Jose Mujica, widely known under his nickname, “Pepe”, was loved for his modesty and his progressive social reforms.
At the height of his political career as president of UruguayMujica’s monthly salary was $ 12,500 (€ 7,200) – but it only made a tenth.
The rest he gave.
$ 1,250 was “more than sufficient,” said Mujica, who would usually behave in his pale VW Beetle, which he refused to sell even when she offered $ 1 million for this.
This farmer from the west of the capital, Montevideo, never planned that he would one day reach such popularity – and it was probably never his goal.
He told DW in 2015, just before the end of his presidency that he was a political animal.
“I have been in politics since the age of 14,” he said. “And if I don’t lose my minds, I will continue in politics until they first put me.”
Political underground for lonely isolation
Jose Mujica was born in Montevideo in 1935 in a agricultural family of Basque and Italian origin.
Their situation was modest: Mujica was five years old when his father died and he and his sister worked on the family flowers farm from an early age.
He went to school, however, and continued to study law, later by abandoning when he was more and more involved in the student movement.
Before a long time, Mujica and others founded the urban guerrilla warfare group known as Tupamaros. At the time, in the early 1960s, there was mass unemployment in Uruguay.
Mujica dreamed of “a society without social classes”. To this end, he and the Tupamaros stole banks, kidnapped politicians and planted bombs.
Mujica has always said that he had never killed anyone.
“We were naive, but we must not lose sight of his goal,” said Mujica in an interview with DW.
His goals landed in prison. He was found guilty of having murdered a police officer after a shooting with the police in 1971 and spent 14 years in prison, where he spent time in isolation and was tortured.
Mujica later described this phase of life as “a routine for those who decide to change the world”, adding that he had a lot of time to know himself during his stay in prison.
From solitary isolation to the presidency
From 1973 to 1985, Uruguay was under a military dictatorship.
When this ended, an amnesty law was adopted under which Mujica and other released political prisoners.
He and his future wife, Lucía Topolansky, a compatriot Tupamara released at the same time, moved to a small farm where they sold tomatoes and chrysanthemums and engaged in political activities.
The Tupamaros have evolved in the left political party Movimiento of Participación Populaire (Movement of Popular Participation, or MPP), and 10 years after his release of prison, Mujica was elected member of the Parliament.
A popular story reports that, during his first day, he went to Parliament by moped. The porter, confusing him with a letter, asked: “Are you staying for a long time?” And Mujica replied: “I hope yes.”
His hopes were filled. In 2005, for the first time in its history, Uruguay elected a socialist president: Tabare Vazquez, the chief of the left coalition Frente Amplio (Broad Front). He appointed Jose Mujica as his Minister of Agriculture.
Five years later, in 2010, Mujica was elected president with 52% of the vote.
Authenticity Card Trump
Even in the highest office in the state, Mujica remained faithful to himself. He often appeared during meetings of the cabinet carrying a cardigan, sandals and an old pair of pants. He never brought equal, not even on official occasions. He wore a three -piece suit as a guest to the White House in 2014, but it was a little too short.
Despite this – or perhaps because of this – his host Barack ObamaThe American president at the time, described it as “extraordinary credibility”.
The famous Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano said one day about his Mujica: “He is a simple man. People recognize himself in him, which is why he inspires such enthusiasm and hope.”
Uruguaya’s experience
As president, Mujica, an admitted atheist, overthrew the country. He legalized gay marriage and abortionA decision that was well ahead of the dominant times in Latin America.
In the logic of Mujica, this act was neither on the left nor liberal. “The world must accept certain things that are unalterable,” he said.
Its socio-economic policies were also a success. Under his direction, unemployment, poverty and infant mortality have all decreased.
His most controversial project was probably the Deregulation of cannabis for recreational purposes. Mujica thought it was something that could be tested in a small country like Uruguay.
But he could not implement all his plans. Its very tamed education reform fell to the edge of the path, as well as the main infrastructure projects. He also had to face the accusations of left -wing colleagues that he cozé large companies on questions about agriculture and natural resources.
A completely atypical politician
However, due to her modest style, Mujica – unlike so many other Latin American heads of state – was generally considered above the suspicion of corruption.
His accessibility and pragmatism were probably also the reason why he was apologized by many verbal shifts, as when he called the FIFA officials “a bunch of old sons of female dogs” after his national team was eliminated from the World Cup.
After the end of his presidency in 2015, Mujica was mediating in the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the Farc guerrillas of this country in Cuba the following year.
He continued to contribute to political debate until a short time beforeHis death in May 2025 of cancer, at the age of 89.
Mujica would also comment on current political questions on the Spanish DW service, where he had a special program entitled “Conciencia sur” (“Southern conscience”). He liked to receive journalists in the garden or the study of his small house with the coat of coat.
Jose “Pepe” Mujica was an atypical politician. By living as he did, he gave an example for a new political culture.
But he has always refused to consider himself poor. One of his most famous sayings was: “It is not the man who has little, but the man who aspires more, who is poor.”
This article was initially published in German.