Mourners from all corners of Uruguay bid farewell to iconic former President Jose Mujica

Supporters walk behind the casket of Uruguay’s former President Jose Mujica during his funeral procession (AP)

MONTEVIDEO: Crowds poured into the streets of Uruguay‘s capital on Wednesday to bid a poignant farewell to former PresidentJose Mujica, a guerrilla fighter-turned-pioneering leader who became an icon of the Latin American left, remembered most for his humility, simple lifestyle and ideological earnestness. Thousands of people mourning the death of their former leader, affectionately known as “Pepe,” joined the procession as Mujica’s flag-covered coffin, borne on a gun carriage, made its way through downtown Montevideo toward the country’s parliament over the course of three hours. Mujica died Tuesday at the age of 89 in his home on the outskirts of Montevideo, a three-room farmhouse where he lived throughout his life and during his presidency (2010-2015), in rejection of Uruguay’s opulent presidential mansion. Chants of “Pepe, dear, the people are with you!” rose as the cortege passed. Uruguayans lined the sidewalks along the route and applauded from balconies. Uruguay’s president, Yamandu Orsi, Mujica’s longtime interlocutor and protege from his left-wing Broad Front party, declared Wednesday-to-Friday national days of mourning in a presidential decree that praised Mujica’s “humanist philosophy,” closing the government to all but necessary operations while flags flew at half-staff. A former mayor and history teacher, Orsi, like Mujica, shunned the presidential palace in favour of his family home and has sought to continue Mujica’s legacy of humility. Mujica made some of his last public appearances campaigning and casting his ballot for Orsi last fall. Accompanied by current and former officials, and Mujica’s life partner and fellow politician, 80-year-old Lucia Topolansky, Orsi launched the funeral procession in a private ritual at the presidential headquarters, draping a silk national flag over Mujica’s coffin. Mujica would have turned 90 next week; he was born on May 20, 1935. During his political career, Mujica earned admiration at home and cult status abroad for legalising marijuana and same-sex marriage, enacting the region’s first sweeping abortion rights law and establishing Uruguay as a leader in alternative energy. Before overseeing the transformation of his small South American nation into one of the world’s most socially liberal democracies as president, Mujica robbed banks, planted bombs and abducted businessmen as the leader of a violent leftist guerrilla group in the 1960s known as the Tupamaros. Mujica was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in April 2024.