The politician ruled the country from 2010 to 2015; his mandate was marked by progressive reforms such as the legalization of abortion
The 40th President of Uruguay, Pepe Mujica, died on Tuesday (13.MAI.2025) at 89 years. The information was confirmed by Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi.
“It is with deep regret that we announce the death of our colleague Pepe Mujica. President, activist, leader and leader. We will miss you, dear old. Thank you for everything you gave us and your deep love for your people,” Wrote Orsi on X (Ex-Twitter).
Mujica faced health problems. On April 29, 2024, he. The disease was diagnosed in routine exams and the Uruguayan began treatment with radiotherapy. On June 21, 2024, former President Raquel Pannone’s personal doctor said the sessions had been finalized.
When he announced cancer, Mujica stated that the process should be complex, since he had Strauss syndrome, an immune disease that affected his kidneys, something that would make treatment difficult or eventual surgery.
About 1 month after the advertisement of the disease ,. In an interview with, he said he felt “destroyed”but sought to keep his spirit combative.
On August 27, 2024, former Uruguay president in a hospital in Montevideo because of a digestive problems caused by radiotherapy. According to Pannone, he had fibrosis in the esophagus and the problem prevented food.
Mujica did a gastrostomy, a procedure that consists in the placement of a flexible stomach probe on September 7. The surgery was successful and allowed him to feed normally.
On March 1, 2025, Pepe be “sick and old”During the inauguration of Yamandú Orsi (Broad Front, Center left). At the time, the former president stated that although his head worked“good”, The rest of your body would be“a disaster“.
On May 13, 2025, after Mujica was absent from the Uruguay elections, his wife Lucía Topolansky told the newspaper that her husband was already in palliative care. In an interview, she said that her husband’s death was a “END AnnouncedAnd that the former president’s doctors were concentrating their efforts to “make it [a morte] happen in the best way possible”.
Mujica was married to Lucía Topolansky. They met in the 1960s, when both worked in the Tupamaros guerrilla group. They married in 2005. They had no children.
Political life
José Alberto Mujica Cordano, popularly known as Pepe Mujica, was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, on May 20, 1935. He was one of the main names on the left in South America. He had no academic background and described himself as an atheist. It also had the principles of social justice, equality and pragmatism as a philosophy of life and political ideals.
He began to get involved with politics as a young man. In the 1950s, he was part of the National Party, acting as the General Secretary of Youth. In the 1960s, Mujica joined Tupamaros, also known as the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement, Marxist guerrilla group that fought Uruguay’s military dictatorship (1973-1985).
Because of his participation in armed actions of the Uruguayan government at the time, Mujica was arrested 4 times, being the last time from 1972 to 1985. He escaped from prison twice, but was recaptured. In all, he fulfilled about 14 years of detention. He was tortured and spent long periods in solitary confinement, including 11 years in a dungeon.
The Uruguayan was freed in 1985 during the country’s redemocratization. In the process, the Tupamaros reorganized as a legal party, being called MPP (Popular Participation Movement). To compete in the 1989 elections, the party began to be part of the Left Front Coalition, founded on February 5, 1971.
Mujica became one of the main voices of the subtitle and coalition. But only applied for a political office in 1994. That year, he was elected federal deputy, holding the role from 1995 to 2000. Then, in 1999, he was elected to his first term as a senator.
In 2005, the then president of Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez, chose Mujica to act as Minister of Agriculture. He was in office until 2008. He left office to become a presidential candidate.
In the 2009 elections, Mujica was elected the 40th president of Uruguay after defeating Luis Alberto Lacalle (National Party, Centro-right).
Presidency of Uruguay
Pepe Mujica took office on March 1, 2010. He ruled the country until 2015. Nicknamed the President “Poor in the world”the Uruguayan stood out for having a simple lifestyle.
Instead of living in the presidential residence in Prado, a noble neighborhood of Montevideo, the Uruguayan leader lived in a small farm on the outskirts of the capital. He also decided to donate about 90% of his presidential salary to social programs.
His mandate was marked by social and progressive reforms. In 2012, it approved the legalization of abortion, making Uruguay the 1st country in South America to allow practice until the 12th week of pregnancy. In 2013, he sanctioned laws that legalized same -sex marriage and marijuana production, sale and consumption.
In addition, the Uruguayan economy prospered, recording GDP growth and keeping low unemployment rates.
After the presidency
Mujica did not compete for reelection because the constitution of Uruguay prohibits that the presidency be exercised by the same person by 2 consecutive terms. Although the country’s law allows a former president to run after at least 1 term interval (5 years), the Uruguayan did not compete again.
Instead, he went to the Senate. He served as senator from 2015 to August 14, 2018, when he resigned saying that “I was tired of the long trip” and would “Before you die of old age”.
However, he decided to return to political life, being. He on October 20, 2020. At the time, he said Covid’s pandemic made him anticipate the decision. However, he said he would continue to participate in public activities and that his departure from the Senate did not mean “The abandonment of politics, but the abandonment of the front line”.
Mujica remained an influential figure, both in Uruguay and internationally, for his reflections on politics, economics and society.
Relationship with Lula
Pepe Mujica was a close friend of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT). The relationship between leaders has been strengthened over the years because they had similar political values, such as the promotion of social justice, democracy, the struggle against inequality and the strengthening of collaboration between Latin American countries.
After Lula was arrested on April 7, 2018, the Uruguayan leader visited the petista at the Federal Police Superintendence in Curitiba. When, he said he hopes that Brazilians could “Preserve your future and overcome contradictions”.
He also stated that “Men and women could be stuck in the body, but their causes would never be trapped, because they would walk with the legs and arms of their companions.”.
Lula in November 2019. Since then, he and Mujica have had several meetings. In February 2020, both in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the PT (Workers Party).
In December 2021, both, during the “Democracy for Sigrere” event, which marked the 38 years of democracy in the South American country. In the same month, Lula, Mujica and former Argentine President Alberto Fernández a video lesson on democracy.
The former president of Uruguay also in the last electoral act of Lula, held on Paulista Avenue (SP) on October 29, 2022, during the presidential elections of Brazil.
After the election, Mujica was in January 2023. The Uruguayan leader and the petista met other times:
- on 25.jan.2023: Lula at the Uruguayan house in Rincón Del Cerro, in the rural area of Montevideo. As your home is small, the conversation unfolded under a tent assembled outside the residence. Everyone sat in plastic chairs. Leaders talked about changes in Mercosur and the creation of a common currency for financial flows between Brazil and Argentina.
- on 1st.mar.2023: During a Brazilians and foreigners held at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia. At the time, the union of Latin American countries to break the patents of covid vaccines;
- em 13.jul.2023: Lula and Mujica about the reinsertion of Brazil in the world in a meeting at the Planalto Palace. According to note, “Both exchanged impressions of the South American political context and the resumption of regional integration” among other subjects. Then they went together for the 59th National Congress of UNE (National Students Union), where they take on stage. On the same day, the Uruguayan leader also with the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, to discuss the creation of an academic exchange. At the time, the Uruguayan be accurate “Fight for science to serve the people”.
According to a report in the magazine Uruguaia Searchpublished on December 14, 2023, Lula helps in the relationship with the chief executive of Argentina, Javier Milei, who on November 19 of the same year.
The request would have been made during a conversation in December in Rio de Janeiro, after the petista participated in the Mercosur summit. The Uruguayan was in the country for a visit to UERJ (Rio de Janeiro State University). At the time, Lula would have said that the connection between neighboring countries could not “deteriorate”.
The meeting between leaders in Rio de Janeiro was also marked by and his wife Carol Proner. Also present were Maria Bethânia and Caetano Veloso, who was accompanied by the wife Paula Lavigne.
About a month later, in January 2024, Mujica that Lula is “A cause, not a man” in an X (former Twitter) publication. He also stated that the petista “It is in the heart of the needy, the needy, where inequalities reside”. And added: “This is the best of Lula”.
After announcing that he had cancer, the former president of Uruguay. Calling “brother”the petista gave his “Admiration and Solidarity”.
“You are a lighthouse in the fight for a better world. We have always been together in good times and difficult times. A lot of affection and strength”these.
The most recent meeting between Lula and Mujica in Montevideo, Uruguay. The petista went to the farm of the former Uruguayan president. It has awarded Mujica with the great necklace of the National Order of Cruzeiro do Sul, the highest Brazilian honor to foreigners.
Watch (6min29s):
Tribute in Brazil
The performance of Mujica in Defense and Promotion of Education, Human Rights, Social Justice and Democratic Values made Unipampa (Federal University of Pampa), in Rio Grande do Sul, to the Uruguayan leader the 1st Title of Doctor Honoris causes in 2017.
In 2022, the educational institution also a statue in honor of the Uruguayan leader. The work made of bronze is by the Brazilian artist Edgar Duvivier.
In it, Mujica is standing with a thermos and a mate gourd. Next to the statue are two plates with the messages: “Investing in Education 1st, 2nd in Education and 3rd in Education”e “An educated people have the best options in life and is much more difficult for corrupt and liars to deceive them”.
