Jose Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano (20 May 1935-13 May 2025) was President of Uruguay from 1 March 2010 to 1 March 2015, interrupting Tabare Vazquez's terms. He was leader of the Frente Amplio.
Biography[]
Jose Alberto Mujica Cordano was born in Montevideo, Uruguay on 20 May 1935, the son of a father of Basque ancestry and a mother of Italian ancestry. He was active in the National Party of Uruguay as a youth, but he joined the Tupamaros during the mid-1960s and took part in the guerrilla war against the pro-United States government amidst the Dirty War. In March 1970, he was shot six times after injuring two policemen in a bar shootout, but the surgeon on call at the hospital saved his life; he went on to be imprisoned by the military dictatorship for 12 years. In 1985, he was granted amnesty, and he became involved in left-wing politics as a leader of the Frente Amplio. He was elected deputy in 1994 and senator in 1999, and he went on to serve as Agriculture Minister from 2005 to 2008. In 2009, he was elected President to succeed fellow Frente Amplio leader Tabare Vazquez, and he became known as the world's humblest head of state for donating 90% of his $12,000 monthly salary to poor people and small entrepreneurs. In 2012, the government legalized marijuana to fight against drug trafficking in the country, and he also presided in the decrease of the national unemployment rate from 13% to 7% and the national poverty rate from 40% to 11%.