jobs.
Responding to the demands of feminists, Mujica resumed the parliamentary debate on full legalisation of abortion. "The legalization of abortions is, in my view, 1 of the highest acts of establishing social justice," he said. "Those mediocre girls who do not have an easy life on our continent deserve it long ago". The Uruguayan parliament voted the right to abort pregnancy in October 2012. According to the passed law, the treatment can be carried out here up to week 12, and if the pregnancy occurred due to rape – up to week 14.
Less than a year later, Mujica introduced marital equality. Uruguay became the second (after Argentina) country of the region, where same-sex couples can besides get married, as the president himself commented: “The law should be equal and fair to all. Freedom of others does not take or restrict in any way my freedom. It's not about my acceptance of these changes or deficiency of them. The point is that I have no right to deny this justice to others."
Soon after Uruguay, as the first country in the world, began legalize the sale of marijuana: cannabis can be utilized for its own usage (for recreational purposes) from December 2013 and from 2017 it can be purchased in selected pharmacies. Sales regulation was part of an crucial programme for Mujika to combat crime, including reducing the proceeds of drug cartels. "I don't smoke marijuana myself and I've never tried it," he said at the time, "but I know how much harm they can do to kids sold black, out of control."
In addition to these progressive reforms, the Uruguayan president has besides been celebrated as an uncompromising speaker, consistently speaking on human rights, climate disaster and increasing inequalities in the world. His speeches criticizing consumerism and the indifference of the affluent against the climate crisis at the Rio+20 conference in 2012 went back to history. A fewer months later, he appealed to delegates for a UN convention to halt flying to costly meetings and summits that inactive did not change anything.
He did not bite his tongue in the assessments of another planet leaders. W interview of 2024 he called Vladimir Putin "hijo de puta", a boy of a bitch, and earlier frequently criticized the interventionism of American administrations, besides towards Latin American countries. "The best thing the United States can do in relations with our region is yet halt interfering," he said at the planet Bank conference in Washington in 2014.
President and Chrysanthemums
He officially retired from politics in 2020, but remained her commentator and an crucial mention point. From an active activist he turned into an experienced sage; a stoic who valued simplicity and peace. He spent most of his days working in the garden, among the beloved chrysanthemum, and in talks with his wife and companion from the time of his revolutionary youth – politician Lucía Topolansky.
Last year, however, he made an exception: he became active in the presidential campaign, supporting the typical of the Wide Front, Yamadú Orsi. Left-wing candidate won the election and in March took office as president. It was he who made public the death of his political mentor.
Legendary “Pepe” Mujica died a week before his 90th birthday. He suffered from esophageal cancer – he already learned the diagnosis at an advanced phase of the disease, last spring. There was a relapse with metastasis in January. He gave the last interview in which he said: “I have already reached the end of my way – I am dying. And the warrior has the right to rest.”
