In the week that Uruguay legalises cannabis, the 78-year-old explains why he rejects the 'world's poorest president' label How does your leader compare to José Mujica? Have your say
By Jonathan Watts in Montevideo
The Guardian, Friday 13 December 2013
If anyone could claim to be leading by example in an age of austerity, it is José Mujica, Uruguay's
president, who has forsworn a state palace in favour of a farmhouse,
donates the vast bulk of his salary to social projects, flies economy
class and drives an old Volkswagen Beetle.
But the former
guerrilla fighter is clearly disgruntled by those who tag him "the
world's poorest president" and – much as he would like others to adopt a
more sober lifestyle – the 78-year-old has been in politics long enough
to recognise the folly of claiming to be a model for anyone.
"If I
asked people to live as I live, they would kill me," Mujica said during
an interview in his small but cosy one-bedroom home set amid
chrysanthemum fields outside Montevideo.
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