José Mujica - RIP

Uruguay’s former president José Mujica, once a Marxist guerrilla, flower farmer and boinero-extraordinaire, whose radical brand of democracy, plain-spoken philosophy and simple lifestyle fascinated people around the world, has died yesterday, 14 May 2025. He was 89.

Mujica, widely known as “Pepe”, spent all of Uruguay’s 1973-1985 dictatorship in prison, where he was tortured and spent years in solitary confinement.

During his 2010-2015 presidency, Mujica oversaw the transformation of his small South American nation into one of the world’s most socially liberal democracies. He earned admiration at home and cult status abroad for legalizing marijuana and same-sex marriage, enacting the region’s first sweeping abortion rights law and establishing Uruguay as a leader in alternative energy.

He sparked global fascination by shunning the presidential palace to live in a tiny farmhouse and donating most of his salary to charity.

In his final interview, Mujica repeatedly answered interview questions with philosophical aphorisms.

“Life is a beautiful adventure and a miracle,” he said. “We are too focused on wealth and not on happiness. We are focused only on doing things and – before you know it – life has passed you by.”

Mujica had no children and is survived by his wife, Lucía Topolansky, another former militant.