What is Jose Mujica famous for?
José Mujica. José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano (Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse muˈxika]; born 20 May 1935) is a Uruguayan politician who served as the 40th President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was imprisoned for 13 years during the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.
How did Mujica win the election?
A runoff was then held on 29 November to determine the winner; on 30 November Mujica emerged as the victor, with more than 52% of the vote over Lacalle's 43%.
What's going on with Luis Mujica?
First, Mujica floated an upgrade to Uruguay's technical university system, to expand opportunities for poor teenagers who couldn't pursue an academic program after high school. As a leader reared on the fundamental right to earn a basic living, the proposal was incredibly important for Mujica.
Why was Mujica captured by the authorities?
In reality the doctor was simply following ordinary medical ethics. At the time, the president of Uruguay was the controversial Jorge Pacheco Areco, who had suspended certain constitutional guarantees in response to MLN and Communist unrest. In total Mujica was captured by the authorities on four occasions.
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How old is Jose Mujica?
87 years (May 20, 1935)José Mujica / Age
What is Jose Mujica's full name?
José Alberto Mujica CordanoJosé Mujica / Full name
When was Jose Mujica president?
March 1, 2010 – March 1, 2015José Mujica / Presidential term
What is Uruguay's government?
RepublicUnitary statePresidential systemConstitutional republicUruguay/Government
Who is poorest President?
Truman was among the poorest U.S. presidents, with a net worth considerably less than $1 million. His financial situation contributed to the doubling of the presidential salary to $100,000 in 1949.
Is Uruguay a poor country?
With a population of more than 3.4 million and about 60% of them comprising the middle class, Uruguay stands as one of the most economically stable countries in the region. In fact, Uruguay has the lowest poverty rate in South America and ranks high on such well-being indices as the Human Development Index.
How do you say Mujica?
Phonetic spelling of mujica. mu-ji-ca. moo-HEE-kuh. ... Meanings for mujica. It is a Basque surname. A Notable person with this name is Aritz Mújika, a Spanish footballer.Examples of in a sentence. Rockies agree to terms with right-hander Jose Mujica, designate Wes Parsons for assignment. ... Translations of mujica. Russian : Мухика
What is Uruguay known for?
Uruguay is the smallest Spanish speaking country in South America. ... Uruguay means “river of painted birds” ... Uruguay is the biggest consumer of beef in the world. ... It has the longest national anthem in the world. ... Uruguay hosted the 1st World cup ever. ... Uruguayans are obsessed with Mate.More items...•
Why did the Tupamaros fail?
TUPAMARO INSURGENTS OF URUGUAY (FROM POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND INSURGENCY - A COMPARATIVE APPROACH, 1974, BY BARD E O'NEILL ET AL - SEE NCJ-63408) THE TUPAMARO MOVEMENT IN URUGUAY FAILED DUE TO STRONG GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION, LACK OF A STRONG LEADER, AND LACK OF ENOUGH POPULAR SUPPORT.
Why is Uruguay so successful?
It has the region's highest income per capita, some of its lowest levels of inequality, and has more or less eliminated extreme poverty. In 2019 just 0.1% of the population earned less than $1.90 a day, according to the World Bank. Its capital may lack glamour, but it is short of corruption, too.
Is Uruguay a 1st world country?
Uruguay is a developing country with a high-income economy, and is ranked first in Latin America in democracy, peace, low perception of corruption, and e-government....Uruguay.Oriental Republic of Uruguay República Oriental del Uruguay (Spanish)GovernmentUnitary presidential republic• PresidentLuis Lacalle Pou46 more rows
Why is Uruguay so rich?
Uruguay is the second richest country in South America, and that is largely because of its booming export business. The small South American country churns out tons of wool, rice, soybeans, frozen beef, malt, and milk.
What group did Mujica join?
In 1966, Mujica joined the MLN-Tumpamaros, an armed revolutionary group. Three years later, he led a squad of MLN guerillas in the mission to take over the city of Pando.
What is the highest award Mujica has ever received?
On January 28, 2014, Mujica was awarded the ‘Order of the Aztec Eagle’, the highest award in Mexico.
What was the name of the political party that Mujica founded?
In 1985, a new amnesty law freed thousands of prisoners. Mujica was among the liberated prisoners. In 1989, he founded the ‘Movement of Popular Participation’ (MPP) political party .
Why was Mujica arrested?
In 1971, he was arrested for his involvement in revolutionary activities but escaped from prison. He was quickly re-arrested but managed to escape again the following year. Mujica spent the next 13 years in prison. While imprisoned he faced numerous atrocities and at one point he was held in a watering trough.
What did the Guerillas do in the jungle?
Training and living in the jungle, the guerillas were determined to fight off the yoke of a brutal dictatorship. After a series of daring raids, Jose and his companions were unable to resist the overwhelming opposition forces and were convicted and given long sentences behind bars.
What is Mujica's nickname?
Mujica is a self-described atheist. His nickname is "El Pepe". He has a three-legged dog named Manuela
What is El Pepe's highest award?
On December 4, 2014, El Pepe was awarded the ‘National Order of San Lorenzo’, the highest award in Ecuador.
Why did Mujica defend his country's actions?
Last month, while meeting with President Barack Obama, Mujica defended his country’s actions to preserve stringent anti-tobacco laws as a worthwhile fight to combat the mass “murder” of smokers across the world.
What group did Mujica join?
In the 1960s, Mujica joined a revolutionary group called the Tupamaros, who used “armed-propaganda” to combat social injustices. Inspired by Che Guevera’s tactics in Cuba, the group robbed a number of banks and distributed the money back to people in the city, earning the nickname: “The Robin Hood Guerrillas.”
How long was Mujica in prison?
Mujica’s prominent role in the Tupamaros also earned him a prison sentence of 14 years following military coup in 1970. After he was released in 1984, Mujica renounced violence and embarked on a legitimate political career.
What did Mujica reject?
Citing environmental concerns, Mujica showed how committed he is to environmental protections when he recently rejected a joint energy project with Brazil that would have provided Uruguay with cheap coal energy.
Why was Mujica nominated for the Frente Ampilo?
Mujica's name was submitted for the prestigious award in January for a second consecutive year by members of his liberal political party, the Frente Ampilo, and two international NGOs that cited Mujica’s efforts to legalize government-controlled sales and distribution of marijuana as the reason for their nomination.
How many children did Mujica house?
In late May, Mujica offered to house 100 children orphaned by Syria’s civil war in the Uruguayan presidential summer retreat home, a riverfront mansion estate that is surrounded by rolling pastures.
Where did Mujica offer refuge?
Last month, Mujica offered refuge in Uruguay to five Guantánamo Bay detainees cleared of wrongdoing, which would make Uruguay the first nation in South America to do so, should the United States accept the offer.
Who was Mujica's biographer?
Acquaintances told Walter Pernas, one of Mujica's biographers, that when he was a small boy, he once insisted on offering "all his toys to the neighbors."
What was Mujica's role in the Tupamaros?
But after the dictatorship's end in 1985, Mujica emerged as the most eloquent among them, the Tupamaros' resident sage. As the group readjusted to freedom, most of its members wanted to avoid returning to guerrilla warfare , though what course to pursue instead was unclear—right-wingers still maintained control over much of the government. Mujica argued for an entry into traditional party politics and staged public forums known as mateadas, confabs held in village squares over calabash gourds full of strong mate tea. He'd retained his childhood egalitarian passions, but prison had made him more philosophical and deepened his rough-hewn physical allure. He rapidly developed a following among poorer workers, and in the mid-'90s entered parliament. Then, in 2005, he received an appointment as agriculture minister.
What was Pepe Mujica's father's name?
The clues to both Mujica's wild appeal and the disappointments of his actual leadership lie in his biography. Seven years after Batlle passed away in 1929, Pepe—Mujica's lifelong nickname—was born to a poor second-generation family descended from Basque and Ligurian immigrants. His father, a washout in business, died bankrupt when Mujica was eight. Little Pepe had to go to work in a bakery and sell flowers to support the family. Swashbuckling local left-wing politicos became his new father figures. Some anarcho-syndicalists working in a butchery near Mujica's house were so bold that they held up their employer's delivery trucks, seized the meat, and distributed it to the poor.
How old was Mujica when he became president?
He was 74 years old when Uruguayans elected him their commander-in-chief in 2009. From the start he eschewed the normal rites of power. He declined to move into the presidential dwellings in Montevideo, preferring to remain on his ramshackle commune on the outskirts of the capital, where he continued to farm chrysanthemums with his wife. He drove himself around in an old VW Beetle and donated nearly 90 percent of his presidential salary to charity.
Why did Mujica want to pass a new tax on the big landowners?
He tried to pass a new tax on the big landowners to help the poor, but failed to ensure that the legislation would be constitutional. The Uruguayan Supreme Court struck it down.
What were the goals of the Tupamaros?
Mujica, now in his twenties and rapidly rising in Uruguay's left-wing political world, joined their crusade. The goal was to humiliate the government by disrupting Uruguayan life. Tupamaro antics could be comic—the group once spray painted "everybody dances or nobody dances" on a nightclub wall. But they could also be violent. The guerrillas bombed a Bayer plant in 1965 and held and tortured hostages in a makeshift jail euphemistically christened the "People's Prison." The Tupamaros' reputation among the Uruguayan populace was similarly split. Some people—like the residents of a small city called Pando, which the rebels invaded to rob banks while disguised as members of a funeral cortège—feared and loathed them. Others saw them as heroes, much as Mujica had judged the anarchists growing up.
Where did Rabuffetti work?
Several years ago, Rabuffetti did a stint working for Agence France-Presse in Washington. "I could not believe how materialist your country is," he told me with an apologetic smile. When he came back to Uruguay in 2011 after a tour in Rio de Janeiro, he was startled to see his own society hurtling in the same direction, even as Mujica delivered his anti-materialist sermons. "Look at the empty bookstore," he told me as we stood by Nuevocentro's central escalator. Across the way, beside an electronics store selling $9,000 HDTVs, the little bookseller was sepulchral, its cashier reclined in his chair, reading a newspaper with that air of a shopkeeper resigned to no business.
What was José Mujica's political party?
Right from teenage years, José Mujica was actively involved with the National Party. In the year 1966, he joined the newly-formed MLN-Tupamaros movement, an armed revolutionary group which was inspired by the Cuban Revolution. Three years later, in an attempt to conquer the city of Pando, he led a squad of MLN guerillas .
When did Mujica become president?
In 2008, the ‘Broad Front’ elected Mujica as their Presidential candidate. After defeating former president Luis Lacalle Herrera and winning the election in 2009, Mujica was sworn in as the President of Uruguay on March 1, 2010.
How did José Mujica escape prison?
He was again arrested the following year but managed to escape soon. Mujica, along with 100 other Tupamaros, escaped from the Punta Carretas prison by digging a tunnel. Within a month of escaping, Mujica was again captured and put behind bars. He fled the prison again only to be re-apprehended once more in 1972. After his arrest in 1972, he spent 13 years in prison which was a den of iniquity. During this time, Mujica had to face numerous atrocities and even spent two years at the bottom of a well. He suffered from mental agonies and spent a lot of time in solitary confinement.
When did José Mujica's term end?
José Mujica’s presidential term came to an end on March 1, 2015.
When was Mujica nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize?
In 2012, President Mujica was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Who is El Pepe?
José Mujica, nicknamed ‘El Pepe’, is a self-described atheist. After many years of staying in a live-in relationship, he married Lucía Topolansky in the year 2005. They have no children and live with their three-legged dog Manuela in a humble farm on the outskirts of Montevideo. The couple cultivates chrysanthemums in their farm. The most modest President of the world refused to stay in the presidential palace or use the services of its staff. He donates 90% of his salary to the needy and leads a simple lifestyle.
Who is the director of Mujica?
Acclaimed Serbian film director Emir Kusturica is working on a documentary film showcasing the life of Mujica, whom the director considers as the ‘the last hero of politics.’
Why did José Mujica rob the banks?
Even though he sometimes seems to avoid such questions, José Mujica believes that he had to rob the banks because they abused their power , and the Tupamaros needed money to change the system. If he had done the armed bank robberies out of self-interest, he thinks it would have been a completely different story.
Who is Pepe Mujica?
José Mujica, who has the nickname Pepe Mujica, has been living with his wife in a one-room farm for 30 years. During his presidency, he could have chosen to live in the presidential palace but remained true to his values. According to José, people are only really poor when they need a lot because they are never satisfied.
What does José say about countries?
According to José, countries often want to impose something on other countries as well. For example, the West wants to impose its vision of democracy in other countries. By definition, this creates conflicts. We have to learn to face and accept the differences in religion and convictions.
Who is Ben Steenstra?
Author Bio: Ben Steenstra is Co-founder of TheONE and writes on various topics such as SEO, Strategy, Marketing, and Communication. Because of his Neuro-Semantics background, he also writes about Leadership, Coaching, and mental disorders.
Does José Mujica have to forgive his guards?
When asked whether he has forgiven his guards, José Mujica usually answers briefly but forcefully. He doesn't have to forgive them, but he also doesn't have to solve anything with them. He wants to live, and that is much more important to him.
Overview
José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano is a Uruguayan politician, former revolutionary and farmer who served as the 40th President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was tortured and imprisoned for 14 years during the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. A member of the Broad Front coalition of left-wing parties, Mujica was Minister of Livestock, …
Early life
Mujica was born on 20 May 1935, to Demetrio Mujica, of Spanish Basque ancestry, and Lucy Cordano, a daughter of Italian immigrants. Mujica's father was a small farmer who went bankrupt shortly before his death in 1940, when his son was five. His mother's parents were very poor Italian immigrants from Liguria. Lucy Cordano was born in Carmelo, where her parents had bought 2 hectares (4.9 acres) in Colonia Jose to cultivate vineyards. Between the ages of 13 and 17, Muj…
Guerrilla
In the mid-1950's, he joined the newly formed MLN-Tupamaros movement, an armed political group inspired by the Cuban Revolution. He participated in the brief 1969 takeover of Pando, a town close to Montevideo, leading one of six squads assaulting strategic points in the city. Mujica's team was charged with taking over the telephone exchange and was the only one to complete the operation without any mishaps. In March 1970 Mujica was gunned down while resi…
Minister of Agriculture
On 1 March 2005, President Tabaré Vázquez designated Mujica as the Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (Mujica's own professional background was in the agricultural sector). Upon becoming minister, Mujica resigned his position as senator. He held this position until a cabinet change in 2008, when he resigned and was replaced by Ernesto Agazzi. Mujica then returned to his seat in the Senate.
Political positions
Mujica's political ideology has evolved over the years from orthodox to pragmatist. In recent times he has expressed a desire for a more flexible political left. His speaking style and manner is credited as part of his growing popularity since the late 1990s, especially among rural and poor sectors of the population. He has been variously described as an "antipolitician" and a man w…
Government
Mujica formed a cabinet made up of politicians from the different components of the Broad Front, conceding the area of economics to aides of his vice president Danilo Astori.
In June 2012, Mujica's government made a controversial move to legalize state-controlled sales of marijuana in Uruguay in order to fight drug-related crimes and health issues, and stated that they would ask global leaders to do the same. Mujica said that by regulating Uruguay's estimated $4…
Personal life
In 2005, Mujica married Lucía Topolansky, a fellow former Tupamaros member after many years living together. They have no children and live on a farm owned by Lucía in the outskirts of Montevideo, where they cultivate chrysanthemums for sale, having declined to live in the presidential palace or to use its staff. Also living at his farm is his three-legged dog, Manuela. Topolansky briefly served a…
International relevance
During the last months of 2013, the Serbian film director Emir Kusturica started shooting a documentary on the life of Mujica, El Pepe, una vida suprema released in 2018, whom he considers "the last hero of politics". In 2014 Italian author Frank Iodice wrote the book Breve dialogo sulla felicità, which centers on the life of Mujica. Ten thousand copies of the book were printed and distributed for free to local school children. In June 2016, Mujica received the Order of the Flag o…