Four decades ago José 'Pepe' Mujica was one of the most ferocious Latin American guerrilla leaders — a central figure in the legendary Uruguayan left wing guerrilla movement Los Tupamaros.
On 29 November 2009 Mujica became the new president of Uruguay. He will rule this country of 3.5 million people, the second smallest in Latin America, for the next five years.
A solid built, moustached politician — despectively characterised by his right wing opponents as a vulgar 'fruit shop seller' — Mujica defeated, in a second electoral round, the former president and right wing candidate Luis Alberto Lacalle (1990–1995). Mujica obtained 51.6 per cent of the votes, Lacalle 44 per cent.
Mujica, who spent years in jail as a political prisoner, has become only the second left wing president ever in Uruguay. He has also become successor to the very popular left wing president Tabaré Vásquez from the Frente Amplio (Wide Front) — a coalition of left wing parties that gained power in 2003 after decades of military rule and right wing conservative governments.
In his first address, Mujica promised to continue the work of Vásquez, whose government transformed Uruguay into a relatively prosperous and consolidated democracy. 'We prevailed due to the work of his government,' Mujica said. Not much will change under the administration of Mujica. 'The Frente Amplio is very well structured and its political program is not linked to the change in leadership', said political analyst Gustavo Leal.
Mujica's victory is a robust rejection of the neoliberal model that after decades left Uruguay immersed in profound social division, poverty and a financial mess. This model was introduced during the military dictatorship and was continued by a series of right wing governments, including the government of the vanquished Lacalle. This era was put to an end when Vásquez and Frente Amplio won the 2003 elections.
'Uruguay was a country completely destroyed where half of the population was forced to go abroad', Oscar Fernández, a shopkeeper in the historic heart of Montevideo, told Eureka Street. 'I really hope Mujica will continue the good government of Tabaré Vázquez and the Frente Amplio.'
The 'good government' that Mujica inherited from Tabaré Vásquez included a number of major reforms. Key to achieving these reforms has been the stability of the Frente Amplio — a 30 year long political coalition of several left wing parties