The international media dubbed Uruguay’s 79-year-old President José Mujica Cordano the “poorest president in the world” after it was reported that the Latin American leader donates 90 percent of his monthly salary of $12,5000 to charity — specifically, those that help house the homeless — leaving him with about $1,250 to spend on himself.
He only makes about 3.1 % of what President Obama earns in a year and opts to not live in a presidential palace, but Mujica says he’s not poor. He’s chosen to live in a modest home on the farm his wife owns outside of Montevideo and to continue to drive his 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.
In other words, he’s content with what he has. As he told the BBC in 2012, “I’m called ‘the poorest president,’ but I don’t feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more.”
“I may appear to be an eccentric old man… But this is a free choice,” he added.
Before Mujica was elected president of Uruguay in 2009, the world may not have known a great deal about the South American nation that is home to about 3.4 million people. This has certainly changed in the past few years that Mujica has encouraged lawmakers to pass some of the most progressive legislation not only in the country’s history, but in the entire world.
Although the world may know him as the first leader to outright legalize marijuana for recreational use, implementing a system in which a gram costs no more than $1 to ensure that the money doesn’t wind up in the hands of the kinds of drug lords who rule many Latin American countries, Mujica has also led Uruguay to become the second nation in South America, after Argentina, to legalize same-sex marriage, and to pass legislation allowing women to have safe and legal abortions up until the third month of pregnancy.
It’s not just the media that’s paying attention to Mujica’s refreshing brand of politics. Activists around the globe have pointed to the Uruguayan leader as an example of how a political leader should lead as well, since Mujica himself has acknowledged how a leadership role can change politicians — and not necessarily for the better.
Around the globe, human rights groups have expressed support for the Uruguayan leader, encouraging other leaders to follow in his footsteps, as have celebrities such as actors Sean Penn and Glenn Close and the members of the band Aerosmith.
In May, Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the organization CODEPINK and Global Exchange, wrote “10 Reasons to Love Uruguay's President Jose Mujica." The list includes Mujica’s push to legalize marijuana and same-sex marriage and to expand abortion rights. It also highlights Mujica’s decisions to confront corporations such as tobacco giant Philip Morris, work to reduce poverty, and house Guantanamo detainees, per the request of U.S. President Barack Obama.
He’s also offered to let 100 children from Syria seek refuge in his country. Mujica has even suggested that the children could stay at his presidential summer retreat, since he says he doesn’t use it. But since children are not typically relocated without at least one relative, the total number of Syrian refugees to Uruguay is still being worked out.
Though Mujica has made some arguably admirable decisions in his few years in office, those who should be most enchanted with the lawmaker — the Uruguayan people — appear to be his toughest critics, with the 62 % of voters reporting they are against some of his widely applauded policies such as marijuana legalization.
According to Pablo Brum, a native of Uruguay and author of “The Robin Hood Guerillas: The Epic Journey of Uruguay's Tupamaros," Mujica has always been polarizing in Uruguay, a reason why Mujica’s status as a model leader may have caught even his supporters off guard.
Brum tells MintPress News that it’s not just the clothes Mujica wears that have influenced whether or not people like him, but it’s what Mujica says and how he says it.
“He has always been known for abrupt, folksy, off-the-cuff statements,” Brum said. “On numerous occasions he strongly criticized, even insulted, journalists and other politicians.
“However, as Uruguayan journalist Gabriel Pereyra hasargued, somehow Mujica almost always got a free pass. His crankiness came out as another aspect of his authenticity. As president, particularly since the global media started paying attention, we have seen more of the philosophical folksy side and less of the cranky side, although it’s never too far away.”
Big talker?
Currently, Mujica, who was elected by about 53 % of voters in 2010, has a career-low approval rating of around 47 %.According to Adriana Raga, director of Cifra, the consulting firm that surveyed voters, although many Uruguayans share Mujica’s ideas, “they feel that very few of them materialize.”
Specifically, critics say that Mujica has dropped the ball when it comes to some of the biggest issues the lawmaker pledged address during his campaign such as education, security and environmental protection, even though, as Brum notes, the main issues being discussed in the socially democratic nation today are public safety and education.
Raga pointed to the results of a 2012 Program for International Assessment, which evaluates the proficiency of high school students in math, reading and science, as an example of why Uruguayans have grown disenchanted with their charismatic leader, explaining Uruguay’s test scores were among some of the lowest the country had seen since 2003.
Other issues Raga said upset the people were the increases in gang shootouts and armed robberies, as well as the environmentalist’s support for a large open-pit mining project.
“People are not concerned about how weed is going to be smoked or about gay marriage… they’re not at the core of their concerns,” Raga said. “People are worried about security and education, where the government has real troubles.”
Brum explains that Uruguay is a progressive nation, so the passage of progressive policies there isn’t much of a surprise. This is why Uruguayans familiar with Mujica’s politics forged their opinions about the leader “before he became famous.”
As the nation sees economic success, it appears more and more Uruguayans “don’t think it’s so wonderful to drive a Beetle or speak against consumption,” added political analyst Daniel Chasquetti. He explained that Uruguayans’ attitudes appear to have shifted since 2002, when the idea that it was just as important for a leader to be “just like us” as it was for him to be intelligent.
Given that some of the country’s problems in education and security started long before Mujica was sworn into office, there are still working and lower middle class Uruguayans who say they find Mujica to be a great leader because they can identify with him. They point to some of these issues as a chance for opponents to try and chip away at Mujica’s credibility.
For example, Brum says that to ease public safety concerns, Mujica has “upgraded the capabilities of the police and ordered it to conduct bolder operations in dangerous areas to clean out criminal gangs,” and the president is working on improving the country’s education system by removing or at least weakening the influence of education lobbies.
“The unions have focused all their effort on greater budget allocations to teachers’ salaries, but despite a decade of increases, results have not been forthcoming,” Brum said.
Not so poor anymore
When Mujica was elected president in 2009, he was reportedly worth around $1,800 — the value of his 1987 Volkswagen Beetle — which added credibility to his designation as the poorest president. But according to Mujica’s most recent sworn wealth declaration, which was released in April, the leader has seen a 74 % increase in wealth since 2012, and is now worth around $322,883.
Mujica claims the increase in his net worth came after he put his money — about $104,000 — into bank accounts and had his name added to assets that were previously only in his wife’s name, including properties and farm equipment the couple owns.
But Mujica isn’t the only person in Uruguay seeing financial success in recent years. According to the Uruguayan government, the nation’s gross domestic product increased by an estimated 4 % in 2013, exceeding the increases seen in nations such as the United States and Brazil.
The World Bank also reported the nation saw its poverty rate sharply decline in recent years, from 34.4 percent in 2006 to 12.4 percent in 2012. Mujica has credited the country’s financial improvements to foreign nations being allowed to invest in Uruguay’s industries, and vice versa, including a trade relationship with the US.
As Uruguay’s closest allies include Venezuela and Cuba — both enemies of the U.S. — the positive friendship between Uruguay and the U.S. may be odd to some, but the bottom line is that both sides benefit because Mujica’s tiny nation is nestled right between two South American giants: Argentina and Brazil.
“I’m just sick of the way things are,” Mujica told the Guardian of his policies last year. “We’re in an age in which we can’t live without accepting the logic of the market. Contemporary politics is all about short-term pragmatism. We have abandoned religion and philosophy … What we have left is the automatization of doing what the market tells us.”
Don’t let lobbies and corporations bully you
In May, President Obama met with Mujica at the White House. According to a recording of the meeting published by the White House, Obama said he invited the South American leader because he wanted to “hear from President Mujica additional ideas of how we can strengthen the broad trends of democratization and human rights in the hemisphere.”
“Economically and socially, in both Uruguay and the United States, we have a potential great strength of a diverse population, and we want to exchange ideas about how we can make sure that our societies are open and benefiting all people and not just some,” Obama said.
Mujica didn’t hold back when Obama gave him the opportunity to share his ideas. He expressed concern about many Americans’ inability to speak any language other than English as well as the influence corporations have on U.S. politics.
Though he didn’t delve into specifics about the $ 25 million lawsuit tobacco giant Philip Morris filed against Uruguay after lawmakers passed tough smoking laws — including a ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces and a requirement that graphic images illustrating the dangers of smoking be included on cigarette cartons — Mujica warned against allowing corporations like Philip Morris to run rampant in the political realm.
Speaking as a former smoker himself, Mujica said cigarettes kill around 8 million people each year around the world — more than the lives lost in World War I and World War II. Yet despite all of the “murders,” Mujica said, lawmakers continue to be too afraid to stand up to businesses like the American tobacco giant, which is why he encouraged Obama and other U.S. lawmakers to “fight against very strong interests.”
“Governments must not be involved in private litigation, but here we’re fighting for life,” he said. “And nobody must be distracted in this fight for life, because out of all values, the most important one is life itself.”
Mujica’s staunch support for life is a theme that has not gone unnoticed, especially since the president has encouraged other leaders to stand with him in his opinion that there is no such thing as a just war.
Talking to students at American University in May, Mujica explained, “Years ago, we used to think that there were good wars and bad wars. Good wars were the ones supported by a just and noble cause, for processes of liberation.”
“Today, with all of our technological and scientific knowledge, war — whatever its tendency — ends up becoming a sacrifice for the weakest people in society,” he said. “The worst negotiation is better than the best war. That’s what I think now, because I know the pain and sacrifice of war.”
From prisoner to president
The 79-year-old knows about the pain and sacrifice from war all too well. Inspired by the success of the Cuban Revolution, Mujica helped found a leftist guerrilla movement in Uruguay known as the National Liberation Movement (Movimiento de Liberacion) in the early 1960s. Also known as the Tupamaros, the group’s goal was to take down the conservative government that was in power at the time.
“They stole food trucks and then distributed the goods in the slums,” Brum told NPR earlier this year. “They attacked government facilities like the national Naval Academy … and without firing a shot, stole every gun, every vehicle in there, and left some smart propaganda banners.”
According to Brum, the Tupamaros were “rather obsessed with the idea of shocking middle-class values,” which was sometimes achieved by forcing cinema-goers to watch slideshows at gunpoint that detailed the acts of injustice committed by the conservative government that was in power at the time.
While Mujica was involved in guerrilla actions, Brum says he was “never one of the most radical, action-prone Tupamaros.” He told MintPress that Mujica was not involved in the decision-making processes and was not part of the terrorist-like activity, but that was partly because Mujica was in the hospital and then in prison.
In 1969, Mujica participated in the takeover of the city of Pando — a town near the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo — which historians describe as a chaotic and violent raid, similar to what happened during the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. Many police officers were killed that day, and for his involvement with the guerrilla group, Mujica was arrested in 1970.
But Mujica didn’t go easily. He opened fire at a bar in an attempt to escape, shooting two policemen. Mujica was shot twice. When he collapsed from the gunshots, he was shot an additional four times by an officer — right in the stomach.
Luckily for Mujica, the doctor who treated him for his injuries was also part of the Tupamaros.
Although Mujica survived, he spent the next 14 year of his life in prison. Of those 14 years, Mujica spent about 10 in solitary confinement, which was essentially a hole in the ground covered by metal to block the sunlight. The metal roof reportedly generated a buzzing sound similar to a radio frequency signal that was so loud it brought Mujica to tears.
Though Mujica doesn’t often talk about that period of his life, he says he would often go a year without bathing. He also talked to a tiny frog and rats who were in the hole with him, and even shared his bread crumbs with them.
In 1984, Uruguay saw the end of the military dictatorship and found itself under the control of a democratically-elected government. Mujica and other prisoners like him saw their conditions improve. By 1985, Mujica was one of eight prisoners who was released and offered amnesty.
For a while, Mujica spent the bulk of his time planting flowers — chrysanthemums — to work through the psychological trauma he had endured, but soon found himself interested in politics again. After their release from prison, Mujica and other Tupamaros pledged they would no longer turn to armed action to change politics, so the group decided to form the Movement of Popular Participation, a legal political party in Uruguay. Brum says this was when Mujica “emerged as a charismatic, populist figure and came to lead the group.”
The party later merged with other left-leaning parties to forge the Broad Front (Frente Amplio) party.
Mujica had a successful run for a seat in the Uruguayan parliament in 1994, and he won a seat in the country’s senate in 1999. By 2005, Mujica had been appointed minister of livestock, agriculture and fisheries, and in 2009, he was elected president.
Global influence
During his 14 years at the bottom of a well, Mujica may never have imagined that he would become someone that people the world over would declare a true leader. But the Uruguayan leader appears to have come to terms with the power his influence carries for people across the globe.
Mujica has said that when he attends summits with other world leaders, they often tell him that he’s on the right track. The Uruguayan president says he finds this frustrating because these same leaders often don’t join him in his push to respect human life.
“That’s why I go on repeating the same things,” Mujica has explained. “You have to persist and try to convince people. I have the aggressive courage to speak out. It’s not done in the modern world, where people conceal and disguise their feelings. Maybe that’s why I get people’s attention.”
Due to constitutional term limits, the Uruguayan leader won’t be eligible to run for re-election when his term ends at the end of this year.
As the world prepares to say goodbye to the president who has appeared to be more concerned about the health and well-being of his people than money during his tenure, there seems to be hope shared among people around the globe that they, too, might find a leader who, like Mujica, isn’t driven by power, fame or wealth, but by what’s truly best for their nation and the global community.
When Mujica’s presidency ends later this year, it’s unlikely that the 79-year-old will seek another job in politics. Uruguayan politicians, including Mujica, are eligible for a state pension when they retire. However, it won’t be surprising if the leader, who appears to have found happiness in the simple things, opts to continue his life of humble austerity on his wife’s flower farm without dipping much from the government coffers.
The above is from http://www.mintpressnews.com/does-the-world-need-more-poor-presidents-like-uruguays-mujica/191811/
We have a similar Chief Minister of Tripura, Mr. Manik Sarkar, who has been elected for 4 terms already, i. 20 years. I had written about him on http://goethals1907-2007.blogspot.in/2014/02/indias-poorest-chief-minister-sri-manik.html.
Of course, we have another person, Arvind Kejriwal, who thinks on those lines, but the paid media calls him dramabaaz. A person is appreciated more by outsiders than by his own countrymen. Even Jose Mujica has been appreciated more by outsiders than by Uruguayans.
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