Jose Mujica was Uruguay's former rebel leader, icon of cannabis reformation and former leader. He died at the age of 89.

Jose Mujica has died at the age of 89. He was a former guerrilla who became president of Uruguay. His unpretentious manner and progressive reforms won him countless articles in international media.

Mujica's straight-talking style, which is known by many Uruguayans as "Pepe", was the driving force behind the leftist government of this small South American nation from 2010 to 2015. He did so after convincing voters that his radical past had been closed.

In a message on X, President Yamandu Orsi wrote: "It's with great sadness that we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mjica." "Thank you for all you did for us, and for the deep love you have for your people."

Mujica, as president of Colombia, took a liberal position on civil liberties issues that was considered groundbreaking at the time. Mujica signed laws allowing homosexual marriages and abortions during early pregnancy. He also supported a proposal for legalizing marijuana sales. Both were major shifts for Latin America's Catholic Church, while the second was almost unheard of at the time.

Mujica chose to remain in his modest house in a suburb near Montevideo, where he ran a small farm, during his tenure as president.

He was often seen driving around in an old VW Beetle and eating at restaurants downtown where office workers ate lunch. He also avoided wearing a suit and tie.

In an interview in May 2024, in the same house with a tin roof that he and his wife, the former senator Lucia Topolansky shared, he stated that he still had the old Beetle in "phenomenal condition".

He added that he liked a tractor ride because it was "more enjoyable" than driving a car, and you have "time to think."

Mujica was criticized for his tendency to ignore protocol. His blunt, and sometimes uncouth, statements forced him, both under the pressure of political opponents and allies, to explain himself.

His down-to earth style and progressive thoughts won him the hearts of many Uruguayans.

Mujica stated during the interview in 2024 that "the problem is that people are running the world by old folks who have forgotten what it was like to be young."

Mujica was 74 years old when he became President. He received 52% of votes, despite concerns from some voters about his age.

Lucia Topolansky has been Mujica's partner since their Tupamaros days. She served as her vice president and they married in 2005.

They remained active in politics after leaving office. They attended the inaugurations in Latin America and gave crucial support to candidates in Uruguay including Orsi who assumed office in March 2025. The couple stopped growing flowers in their smallholding, but continued to grow vegetables. Topolansky would pickle tomatoes each season.

BARREN BACKS

Jose Mujica was born in 1935 on his birth certificate, but he claims that there was a mistake and he was born one year earlier. He described his childhood as "dignified poverty."

Mujica lost his father when he was between 9 and 10 years old. As a child, he worked with his mother to maintain their farm where they raised chickens and cows.

When Mujica first became interested in politics in Uruguay, the left was weak and fragmented. He began his career as a politician in the progressive wing of center-right National Party.

He joined the Marxist Tupamaros Guerrilla Movement in the late 1960s. The group was a Marxist guerrilla that sought to weaken Uruguay’s conservative government by committing robberies and political kidnappings.

Mujica said later that he had never killed anyone, but was involved in violent clashes between police and soldiers. He was also shot six times.

The Uruguayan security forces had the upper hand on the Tupamaros when the military took power in 1973. This marked the beginning of a 12 year dictatorship during which 200 people were killed and kidnapped. Many more were imprisoned and tortured.

Mujica spent nearly 15 years in prison, most of them in solitary confinement. He slept at the bottom a horse trough, with nothing but ants to keep him company. He was able to escape twice. Once by tunneling through a house. He later admitted that his biggest "vice" was talking to himself as he neared 90. This was a reference to the time he spent in isolation.

Mujica returned to politics after the restoration of democracy in the 3 million-person farming country, and gradually became a prominent leftist figure.

He was the agriculture minister of Tabare Vazquez's center-left coalition, which would succeed him as president from 2015 to 2020.

Mujica had a strong support base on the left, but he also maintained a fluid dialog with his opponents in the center-right by inviting them to barbecues.

We can't pretend that we agree on everything. "We have to accept what is and not what we want," he said.

He believes that drugs should be decriminalized under "strict state control" and that addiction needs to be addressed.

"I don't defend drug use. "I cannot defend (a prohibition) because we now have two problems, drug addiction which is a serious disease and narcotrafficking which is even worse," he said.

He remained optimistic in retirement.

After a cancer diagnosis, he told the youth: "Life is beautiful but it wears you out and you fall."

The point is to begin again every time you fall. If there is anger in your heart, turn it into hope.

(source: Reuters)