Montevideo (Uruguay), 1935

By Emir Sader

Senator, former president of Uruguay (2010–2015), and former guerrilla fighter.

José Alberto Mujica Cordano, known as Pepe Mujica, was born in Montevideo on May 20, 1935. A descendant of Basques and Italians and the son of small farmers, he initially became involved in politics through the National Party due to family ties, eventually becoming the party’s youth secretary. In 1962, he left the party and founded a group called National Union, which worked alongside the Socialist Party. He later joined the National Liberation Movement – Tupamaros – which engaged in military actions.

He was imprisoned four times and escaped twice from Punta Carretas Prison. In total, he spent nearly fifteen years behind bars, eleven of them in solitary confinement as a hostage of the dictatorship. He was released in 1985 following an amnesty. He then founded the Movement of Popular Participation (MPP) within the Broad Front coalition. He was elected as a deputy in 1994 and as a senator in 1999. By 2004, his group had become the dominant force within the Broad Front.

In 2005, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture in Tabaré Vázquez’s government. He won the Broad Front primaries to become Vázquez’s successor, despite Vázquez’s support for then-Economy Minister Danilo Astori. Mujica was elected president in the second round of voting in October 2009 and took office in March 2010. His oath was administered by his wife, Lucía Topolansky. The couple refused to live in the presidential palace, choosing instead to remain on their small farm on the outskirts of the capital, where they cultivate flowers.

Mujica set a priority goal of reducing poverty and extreme poverty in Uruguay by 50%. One of the most notable achievements of his presidency was the legalization of marijuana sales in the country. Due to his austere lifestyle and humanist views, he became internationally renowned as a political leader. He was succeeded in the presidency by his Broad Front colleague Tabaré Vázquez and returned to his seat in the Senate.