Jose Muzhik Uruguay, “Poor President in the World,” dies

Former President of Uruguayan Jose Mujik, known as “Pepe”, died at the age of 89.

The ex-heroic, who ruled Uruguay from 2010 to 2015, was known as the “poorest president in the world” because of his humble lifestyle.

The current President of Yamando Orsi announced the death of a predecessor in X, writing: “Thank you for all that you gave us, and for their deep love for your people.”

The cause of the politician’s death is unknown, but he suffered from Esophage’s cancer.

Because of the simple way he lived by the president, his criticism for consumption and social reforms he promoted – which, among other things, meant that Uruguay became the first country to legalize the recreational use of marijuana – the man became a well -known political figure in Latin America and abroad.

Its global popularity is unusual for the Uruguay president, a country that has only 3.4 million inhabitants, where his legacy also caused some disputes.

In fact, despite the fact that many sought to view the bowl as someone’s political class, it was not.

He said his passion for politics, as well as to the books and work of the land, handed him a mother who raised him in a middle -class house in the Montevideo capital.

In his youth, the man was a member of the National Party, one of the traditional political forces of Uruguay, which later became the right opposition of his government.

In the 1960s, he helped to create a national liberation from the release of Tupomaros (MLN-T), the left guerrilla group that carried out attacks, abductions and shootings, although he always claimed that he had not committed any murder.

Under the influence of the Cuban Revolution and International Socialism, MLN-T launched a campaign of underground resistance against the Uruguayan government, which at the time was constitutional and democratic, although the left accused him of increasingly authoritarian.

During this period, the man was captured four times. In one such case, in 1970, he was shot six times and almost died.

He fled twice from prison, once through a 105 MLN-T tunnel, in one of the largest escape in the Uruguayan prison.

When the Uruguayan military had a coup in 1973, they included it in a group of “nine hostages” they threatened to kill when the guerrillas continued their attacks.

For more than 14 years he spent in prison in the 1970s and the 1980s, he was tortured and spent most of the time in tough conditions and isolation until he was released in 1985, when Uruguay returned to democracy.

He used to say that during his stay in prison, he survived the madness at first hands, suffering from delusions and even talking to ants.

On the day he was released, he was the happiest memory, he says, “Becoming president was insignificant compared to it.”

A few years after his release, he served as a legislator, both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, in the lower and upper houses of the country, respectively.

In 2005, he became Minister in the first government of Frante Apla, the Uruguay Left Coalition before becoming Uruguay’s president in 2010.

At the time, he was 74 years old, and, in the rest of the world, is still unknown.

His election meant an important point for the Latin American left, which was already strong on the continent at the time. The bowl became a leader together with other left presidents such as Luis Inazio Lula to Silva in Brazil and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

However, political commentators say that the man ruled in his own way, demonstrating pragmatism and arrogance.

During its administration, against the background of a rather favorable international context, the Uruguayan economy increased at an average annual rate of 5.4%, poverty decreased, and unemployment remained low.

Uruguay also paid global attention to the social laws passed by parliament in those years, such as legalization of abortion, recognition of same -sex marriage and state regulation of marijuana market.

Being in the post, the bowl rejected the move to the Presidential residence (mansion), as the heads of state are usually done around the world.

Instead, he remained with his wife – politicians and former guerrilla Lussia Topalansky – in their modest house on the outskirts of Montevide, without internal assistance and little security.

This is combined with the fact that he always dressed carelessly, that he was often seen as he led his light -blue 1987 Volkswagen Beetle and gave most of his salary, made some the media call him “the poorest president in the world.”

But the bowl always refused this name: “They say I’m the poorest president. No, I am,” he told me in an interview with 2012 at his home. “The poor are the ones who want more (…) because they are in an endless race.”

Despite the fact that the man preaches the rigid savings, his government has significantly increased the state expenses, expanding the budget deficit and forcing his opponents to accuse him of waste.

The bowl was also criticized that he did not change the problems of Ugian education, despite the fact that he promised that education would be a priority for his administration.

However, unlike other leaders in the region, he was never accused of corruption and in undermining his country’s democracy.

At the end of his administration, the baby man had a high rating of domestic popularity (about 70%) and was elected senator, but also spent some of his time, traveling the world after he went to the presidency.

“So, what attracts the attention of the world? What I live with a very small, simple house, I traveled in an old car? Then this world is crazy because it is surprised (what is normal,” he reasoned before leaving.

The bowlers left politics in 2020, although he remained a central figure in Uruguay.

His political heir, Imamad Orsi, was elected President Uruguay In November 2024, his group in the framework of Frante Ampla received the largest number of parliamentary places since the country’s return to democracy.

Last year, the man announced that he had cancer and references to his age, and the relentless closeness of death became more frequent – but he always took the final result as something natural, without drama.

In the last interview, he gave the BBC last November, he said, “You can know that death is inevitable. And maybe it’s like salt of life.”