13-05-2025
Former Uruguayan president Jose Mujica dies at 89
Former Uruguayan president Jose Mujica has died at the age of 89.
He was a one-time Marxist guerrilla and flower farmer whose radical brand of democracy, plain-spoken philosophy and simple lifestyle fascinated people around the world.
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His death was announced by Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, who called Mr Mujica a 'president, activist, guide and leader'.
Mr Mujica had been under treatment for cancer of the oesophagus since spring 2024, when the affliction was diagnosed.
Even as the treatment left him weak and hardly able to eat, Mr Mujica reappeared on the political stage in the autumn, campaigning for his left-wing coalition in national elections that vaulted his preferred candidate and protege Mr Orsi to the presidency.
In September, Mr Mujica's doctor reported that radiation had eliminated much of the tumour, but in January the doctor announced that the cancer in his oesophagus had returned and spread to his liver.
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His autoimmune disease and other underlying medical problems led Mr Mujica to decide not to pursue further treatment.
'Honestly, I'm dying,' he told weekly magazine Busqueda in what he said would be his final interview. 'A warrior has the right to rest.'
During his 2010-15 presidency, Mr Mujica, widely known as Pepe, 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 legalising marijuana and same-sex marriage, enacting the region's first sweeping abortion rights law and establishing Uruguay as a leader in alternative energy.
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