José’s departure Pepe Mujica leaves an immense vacuum, not only in the heart of the Uruguayan people, but also in Latin America and in all those places in the world where politics is valued as an act of service, an expression of coherence and a path to justice.
Pepe was many things: militant, political prisoner, president. But above all he was a free man. Free to think deeply, to say what others kept silent, to live with sobriety and to fight, with stubbornness and tenderness, for a more human world. His life was marked by adversity, by years of confinement, by the pain left by political violence. But we never saw him surrender to hate or resentment. He left prison with more convictions than grudges, with more dreams than reproaches. His resilience was not only individual, it was a collective commitment to reunion and hope.
As president, he ruled with austere honesty and with a sense of the essential. He always knew that power was an instrument, not an end. That is why he resigned from privileges, he lived in his farm, led his beetle and donated most of his salary. He did not do it to get attention: it was simply faithful to his ethics.
But beyond the symbols, his greatest legacy was his voice. A lucid, deep, reflective, but always necessary voice. Pepe Mujica told us about the important thing: of inequality, of justice, of the human being, of the planet we are destroying, of the meaning of life. He did it with simple words, with a gift from the word that he himself was proud, with metaphors that opened paths of reflection.
He was also a tireless defender of the integration of Latin America. He had the conviction that, in the face of an increasingly uncertain and marked world by deep inequalities, only a united Latin America could make his voice heard and protect the interests of his citizens. Pepe Mujica believed in the need to tend bridges between our nations and that our differences were not obstacles, but learning. In a time when global challenges, from the triple climate crisis to the advancement of artificial intelligence, demand collective responses, their vision acquires even more validity.
I had the privilege of sharing with him several times. In each encounter, I was impressed by his ability to listen, his human warmth and his natural way to remind us of what is truly important: take care of the most vulnerable, act with decency, live with humility, defend democracy.
In his speech before the Congress of the National Union of Students of Brazil, in 2023, he said: “Democracy is not perfect. Democracy is full of defects because they are our human defects, but until today we have not found anything better. Therefore, it is easy to lose it and it is difficult to win it again. They have to take care of it.”
Today, more than ever, honoring its memory means taking care of democracy, dignifying politics and respecting us as people, even in our differences. Because Pepe Mujica was not just a symbol of Uruguay: it was an example for the world.
Until always, dear Pepe. Thank you for teaching us that another way of doing politics is possible.
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