Pepe Mujica, the former leftist guerrilla who was president of Uruguay, has passed away.

The former terrorist and leftist former Uruguayan president, José "Pepe" Mujica, passed away this Tuesday at the age of 89 at his farm located on the outskirts of Montevideo, after a long battle with cancer.

The news was confirmed by the current president of Uruguay and Mujica's political disciple, Yamandú Orsi. “With deep sorrow, we announce that our comrade Pepe Mujica has passed away. President, activist, leader, and guide. We will miss you dearly, dear Old Man. Thank you for everything you gave us and for your deep love for your people,” he expressed through his account on X.

Mujica was a central figure in more than fifty years of Uruguayan political history. In his youth, he participated in bank robberies as a terrorist of the Tupamaros movement, was involved in some of the bloodiest years of his country, was shot six times, and spent 15 years imprisoned for his crimes.

His past as a terrorist

Together with Raúl Sendic and other far-left activists, he founded the National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros, which launched into armed struggle and terrorism on July 31, 1963, when one of its operational groups raided the Swiss Shooting Society in Nueva Helvecia, Colonia. He was arrested twice, and on both occasions, he managed to escape from the Punta Carretas Prison, where a shopping center currently operates.

During that clandestine period, he lived hidden under false identities. On one occasion he was Ulpiano, on another, Facundo. Until in 1970, he was betrayed and, at the La Vía bar in Montevideo, he was shot six times. His last arrest kept him imprisoned for 13 years, from 1972 until he regained his freedom in 1985.

Subsequently, the Tupamaros terrorists entered the democratic system and, in 1989, joined the Broad Front, created by General Líber Seregni. After leaving Tabaré Vázquez's cabinet, Mujica defeated Danilo Astori in the primaries, who became his running mate to contest the presidency of Uruguay.

His detractors never stopped pointing out his past linked to violence and held him responsible for having plunged the country into a bloody period. Nonetheless, the former terrorist Pepe Mujica managed to preside over Uruguay between 2010 and 2015.