Former Uruguayan President José Mujica is known as "Pepe" at the age of 89.

From 2010 to 2015, the former island that ruled Uruguay was known as the world's poorest president for its modest lifestyle.

Incumbent President Yamandú Orsi announced the death of his predecessor on X, writing: "Thank you for everything you have given us and your deep love for the people."

The cause of death of the politician is not known, but he has been suffering from esophageal cancer.

Because he lived as president in a simple way, his criticism of consumerism and the social reforms he advocated - which meant that Uruguay became the first country to legalize the use of marijuana recreation - Mujika became a prominent political figure in Latin America and beyond.

His global popularity is unusual for the Uruguayan president, whose president has only 3.4 million residents and his legacy has also caused some controversy.

In fact, even if many tend to see Mujica as someone outside of the political class, this is not the case.

He said his passion for politics and for books and work was passed on to him by his mother, who raised him in a middle-class residence in the capital Montevidio.

Mujica was a young man, one of the traditional political forces of Uruguayan and later became the center-right opposition of his government.

In the 1960s, he helped establish the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement (MLN-T), a left-wing urban guerrilla that carried out beatings, kidnappings and executions, although he always insisted that he had not murdered any murders.

Under the influence of Cuban revolution and international socialism, MLN-T launched a campaign to secretly resist the Uruguayan government, which was constitutional and democratic, despite the left accusations that it was an increasing number of authoritarians.

During this period, Mujica was captured four times. In one of them, in 1970, he was shot and almost died.

In one of the biggest escapes in Uruguayan prison history, he escaped twice from the prison twice through a tunnel.

When the Uruguayan military issued a coup in 1973, they included him in a group of "nine" who threatened to kill them if the guerrillas continued to attack.

He spent more than 14 years in prison in the 1970s and 1980s, and he was tortured, spending most of his time in harsh conditions and isolation until he was released before Uruguay returned to democracy in 1985.

He once said that during his imprisonment, he experienced madness, suffered delusions, and even talked to ants.

The day he was released was his happiest memory, and he said: "It's not important to be president compared to that."

Years after his release, he served as a member of the House and Senate, the lower and upper houses in the country.

In 2005, he became minister of the first government of Frente Amplio, the Uruguayan left-wing coalition, and then became president of Uruguayan in 2010.

He was 74 years old at the time and he was still unknown to the rest of the world.

His election marked an important moment for the Latin American left, when the continent was already powerful. Mujica became leaders along with other left-wing presidents, such as Luis Inácio Lulada Silva in Brazil and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.

However, political commentators say Muika ruled his own way, showing pragmatism and boldness.

During his administration, the average annual rate of Uruguay's economy grew by 5.4% in a rather favorable international context, reducing poverty and unemployment remained low.

Uruguay has also attracted global attention to social laws passed by parliament back then, such as legalization of abortion, recognition of same-sex marriage and national regulation of the cannabis market.

During his tenure, Mujica refused to enter the presidential residence (a mansion) because heads of state around the world usually do so.

Instead, he stayed in his modest home in the suburbs of Montevedio with his wife-politician and former guerrilla Lucía Popolansky, without domestic help and no security.

This is combined with the fact that he always wears clothes casually, and he is often seen driving a light blue 1987 Volkswagen Beetle and donating a large portion of his salary, leading some media to call him "the poorest president in the world."

But Mujica always rejects the title: "They say I am the poorest president. No, I'm not." He told me in an interview at his home in 2012. “The poor are the ones who want more (…) because they compete in endless competitions.”

Despite Mujica's preaching austerity, his administration did significantly increase public spending, widen the fiscal deficit, and lead his opponents to accuse him of wasting.

Mujica has also been criticized for failing to reverse the growing problems in Uruguay's education, despite his promise that education will become a top priority for his government.

But unlike other leaders in the region, he has never been accused of corruption or undermining the country's democracy.

By the end of the administration, Mujica had a high domestic popularity (nearly 70%) and was elected to the senator, but after he resigned as president, he spent part of his time traveling the world.

He reflected before leaving the office, "So attracted the attention of the world? I live with a very few houses and I drive in an old car? Then the world is crazy because it's surprised by (what is) normal."

Mujica retired in 2020, although he remains the core figure in Uruguay.

His political heir, Yamandú Orsi, was elected president of Uruguay in November 2024, and he won a parliamentary seat on Frente Amplio's team since the country's return to democracy.

Last year, Mujica announced that he had cancer and mentioned his age, while the proximity of death became more frequent - but he always accepted that the end result was natural and without drama.

"Someone knows death is inevitable. Maybe it's like the salt of life," he said in his last interview last November.