Latest news with #Mujica
Irish Independent
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Obituary: Jose Mujica, Uruguayan Marxist guerrilla who later became ‘the world's poorest president'
Telegraph obituaries Jose Mujica, who has died aged 89, was a Marxist terrorist who reinvented himself to become a popular liberalising president of Uruguay in his 1970s. Ostentatiously rejecting the rewards of office, he earned the soubriquet 'the world's poorest president'. As a Marxist guerrilla, Mujica survived a gun battle with police during which he was shot six times and later spent two years incarcerated in a hole in the ground, keeping his sanity intact by befriending and conversing with a frog. In his later years his life became more mellow and — as he joined the centre-left Broad Front party — so did his politics.
Time of India
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Guyanese soldiers face attacks in disputed Essequibo region, tension with Venezuela soar
Guyanese troops came under attack three times within 24 hours this week while patrolling the contested Essequibo region, the country's Defence Force reported. The attacks mark a sharp escalation in tensions with Venezuela just days before a controversial election Caracas plans to hold in the disputed oil-rich territory. Within 24 hours, they faced three separate attacks by unidentified armed men in civilian clothing, according to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). Though no injuries were reported, the incidents mark a dangerous flare-up in a long-standing dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over this oil-rich stretch of land. The Essequibo region, home to about 125,000 people, accounts for nearly two-thirds of Guyana's territory and lies at the heart of what is becoming a regional flashpoint. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Cyberjaya: Unsold Furniture Liquidation 2024 (Prices May Surprise You) Unsold Furniture | Search Ads Learn More Undo Also read: Latin America mourns world's 'poorest president' Mujica, dead at 89 Essequibo attacks heighten regional instability Live Events The GDF confirmed that the attacks occurred along the Cuyuní River, a key frontier in the contested territory. Though the soldiers executed what the GDF called 'measured responses,' the pattern of aggression is setting off alarm bells in Georgetown and beyond. 'The Guyana Defence Force remains resolute in its mission to protect Guyana's territorial integrity,' the military said in a statement, reaffirming its commitment to 'take all necessary measures' to defend its borders. The timing of the attacks coincides with a controversial Venezuelan plan to include the Essequibo region in gubernatorial elections scheduled for May 25. This move comes in defiance of a United Nations court order instructing Caracas not to proceed with any such vote in the disputed territory. Oil reserves and old claims fuel modern conflict The century-old boundary quarrel reignited in 2015 when ExxonMobil uncovered massive oil deposits off the Essequibo coast. Since then, Guyana has emerged as a major player in the global energy sector, now holding the world's highest crude oil reserves per capita. For Venezuela, whose economy is mired in crisis, the prospect of annexing Essequibo offers both nationalistic appeal and potential economic lifeline. Also read: China commits $10 billion in fresh credit to Latin America Venezuela bases its claim on a boundary it asserts was historically recognized as far back as 1777, arguing that the Essequibo River is the rightful border. Guyana, meanwhile, stands by the ruling of a 1899 arbitration panel, which awarded the region to then British Guiana. The dispute reached new heights in 2023 when Guyana auctioned oil blocks in the area, prompting Venezuela to conduct a referendum and threaten to make Essequibo its 24th state. Despite international condemnation, Venezuela has moved forward with plans that Guyanese officials call illegal and dangerous. Growing concern despite diplomatic promises Although a December 2023 meeting between the presidents of both countries in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ended with a commitment to avoid military conflict, the fragile peace is now being tested. In February, six Guyanese soldiers were wounded in an ambush, further deepening concerns. The Guyanese government has repeatedly turned to international bodies, including the UN and the International Court of Justice, to resolve the conflict diplomatically. But with border patrols now facing live threats and regional elections looming, tensions on the ground may outpace political resolutions. Also read: In South America, Trump already losing a trade battle with China For the people of Essequibo, the rising instability is a chilling reminder of how quickly international disputes can ripple into their daily lives. Once a remote frontier known for its biodiversity, the region is now drawing global attention not for its natural beauty, but for the oil beneath its soil and the geopolitics above it.
Economic Times
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
Latin America mourns world's 'poorest president' Mujica, dead at 89
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Tributes poured in from across Latin America on Tuesday following the death of Uruguay 's former president Jose "Pepe" Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive iconic 89-year-old -- who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity -- lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment."With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica . President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend," Uruguay's current president, Yamandu Orsi, posted on X."Pepe, eternal!" a cyclist shouted out minutes later, while passing government earned the moniker " world's poorest president " during his 2010-2015 presidency for giving away much of his salary to charity and living a simple life on his farm, with his fellow ex-guerrilla wife and three-legged government announced three days of national mourning and said his body would be taken to the legislative palace on Wednesday to lie in from Mujica's Movement of Popular Participation (MPP) gathered outside the party's headquarters to make giant banners marked "Hasta siempre, viejo querido" (Until forever, old friend).Leftist leaders from across Latin America and Europe paid tribute to the man described by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as an "example for Latin America and the entire world."Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva echoed that message."His human greatness transcended the borders of Uruguay and his presidential mandate. The wisdom of his words formed a true song of unity and fraternity for Latin America," Lula said in a the Madison, an unassuming corner cafe in central Montevideo, waiter Walter Larus recalled Mujica popping in for a steak shortly after winning office."He felt and lived like ordinary people, not like today's politicians who seem rich," the 53-year-old waiter a 2012 AFP interview, Mujica denied being poor, saying his was, rather, a life of "austerity.""I need little to live," he transformed Uruguay, a prosperous country of 3.4 million people best known for football and ranching, into one of Latin America's most progressive later life, he was disappointed at the authoritarian drift of some left-wing governments, accusing repressive leaders in Venezuela and Nicaragua of "messing things up."He was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in May last year, and it spread to his wife Lucia Topolansky said this week he was receiving palliative the course of five years in power, Mujica legalized abortion and gay marriage and made Uruguay the first country to legalize the use of recreational continued to campaign for the left after his cancer diagnosis, working fervently on the successful election campaign of history teacher Orsi, his political Bolivian president Evo Morales hailed his "experience and wisdom," while Brazil's government bid farewell to "one of the most important humanists of our time."Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Mujica had lived for "a better world," while Guatemala's Bernardo Arevalo held him up as "an example of humility and greatness."The blunt-spoken, snowy-haired farmer was a fierce critic of attended official events in sandals and continued living on his small holding on the outskirts of Montevideo, where his prized possession was a 1987 Volkswagen the 1960s, he co-founded the Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla movement Tupamaros, which started out robbing from the rich to give to the poor but later escalated its campaign to kidnappings, bombings and those years, Mujica lived a life of derring-do. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and took part in a mass prison when the Tupamaros collapsed in 1972, he was recaptured and spent all of Uruguay's 1973-1985 dictatorship in prison, where he was tortured and spent years in solitary his release, he threw himself into politics and in 1989 founded the MPP, the largest member of the leftist Broad Front to congress in 1995, he became a senator in 2000 and then agriculture minister in Uruguay's first-ever left-wing president, he was praised for his fight against poverty but criticized for failing to rein in public is survived by his wife Topolansky. They had no asked to be buried on his farm, next to his dog.
16-05-2025
- Politics
Latin America's leftist leaders remember Uruguay's 'Pepe' Mujica as generous, charismatic leader
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- In the soaring palace of Uruguay's parliament, leftist presidents from the region came to remember former President José Mujica on Thursday as a generous and charismatic leader whose legacy of humility remained an example for the world's politicians. 'A person like Pepe Mujica doesn't die,' Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said as he paid his respects to his longtime friend, widely known as Pepe, at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo where his body lay in state, eulogizing the onetime Marxist guerrilla who spent over a decade in prison in the 1970s as a 'superior human being.' 'His body is gone. But the ideas he put forward over the years demonstrate the generosity of a man who spent 14 years in prison and managed to emerge without hatred toward the people who imprisoned and tortured him,' Lula said. Approaching the coffin, tears streamed down his face. Lula pulled Mujica's lifelong partner and fellow politician, 80-year-old Lucía Topolansky, into a hug and planted a kiss on her forehead. Mujica, a member of Uruguay's leftist Broad Front coalition elected in 2009, and Lula, the standard-bearer of Brazil's Workers' Party who started his second term in 2007, belonged to a generation of leftist leaders elected to office across Latin America in the early years of this century. The movement's power faded more recently as some leftist populist governments became embroiled in corruption scandals. But Mujica stood out for keeping his reputation for honesty and humility intact. 'It's the end of an era. I think Mujica represented one of the last figures of that 'pink tide' that rose in the region in the 2000s,' said Juan Cruz Díaz, a political analyst who runs the Cefeidas Group, a consultancy in Buenos Aires. 'The global impact and iconic figure of President Mujica is probably irreplaceable.' Lula often met Mujica in his three-room farmhouse on the outskirts of Montevideo, where, after retiring from the Senate, the former president tended to his chrysanthemums and dispensed wisdom to a range of visitors — from rock band Aerosmith to philosopher Noam Chomsky. It's also where Mujica died at age 89 on Tuesday, after more than a year spent battling esophageal cancer. Chile's president, Gabriel Boric. On learning of Mujica's death on Tuesday, both Boric and Lula jetted to Uruguay from Beijing, where they had been meeting Chinese officials. They were received by Uruguay's moderate left-wing president, Yamandú Orsi, who was Mujica's preferred candidate in last fall's presidential elections. 'Life goes on, causes remain,' Boric wrote on social media. 'Thank you, dear Pepe, we will carry you with us in every fight.' ___
The Hill
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Latin America's leftist leaders remember Uruguay's ‘Pepe' Mujica as generous, charismatic leader
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — In the soaring palace of Uruguay's parliament, leftist presidents from the region came to remember former President Jose Mujica on Thursday as a generous and charismatic leader whose legacy of humility remained an example for the world's politicians. 'A person like Pepe Mujica doesn't die,' Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said as he paid his respects to his longtime friend, widely known as Pepe, at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo where his body lay in state, eulogizing the onetime Marxist guerrilla who spent over a decade in prison in the 1970s as a 'superior human being.' 'His body is gone. But the ideas he put forward over the years demonstrate the generosity of a man who spent 14 years in prison and managed to emerge without hatred toward the people who imprisoned and tortured him,' Lula said. Approaching the coffin, tears streamed down his face. Lula pulled Mujica's lifelong and fellow politician, 80-year-old Lucía Topolansky, into a hug and planted a kiss on her forehead. Mujica, a member of Uruguay's leftist Broad Front coalition elected in 2009, and Lula, the standard-bearer of Brazil's Workers' Party who started his second term in 2007, belonged to a generation of leftist leaders elected to office across Latin America in the early years of this century. The movement's power faded in recent years as some governments became embroiled in corruption scandals. But Mujica stood out for keeping his reputation for honesty and humility intact. Lula frequently met Mujica in his three-room farmhouse on the outskirts of Montevideo, where, after retiring from the Senate, the former president tended to his chrysanthemums and dispensed wisdom to a range of visitors — from rock band Aerosmith to philosopher Noam Chomsky. It's also where Mujica died at age 89 on Tuesday, after more than a year spent battling esophageal cancer. Another leftist leader paying tribute to Mujica in Montevideo on Thursday was Chile's president, Gabriel Boric. On learning of Mujica's death on Tuesday, both Boric and Lula jetted to Uruguay from Beijing, where they had been meeting Chinese officials. They were received by Uruguay's moderate left-wing president, Yamandú Orsi, who was Mujica's preferred candidate in last fall's presidential elections. 'Life goes on, causes remain,' Boric wrote on social media. 'Thank you, dear Pepe, we will carry you with us in every fight.'
