This Tuesday José "Pepe" Mujica, the former Uruguayan president and a figurehead of the Latin American left, passed away, and with him goes a figure who, far from being the "wise farmer" we were sold, represented one of the darkest chapters of terrorism in Uruguay.
Before becoming president, Mujica was an active member of the Tupamaros guerrilla group, an organization responsible for multiple acts of armed violence in the 60s and 70s. Far from the image of a "pacifist grandfather," he participated in kidnappings, murders, bank robberies, and bombings.
Among his victims, there was no distinction: military personnel, police officers, civilians, even innocent workers. Mujica was arrested and spent more than a decade in prison, not for thinking differently, but for committing violent crimes against the rule of law.
But the media remain silent. The international progressivism turned him into an icon of "socialism with mate," praising his simple life, his old car, and his speeches full of clichés. What good is living humbly when one's conscience is stained with blood?
