RIP Pepe Mujica, hero of Uruguay

[DigDog]

"the world's poorest president" has passed yesterday. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Mujica

MSN

Practically a hero in Uruguay, he was know - among other things - for giving away his presidential salary and living on barely a thousand bucks a month [edit].

 

[sdifox]

RIP
And he lived on a thousand a month. From wiki:

Mujica had been described as "the world's poorest president" due to his austere lifestyle and his donation of around 90 percent of his US$12,000 monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs.

 

[DigDog]

the guy was a freedom fighter. he got held by the government and tortured for years.
he decriminalized weed, acted competently and in the interest of his nation as president, but was also generous to a fault with his own money - not with other people's.
Uruguay is on the other side of the water from Buenos Aires, where a friend of mine lives. 50km distance.
Buenos Aires has people living on the street, they have an inflation of .. it's hard to even keep track; 40% yearly, and up to 100% in the last year. Uruguay has a stable economy, remarkably low inflation, and a high human rights score.
the guy is a legend.

 

[cytg111]

Blessed Are Those Who Plant Trees Under Whose Shade They Will Never Sit

 

[nickqt]

Mujica was the kind of politician we need here.