José Mujica, a former guerrilla fighter who became a symbol of national reconciliation after he disarmed and was elected president of Uruguay, and whose frugal living earned him the nickname “the world’s poorest president,” has died. He was 89.
His death was announced Tuesday by Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi. “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our friend, Pepe Mujica. President, activist, leader and guide. We’re going to miss you very much, dear old man. Thank you for everything you gave us and for your profound love for your people,” Orsi wrote on social media.
Mujica had said in January that his esophageal cancer had spread to his liver and that he would forgo further medical treatment.
Mujica, Uruguay’s president from 2010 to 2015, was among of a batch of left-leaning politicians — often called the “pink tide” — who came to power in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and elsewhere in Latin America in the early part of this century.
He oversaw an economic boom, a surge in foreign investment and a reduction in poverty in the small South American nation of more than 3 million people, while avoiding corruption scandals. His progressive policies included legalizing abortion, marijuana and same-sex marriage, as well as the resettlement of war refugees from Afghanistan.
“It was a very successful presidency,” said Pablo Brum, who interviewed Mujica for his book The Robin Hood Guerrillas. “In those years, he became a superstar. The Economist named Uruguay the first-ever ‘country of the year.’ There was a Uruguay mania. He put Uruguay on the map for a lot of people.”
Mujica, widely known by his nickname, “Pepe,” was 8 when his father died, leaving him to be raised by his flower-seller mother. Outraged by Uruguay’s gap between rich and poor and fascinated by the 1959 Cuban Revolution, he sought political change through guerrilla warfare.
Credit: NPR