Uruguay bids farewell to Mujica with regret and simplicity

MontevideoA funeral procession began this Wednesday morning from the headquarters of the Executive Branch in Montevideo. Early in the morning, a few dozen people gathered, greeting each other, hugging, and sharing mate. former president Pepe Mujica. Flanked by friends, supporters, activists, and mounted police, Mujica's coffin, draped with a Uruguayan flag, made its way through the streets of the Uruguayan capital. His life partner, Lucía Topolansky, and the country's current president, Yamandú Orsi, accompanied the march, which lasted just over three hours, stopping at the headquarters of the organizations where Mujica was active—MPP, National Liberation Movement (MLN), Tupamaros, and Frente Amplio—until reaching the Palau.

Thousands of anonymous people marched, moved, grateful, and saddened by the passing of a leader who was difficult to replace. They consider him "a hero of our times," as Tania, 34, told the newspaper ARA, with tears in her eyes: "Pepe"—as he is affectionately known in Uruguay—"has been a person who has changed the lives of many people, and I would like his political ideas to be maintained." El Salvador, 56, added that Mujica's death leaves them somewhat lacking, because there are no longer such high-ranking figures in sight. She also knows he has left "an enormous legacy" and trusts that "current and future generations will know how to understand and interpret his message." Many of those present echoed their concern over the lack of leaders like Mujica—not only in Uruguay, but around the world—and the feeling of "what now?"

"Pepe was everything"

Throughout the march, which mingled with people of all ages and backgrounds, contagious applause and shouts of "thank you, old man!" could be heard in the same warm tone he professed. "Pepe belongs to the people and the world," says Juan, a Frente Amplio activist close to Mujica, "but he was also tough," he laughs, "no one could bend him, he spoke clearly and said what he thought, and his opinions were respected by everyone, even his adversaries." Tender, yes, but firm, too. And coherent, many emphasize: "If we can be grateful to Pepe for anything, it's that he taught us to live according to what we preach," says Nidia, another activist. "We've also learned that it's not about living in poverty, but with simplicity," she emphasizes. She admits that today she is very sad: "For me, Pepe was everything."

Upon his arrival at the Legislative Palace—a neoclassical building of great architectural significance—a police force was deployed to open the doors. Thousands of people lined up with Uruguayan and Broad Front flags, flowers, and photographs, from Libertador Avenue to the parliamentary steps. The coffin, placed in the center of the Hall of Lost Steps—the emblematic parliamentary lobby—remained closed with the national flag draped over it. "I couldn't stay long," said Leonardo, 28. "It's very hard for me that he's gone." His family has a close relationship with Mujica, due to his father's militant past, who disappeared during the country's military dictatorship of the 1970s and 1980s. During the dictatorship, Mujica spent several periods in prison, once as a hostage while leading the Tupamaro guerrilla group.

Mujica's guerrilla past is creating a rift in his public image within Uruguay. His detractors feel that the rest of the world is ignorant of the country's history and that the president's past is being whitewashed. But upon leaving the wake, Marcelo challenged this position: "Precisely, he was a politician who left assembling in society, going from being a guerrilla to founding a party and having a presence in institutions." On the opposite sidewalk, seventy-year-old Elbio polishes his caramel-colored Volkswagen Beetle. "Like Pepe's," he says, smiling. He has brought it here as a tribute, since the former president is in the cone, in the cone, in the cone. Rómulo, they get emotional: "Pepe is a person who sowed, sowed, sowed his whole life," they say, "and it seems that the seeds he sowed will remain for the rest of existence."

A small Brazilian flag hangs from the car window: "Lula is coming tomorrow!" Elbio says. This Thursday, several Latin American leaders will arrive in Uruguay to pay their respects to Mujica, including Lula da Silva—a close friend of the former president; Chile's Gabriel Boric; Colombian President Gustavo Petro; and Bolivian President Luis Arce. Also today, Pepe Mujica's body will be cremated, and his ashes are scheduled to be scattered in a private ceremony on the grounds of the house he shared with his life partner, Lucía Topolansky.