The Japan Times - 'We're messing up:' Uruguay icon Mujica on strongman rule in Latin America

The 89-year-old former guerrilla, who is recovering from esophageal cancer, helped establish Uruguay's reputation during his 2010-2015 rule as a bastion of stable, progressive politics on a continent plagued by corruption and strongman regimes.

In a wide-ranging interview late Thursday, days after his political heir Yamandu Orsi won Uruguay's presidency, Mujica hit out at repressive left-wing regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

"Authoritarianism in Latin America is a step backwards. We experienced this historically when the United States was everywhere," he said, referring to US support for the military regimes that murdered and tortured thousands of people in South America during the Cold War.

"But now we are also messing things up," the white-haired farmer and politician said in an interview at his home down a dirt track in the countryside outside Uruguay's capital Montevideo

- 'Madness' of Milei's rise -

Mujica, widely known as "Pepe," became a standard-bearer for the global left during his presidency, when he was nicknamed the "world's poorest president."

He drove himself around in a sky-blue Volkswagen Beetle, gave away most of his salary to charity and made his country, which was hitherto chiefly known for football and cattle ranching, the first to fully legalize cannabis for recreational use.

He also legalized abortion and same-sex marriage.

In May, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and underwent intensive radiotherapy, but he summoned his last reserves to successfully stump for Orsi, a former history teacher.

Orsi's win, Mujica told AFP, was "something of a reward for me at the end of my career."

"It has something of a pleasant taste, a bit like a farewell gift,"

The peaceful nature of the election and emphasis of the main rivals on forging consensus stood in stark contrast to the poisonous political climate in both Argentina and Brazil, situated on either side of Uruguay.

Mujica called the rise to power of Argentina's Milei, a self-described "anarcho-capitalist" and fan of US President-elect Donald Trump, "madness."

"It is a lesson in what hyperinflation is capable of doing to a country," he said, drawing a comparison between Argentina and 1930s Germany, when Adolf Hitler came to power following a hyperinflation crisis that impoverished millions, paving the way for the rise of the Nazis.

"Germany was the most cultured, most educated country, and the German people, who were desperate, did something outrageous. The Argentine people have also done something outrageous," he said warning: "If it happened to them, it could happen to us too."

- 'Let go of the cake!' -

Mujica's life story reads like a thriller.

In the 1960s, he joined an urban guerrilla group, that robbed from the rich to give the poor but later escalated to kidnappings, bombings and assassinations.

He survived several bullet wounds, was arrested four times and escaped twice from prison.

He served 13 years in jail during Uruguay's 1972-1985 dictatorship before being pardoned when democracy was restored. He served as minister of livestock, agriculture and fisheries before running for president.

He and his fellow ex-guerrilla wife Lucia live in a book-lined house on a 19-hectare farm where Mujica still drives a tractor "nearly every day."

The famously candid statesman also lashed out at Argentina's polarizing two-term ex-president Cristina Kirchner, who recently returned as opposition leader, and scandal-tainted former Bolivian president Evo Morales, who served two terms and is likewise trying to stage a comeback.

"How hard it is for them to let go of the cake!" he exclaimed.

He had equally harsh words for Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro and Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega, accusing both of "authoritarianism."

But he said he was deeply opposed to the idea of foreign intervention to dislodge Maduro, whose claim to have won a third six-year term in July 28 elections has been widely rejected.

"Venezuela's problems must be resolved by Venezuelans," he said.

The United States has recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela's "president-elect" based on results published by the opposition from over 80 percent of polling stations.

Several Latin American countries have also refused to recognize Maduro's reelection.

K.Okada--JT