Former Uruguayan President José Mujica, known as “Pepe,” who is known as the world’s “poorest president” because of his modest lifestyle, has died at the age of 89.
Pepe governed Uruguay from 2010 to 2015.
Current President Yamandú Orsi announced his predecessor’s death on X (formerly Twitter). “Thank you for everything you gave us and for your deep love for your people,” he said.
Pepe’s cause of death was not yet known, but he had esophageal cancer.
Due to the simple way he lived as president, his criticism of consumerism and the social reforms he promoted – which, among other things, meant Uruguay became the first country to legalise the recreational use of marijuana, Pepe became a well-known political figure in Latin America and beyond.
During this time as president, Pepe was captured four times. On one of those occasions, in 1970, he was shot six times and nearly died.
He escaped from prison twice, on one occasion through a tunnel with 105 other MLN-T prisoners, in one of the largest escapes in Uruguayan prison history.
He used to say that during his time in prison, he experienced madness first-hand, suffering from delusions and even talking to ants.
The day he was freed was his happiest memory; he said, “Becoming president was insignificant compared to that.”
While in office, Pepe rejected moving into the presidential residence, as heads of state worldwide usually do.
Instead, he remained with his wife, politician and former guerrilla Lucía Topolansky, in their modest home on the outskirts of Montevideo, with no domestic help and little security.
This, combined with the fact that he always dressed casually, led some media outlets to call him “the world’s poorest president.”
He was often seen driving his light blue 1987 Volkswagen Beetle and giving away a large portion of his salary.
But Pepe always rejected that title, “They say I’m the poorest president. No, I’m not,” he said in a 2012 interview at his home.
He added, “Poor are those who want more because they’re in an endless race.”
Despite Pepe’s preaching of austerity, his government significantly increased public spending, widening the fiscal deficit and leading his opponents to accuse him of waste.
Last year, he announced he had cancer and references to his age and the inexorable proximity of death became more frequent.
Still, he always accepted the final outcome as natural without drama.
In the last interview he gave the BBC in November last year, he said, “One knows that death is inevitable. And perhaps it’s like the salt of life.”