Jose Mujica, the former guerrilla fighter and president known for his humble lifestyle and progressive policies, including cannabis reform, has passed away at 89. His reputation extended far beyond Uruguay.

Mujica, affectionately called “Pepe” by many Uruguayans, led the country’s leftist government from 2010 to 2015. He convinced voters that his radical past was behind him.

President Yamandu Orsi expressed his sorrow in a statement, saying, “It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of our comrade Pepe Mujica. Thank you for everything you gave us and for your deep love for your people.”

During his presidency, Mujica championed progressive civil liberties. He legalized gay marriage and abortion in early pregnancy and supported the legalization of marijuana sales. These measures marked a significant shift for Catholic Latin America, with the marijuana initiative being particularly groundbreaking globally.

Leaders from across the region, including leftist presidents in Brazil and Chile, mourned Mujica’s death and praised his leadership.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated that Mujica “defended democracy like few others and never stopped advocating for social justice and the end of all inequalities.” He added that Mujica’s “greatness transcended the borders of Uruguay and his presidential term.”

Throughout his time in office, Mujica declined to live in the presidential residence, instead remaining in his modest home in a Montevideo suburb, where he maintained a small flower farm.

He often eschewed formal attire, preferring to drive his Volkswagen Beetle and eat at local restaurants alongside office workers.

In a May 2024 interview with Reuters, conducted at the tin-roofed house he shared with his wife, former Senator Lucia Topolansky, Mujica mentioned that his old Beetle was still in excellent condition.

However, he admitted that he preferred driving his tractor, finding it “more entertaining” and conducive to thought.

While some criticized Mujica for deviating from protocol and making blunt, sometimes crude remarks, his down-to-earth demeanor and progressive ideas endeared him to many Uruguayans.

In the 2024 interview, Mujica observed, “The problem is that the world is run by old people, who forget what they were like when they were young.”

Mujica was 74 when he was elected president with 52% of the vote, despite concerns about his age and his involvement with the Tupamaros rebel group in the 1960s and 1970s.

Lucia Topolansky, his longtime partner since their days in the Tupamaros, married Mujica in 2005 and served as vice president from 2017 to 2020.

After leaving office, they remained politically active, attending Latin American presidential inaugurations and supporting candidates in Uruguay, including Orsi, who assumed office in March 2025. Although they stopped growing flowers, they continued to cultivate vegetables, with Topolansky pickling tomatoes each season.

BEHIND BARS

Jose Mujica’s birth certificate stated he was born in 1935, although he claimed it was an error and that he was born a year earlier. He described his upbringing as one of “dignified poverty.”

His father passed away when he was around 9 or 10 years old, and he helped his mother manage the farm, where they grew flowers, raised chickens, and kept a few cows.

Mujica’s interest in politics grew during a period when the Uruguayan left was weak and fragmented. He began his political career in a progressive faction of the center-right National Party.

In the late 1960s, he joined the Marxist Tupamaros guerrilla movement, which aimed to weaken the conservative government through acts of robbery, kidnapping, and bombings.

Mujica later stated that he had never killed anyone but had been involved in several violent encounters with police and soldiers, during which he was shot six times.

By the time the military seized power in the 1973 coup, initiating a 12-year dictatorship marked by the kidnapping and killing of approximately 200 people and the imprisonment and torture of thousands more, Uruguay’s security forces had gained the upper hand over the Tupamaros.

Mujica spent nearly 15 years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement, lying at the bottom of an old horse trough with only ants for company. He escaped twice, once through a tunnel leading to a nearby house. He later joked that his biggest “vice” as he neared 90 was talking to himself, a habit stemming from his time in isolation.

When democracy was restored to Uruguay in 1985, Mujica was released and returned to politics, eventually becoming a prominent figure on the left.

He served as agriculture minister in the center-left coalition led by his predecessor, President Tabaré Vázquez, who would later succeed him from 2015 to 2020.

While his support base was on the left, Mujica maintained open communication with opponents within the center-right, often inviting them to barbecues at his home.

“We can’t pretend to agree on everything. We have to agree with what there is, not with what we like,” he said.

He advocated for the decriminalization of drugs “under strict state control” and for addressing addiction as a health issue.

“I do not defend drug use. But I can’t defend (a ban) because now we have two problems: drug addiction, which is a disease, and narcotrafficking, which is worse,” he said.

In retirement, he remained optimistic.

“I want to convey to all the young people that life is beautiful, but it wears out and you fall,” he said following a cancer diagnosis.

“The point is to start over every time you fall, and if there is anger, transform it into hope.”

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