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

José "Pepe" Mujica, one of the most emblematic and unique political figures in Latin America, died on Tuesday at the age of 89. His life, marked by the guerrilla struggle, years of imprisonment and a presidency that broke the mold, leaves an indelible mark in the history of Uruguay and in the social conscience of an entire continent.

Known worldwide as "the poorest president in the world", a title he himself rejected, Mujica was a leader who practiced austerity with conviction. He rejected the luxuries of power, lived on his modest farm on the outskirts of Montevideo with his wife, former guerrilla Lucía Topolansky, and drove his famous 1987 light blue Volkswagen "Beetle" until his last days.

From the guerrilla to the presidency

His youth was marked by his militancy in the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros, an urban guerrilla movement inspired by the Cuban revolution. For his participation he was captured on several occasions, suffered brutal torture and spent more than 14 years in prison, many of them in inhumane conditions.

Released in 1985 after the end of the military dictatorship, Mujica returned to politics, this time from democratic institutions. He was a deputy, senator and Minister of Livestock before becoming president in 2010, at the age of 74, as leader of the Frente Amplio.

A president who lived as he preached

During his term (2010-2015), Uruguay became a world reference for its progressive social reforms: legalization of abortion, equal marriage and, in a gesture that surprised the world, regulation of the marijuana market.

His direct style, his speeches loaded with reflections on happiness, consumerism and simple living, and his famous speech at the UN Rio+20 summit in 2012, where he denounced the consumer society, catapulted him as a global icon.

"Development cannot be against happiness," he said then. "It has to be in favor of human happiness, of love on Earth, of human relationships."

Between glory and criticism

Although his international popularity was immense, in Uruguay his legacy was the subject of debate. His administration was criticized for not having solved the structural problems of education and for having increased the fiscal deficit. He himself acknowledged as his greatest debt the failure to eliminate poverty: "Why didn't I change it? Because reality is stubborn", he confessed in an interview.

Until the end, he remained politically active. In November, his political dauphin, Yamandú Orsi, was elected president of Uruguay, a last triumph that Mujica celebrated as "a consolation prize, because he is reaching the end of the game".

A farewell without fear

In April of this year, Mujica announced that he was suffering from terminal cancer. True to his philosophy, he faced the disease with serenity: "Don't live trembling in the face of death. Accept it like the bugs in the bush," he said.

With his departure, Latin America loses an atypical leader, a man who demonstrated that it is possible to exercise power without wielding it, that political greatness can go hand in hand with humility and that, in his own words, "freedom is in having time to do what you like".

His legacy will remain not only in the pages of history, but also in the memory of those around the world who saw him as a beacon of consistency, honesty and humanity.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cd11qpqdz2ko