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Uruguay’s former president José Mujica, a onetime Marxist guerrilla and flower farmer whose radical brand of democracy, plain-spoken philosophy and simple lifestyle fascinated people around the world, has died. He was 89.
His death was announced by the current Uruguayan president. Yamandú Orsi. In a post on social media platform X, Orsi called Mujica a “president, activist, guide and leader”. Mujica had been under treatment for cancer of the esophagus since spring 2024, when the disease was diagnosed.
Even as the treatment left him weak and hardly able to eat, Mujica reappeared on the political stage in fall of 2024, campaigning for his leftwing coalition in national elections that vaulted his preferred candidate and protege, Orsi, to the presidency.
In September of 2024, his doctor reported that radiation had succeeded in eliminating much of Mujica’s tumor. But in January of 2025, his doctor announced that the cancer in his esophagus had returned and spread to his liver. His autoimmune disease and other underlying medical problems led Mujica to decide not to pursue further treatment.
“Honestly, I’m dying,” Mujica told weekly magazine Busqueda in what he said would be his final interview. “A warrior has the right to rest.”
During his 2010-2015 presidency, 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 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.”
