Uruguay has such a small population, barely 3.4 million, that it feels normal that everyone calls the president Pepe, the informal, familiar version of José in Spanish. It fits well with his famous humility and dislike of wealth and ostentation. Having spent 13 years of his life languishing in the dungeons of Uruguay’s 1970s and 1980s dictatorship, undergoing torture and long stretches of solitary confinement, often in a hole in the ground, Mujica has had plenty of time to reflect on the futility of riches and the pointlessness of violence. [...] But there is no trace of bitterness in the air as 18-year-old Manuela, Mujica’s famous three-legged dog, rushes out to greet visitors at the tiny farm where the president lives in Rincón del Cerro, 20 minutes outside Montevideo. The house has just three rooms. Mujica refuses to move to Uruguay’s luxurious presidential mansion. “I am rich here,” he says, bringing out two cushions that have seen better days to plonk them on two rusty garden chairs for the interview.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 13:15:53 +0000
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