He was a beacon of hope and a source of inspiration. A guerrilla fighter who was elected president. A flower grower hailed as Man of the Year by the Economist in 2013. He was modest, unassuming, and authentic — the antithesis of the typical politician. He was many things, but above all, he was one of a kind and, for many, irreplaceable. “Politics is the art of helping people to live their lives in dignity,” he once said.
Stefan Thimmel worked as a freelance journalist and development policy expert in Berlin and Montevideo from the mid-1990s to 2011, during which time he got to know José “Pepe” Mujica. He has worked for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation since 2011.
José “Pepe” Mujica passed away on 14 May 2025, just days shy of his ninetieth birthday, at his farm on the outskirts of Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo. Over a year earlier he had announced that he was battling oesophageal cancer, after which he retreated from public life. By the beginning of this year he could no longer fight the cancer, which had spread throughout his body.
In his final interview with the magazine Búsqueda, Mujica bid farewell to the Uruguayan people. “I want to say goodbye to my compatriots. It’s easy to respect those who think like you, but you must learn that the foundation of democracy is respect for those who think differently. My priority is my people, and I bid them farewell. I embrace them all.” Accompanied by Lucía Topolansky — his long-time comrade, partner, and wife, herself a leading figure with Tupamaros and a senator for Frente Amplio — he expressed one final wish: “I ask only that I be left in peace. No more interviews or anything else. My cycle is over. Honestly, I’m dying. A warrior deserves his rest.”
Socialism for the Twenty-First Century
Mujica typified the wave of left-wing leadership that swept Latin America, standing alongside charismatic figures like Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo, Argentina’s Néstor Kirchner, and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez. At the start of their tenures, following bitter decades of military dictatorship, this new generation of leaders represented genuine closeness to the people, democratic reforms, an expanded role for the state, and greater rights for women, the poor, minorities, and Indigenous communities. They became key players in what came to be known as “21st-century socialism”.
Mujica’s political career began in the late 1950s with Uruguay’s National Party, the Blancos. However, he soon shifted to the left and in 1962, together with the legendary Raúl Sendic, co-founded the MLN-Tupamaros or Movimiento de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Movement). In 1964, following an armed robbery by the Tupamaros, he was arrested for the first time. After his release, he went underground, was critically injured, and survived by sheer luck. He escaped twice from Montevideo’s most secure prison.
Following the 1973 military coup, he was among the nine so-called hostages of the state — alongside Mauricio Rosencof, Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro, and Raúl Sendic — and endured years of inhumane conditions in solitary confinement. For several years, he was effectively buried in an underground pit. “During that time, I learned that ants can sing”, he later said. He was systematically tortured, and shuttled between prisons to conceal his or his comrades’ whereabouts.
In 1984 he was released from prison and a year later re-established the MLN together with other former prisoners. The Tupamaros later evolved into the left-wing Movimiento de Participación Popular (MPP). In 1995, Mujica entered parliament as an MP for the MPP, which had joined the broad centre-left coalition Frente Amplio, founded in 1971.
At the inaugural session of parliament, Mujica arrived on a battered old motorbike. Unshaven and wearing worn-out jeans, he was turned away at the main entrance by a guard and directed to the staff entrance. The soldier asked, “Are you planning to stay long?” “Five years, if you’ll let me,” Mujica quipped. In the end it would be 25 years, with Mujica serving as MP, senator, minister, and ultimately president of Uruguay.
The President
Mujica was elected head of state of the 3.4 million-strong nation in a run-off election on 29 November 2009, securing 53 percent of the vote. When the then 74-year-old took office for his five-year term on 1 March 2010, one of his first acts was to slash his own presidential salary by 85 percent. In light of his principled stance, the Guardian posed the question: “Is Mujica the world’s most radical president?” Considering his modest lifestyle on a small farm and his iconic sky-blue 1987 VW Beetle, the answer might well be yes.
Following the 2004 ousting of Uruguay’s two conservative traditional parties, the Blancos and Colorados, which had dominated Uruguayan politics since independence in 1828 (apart from during the military dictatorships of the 1930s and 1973–1985), the country embraced reform. The first left-wing president, Tabaré Vázquez, laid the groundwork during his initial term from 2005 to 2010, particularly in education and healthcare. Mujica and his MPP — still the strongest force within the Frente Amplio coalition of around 40 parties and alliances — went further, transforming the entire political landscape. Thanks to Mujica’s dedication, credibility, and vivid language, the Frente Amplio, which had hitherto relied mainly on support from the urban middle class, also began to seem attractive and approachable from the point of view of poorer communities and rural populations.
For the vast majority of Uruguayans, ‘El Pepe’s’ death is a painful loss.
But the economic and political reforms during his presidency also command respect. Anti-poverty programmes proved effective, reducing the proportion of Uruguayans living below the poverty line from 34 percent in 2006 to 11 percent in 2013. According to ECLAC, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Uruguay now has the lowest poverty rate in Latin America. During Mujica’s presidency, incomes doubled. Today, the minimum wage stands at nearly €500 a month, and the country ranks highest in Latin America for social inclusion.
Mujica’s other achievements include a robust healthcare and pension system, the near-elimination of illiteracy, and continued state control of electricity and water provision — after several referendums saw a majority of Uruguayans reject privatization attempts. In May 2014, the Marriage Equality Act granted same-sex couples equal rights, including adoption. In 2013, legislation legalizing abortion was enacted. That same year, Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalize the production and sale of cannabis for personal use — despite strong public opposition, with nearly two-thirds of the population initially against it. Mujica also initiated the shift to renewable energy: today, 98 percent of Uruguay’s electricity comes from hydroelectric power, wind, biomass, and solar energy.
“Thank You for Everything”
Despite widespread admiration for the ever-relatable president and senator José “Pepe” Mujica, he also faced criticism — particularly on environmental matters. During his term, several new pulp mills were approved, and eucalyptus monoculture plantations for export expanded significantly. A programme to promote the construction of social housing proved unsuccessful.
Human rights organizations were particularly critical of Mujica’s presidency. Ongoing abuses in prisons, his controversial and — for many victims of the dictatorship — overly conciliatory stance toward the military, and his continued adherence to the so-called “theory of the two demons” (which equates the military and the guerrilla resistance by framing them as opposing sides in a domestic conflict during the dictatorship) all contributed to straining the relationship between human rights activists and the government.
Nonetheless, for the vast majority of Uruguayans, “El Pepe’s” death is a painful loss. On the day he passed, left-wing president Yamandú Orsi — in office since March 2025 — declared three days of national mourning and paid tribute to his political mentor: “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, politician, and leader: we will miss you dearly, dear old man. We thank you for everything you gave us and for your profound love for your people.”
Translated by Diego Otero and Marc Hiatt for Gegensatz Translation Collective.