Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
In the week that Uruguay legalises cannabis, the 78-year-old explains why he rejects the 'world's poorest president' label
How does your leader compare to José Mujica? Have your say
How does your leader compare to José Mujica? Have your say
If anyone could claim to be leading by example in an age of austerity, it is José Mujica, Uruguay's
president, who has forsworn a state palace in favour of a farmhouse,
donates the vast bulk of his salary to social projects, flies economy
class and drives an old Volkswagen Beetle.
But the former
guerrilla fighter is clearly disgruntled by those who tag him "the
world's poorest president" and – much as he would like others to adopt a
more sober lifestyle – the 78-year-old has been in politics long enough
to recognise the folly of claiming to be a model for anyone.
"If I
asked people to live as I live, they would kill me," Mujica said during
an interview in his small but cosy one-bedroom home set amid
chrysanthemum fields outside Montevideo.
Since
becoming leader of Uruguay in 2010, however, he has won plaudits
worldwide for living within his means, decrying excessive consumption
and pushing ahead with policies on same-sex marriage, abortion and cannabis legalisation that have reaffirmed Uruguay as the most socially liberal country in Latin America.
Praise
has rolled in from all sides of the political spectrum. Mujica may be
the only leftwing leader on the planet to win the favour of the Daily
Mail, which lauded him as a trustworthy and charismatic figurehead in an
article headlined: "Finally, A politician who DOESN'T fiddle his expenses."
But
the man who is best known as Pepe says those who consider him poor fail
to understand the meaning of wealth. "I'm not the poorest president.
The poorest is the one who needs a lot to live," he said. "My lifestyle
is a consequence of my wounds. I'm the son of my history. There have
been years when I would have been happy just to have a mattress."
He shares the home with his wife, Lucía Topolansky, a leading member of Congress who has also served as acting president.
As
I near the home of Uruguay's first couple, the only security detail is
two guards parked on the approach road, and Mujica's three-legged dog,
Manuela.
Mujica cuts an impressively unpolished figure. Wearing
lived-in clothes and well-used footwear, the bushy-browed farmer who
strolls out from the porch resembles an elderly Bilbo Baggins emerging
from his Hobbit hole to scold an intrusive neighbour.
In
conversation, he exudes a mix of warmth and cantankerousness, idealism
about humanity's potential and a weariness with the modern world – at
least outside the eminently sensible shire in which he lives.
He
is proud of his homeland – one of the safest and least corrupt in the
region – and describes Uruguay as "an island of refugees in a world of
crazy people".
The country is proud of its social traditions. The
government sets prices for essential commodities such as milk and
provides free computers and education for every child.
Key energy
and telecommunications industries are nationalised. Under Mujica's
predecessor, Uruguay led the world in moves to restrict tobacco
consumption. Earlier this week, it
passed the world's most sweeping marijuana regulation law, which will
give the state a major role in the legal production, distribution and
sale of the drug.
Such actions have won praise and – along
with progressive policies on abortion and gay marriage – strengthened
Uruguay's reputation as a liberal country. But Mujica is almost as
reluctant to accept this tag as he is to agree with the "poorest
president" label.
"My country is not particularly open. These
measures are logical," he said. "With marijuana, this is not about being
more liberal. We want to take users away from clandestine dealers. But
we will also restrict their right to smoke if they exceed sensible
amounts of consumption. It is like alcohol. If you drink a bottle of
whisky a day, then you should be treated as a sick person."
Uruguay's options to improve society are limited, he believes, by the power of global capital.
"I'm
just sick of the way things are. We're in an age in which we can't live
without accepting the logic of the market," he said. "Contemporary
politics is all about short-term pragmatism. We have abandoned religion
and philosophy … What we have left is the automatisation of doing what
the market tells us."
The president lives within his means and
promotes the use of renewable energy and recycling in his government's
policies. At the United Nations' Rio+20 conference on sustainable development
last year, he railed against the "blind obsession" to achieve growth
through greater consumption. But, with Uruguay's economy ticking along
at a growth rate of more than 3%, Mujica – somewhat grudgingly, it seems
– accepts he must deliver material expansion. "I'm president. I'm
fighting for more work and more investment because people ask for more
and more," he said. "I am trying to expand consumption but to diminish
unnecessary consumption … I'm opposed to waste – of energy, or
resources, or time. We need to build things that last. That's an ideal,
but it may not be realistic because we live in an age of accumulation."
Asked
for a solution to this contradiction, the president admits he doesn't
have the answers, but the former Marxist said the search for a solution
must be political. "We can almost recycle everything now. If we lived
within our means – by being prudent – the 7 billion people in the world
could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in
that direction," he said. "But we think as people and countries, not as a
species."
Mujica and his wife chat fondly about meetings with Che
Guevara, and the president guesses he is probably the last leader in
power to have met Mao Zedong, but he has mixed feelings about the recent
revolts and protests in Brazil, Turkey, Egypt and elsewhere. "The world
will always need revolution. That doesn't mean shooting and violence. A
revolution is when you change your thinking. Confucianism and
Christianity were both revolutionary," he said.
But he is cynical
about demonstrations organised by social networks that quickly dissolve
before they have a capacity to build anything lasting. "The protesters
will probably finish up working for multinationals and dying of modern
diseases. I hope that I am wrong about that."
Life history
Shot, arrested, jailed and elected
1969
Active in the Tupamaros revolutionary group, which earned a reputation
as the "Robin Hood guerrillas" by robbing delivery trucks and banks and
distributing the food and money among the poor.
1970
Arrested for the first of four times. Mujica escapes Punta Carretas
prison in a daring jailbreak. Shot and wounded numerous times in
conflicts with security forces.
1972
Imprisoned again. Remains in jail for more than a decade, including two
years' solitary confinement at the bottom of a well, where he speaks to
frogs and insects to maintain his sanity.
1985 Constitutional democracy is restored in Uruguay and Mujica is released under an amnesty law.
1994 Elected
deputy and arrives at the parliament building on a Vespa scooter. A
surprised parking attendant asks: "Are you going to be here long?"
Mujica replies: "I certainly hope so."
2009
Wins presidential election. Only words to the media that day: "Despite
all this lip service, the world is not going to change." Adopts a ruling
style closer to centre-left administrations of Lula in Brazil and
Bachelet in Chile, rather than harder-left leaders such as Hugo Chávez.
2012 Lauded
for a speech at the UN's Rio+20 global sustainability conference in
which he calls for a fight against the hyper-consumption that is
destroying the environment. "The cause is the model of civilization that
we have created. And the thing we have to re-examine is our way of life."
2012 Announces that the presidential palace would be included among the state shelters for the homeless. Meanwhile, Mujica continues to live in his small farmhouse outside Montevideo.
2013
Mujica's government pushes the world's most progressive cannabis
legalisation bill through Congress. "This is not about being free and
open. It's a logical step. We want to take users away from clandestine business," he says.
1 comment:
It is VERY IMPRESSIVE INDEED.
Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
The 'world's poorest president' said:
"The world will always need revolution. That doesn't mean shooting and violence. A revolution is when you change your thinking. Confucianism and Christianity were both revolutionary."
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