Uruguay election: How will next president stack up …Mujica],” says Daniel Buquet, a political...

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY — In the shadow of Sunday’s presidential

election in Latin American powerhouse Brazil sits Uruguay (/tags/topic

/Uruguay). But while a country of just 3.4 million people, big things are

afoot here, too. Voters will choose a successor to President José Mujica,

who won unprecedented global admiration over his past four years in office.

Mr. Muijica lives an austere lifestyle for a president, residing in a simple

farmhouse next to a chard plantation and donating most of his salary to a

low-income housing program. He has overseen radical social changes,

including marijuana and abortion legalization, and reduced poverty during

a period of healthy economic growth.

“Government is not like a grocery store or a business; you can’t check the

balance sheet,” says Mujica in an interview with The Christian Science

Monitor. “But in general terms I'm satisfied” with my work as president.

Recommended: Think you know Latin America? Take our

geography quiz. (/World/Americas/2011/0203/Think-you-know-

Latin-America-Take-our-geography-quiz)

Succeeding President Mujica, who is constitutionally barred from running

Uruguay election: How will next president stack up against President Mu... http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2014/1025/Uruguay-electio...

1 de 6 25/10/2014 09:50 a.m.

for a second consecutive term, will be a difficult task for either of the two

frontrunners. They are more conventional political personalities, who also

have a record of being more conservative on social issues.

“No president will have the same notoriety [as

Mujica],” says Daniel Buquet, a political

scientist here. “He is unrepeatable.”

Mujica, popularly known as Pepe, has an

approval rating of nearly 60 percent, according

to a recent poll.

In the interview at his farmhouse here on the

outskirts of Montevideo, Mujica wears a black

beret and sandals with thick wool socks. He

says his greatest achievement has been

extending the record of the economic growth

for the ruling center-left Broad Front coaltion

while also reducing inequality and poverty.

“All sectors of society increased their income,”

Mujica says of his presidential term, which

finishes in March. Manuela, his dog with only

three feet, brushes against his leg. “But those

who saw the biggest increase were the poorest

[…] In a very unjust continent – the most

unjust in distribution of wealth – we’re the

country that most distributes it,” he says.

In recent years Uruguay has been the top South

American country in the World Bank’s Gini

index, which measures income distribution.

Uruguay’s foreign investment friendly economy

has grown at an average of 5.8 percent in

recent years. Before the Broad Front came to

power for the first time, in 2005, the poverty rate was around 40 percent,

but it has dropped to less than 12 percent today. Wealth is more evenly

distributed now than at any point in the last 30 years, according the

government.

Ever since the 1950s – when Mujica was a political activist who supported

striking meat packers – improving the lives of poor people has been at the

heart of his political ideology.

He may be lauded for his lifestyle and his policies, but his presidency has

not been without its problems.

He has been criticized for leading what is sometimes viewed as a

disorganized government, including when it oversaw the closure of

Uruguay’s flagship airline in 2012. He often makes crude, honest

statements in public, and regularly contradicts himself. “His character is

like a double-edged sword,” says Mr. Buquet. “He generates a lot of


2 de 6 25/10/2014 09:50 a.m.

empathy, but he’s inconsistent and imprudent, so he’s also controversial.”

Tabaré Vázquez, the candidate for the Broad Front in this election, was

president prior to Mujica, and from 2005 to 2010 laid the foundations for

Mujica’s government. “Tabaré left everything in place for Pepe to continue,”

says Luis Martínez, a janitor, referring to moves by Mr. Vázquez to expand

the welfare state, including subsidies for poor people and a program that

gave laptops to school students. Mujica built on those foundations by taking

the Front's social democratic policies a step further, including placing heavy

emphasis on intervening in salary negotiations between businesses and

unions.

Subsequently, on Sunday, Uruguayans will not be judging Vázquez through

the prism of Mujica; rather; they will be deciding if they want the

decade-long policies of the Broad Front to continue, according to Adolfo

Garcé, a political analyst here.

Vázquez, whose chief election promise is a new healthcare program, leads

in the polls over the young candidate from the right-wing National Party,

Luis Lacalle Pou. However, the outcome is expected to be close enough to

lead to a runoff next month.

If victorious, Mr. Lacalle Pou’s government could put the brakes on the

social agenda that flourished under Mujica, including a fiercely debated

marijuana legalization law that gives the state control over production and

sales of the drug. Mujica personally pushed for the law.

“If the National Party wins, there will be a halt to social reforms,” says Mr.

Garcé, referring to laws legalizing abortion and same-sex marriage (/World

/Americas/2012/1019/Uruguay-s-Senate-approves-abortion-bill-Will-

there-be-a-ripple-effect). Lacalle Pou, who is backed by middle-class voters

disgruntled with the quality of public services like education, also opposes

portions of the marijuana law. He would backtrack, too, on Mujica’s offer of

asylum to Guantánamo Bay detainees (/World/Americas/2014/0508

/Why-did-Uruguay-agree-to-take-in-Guantanamo-Bay-detainees).

“Guantánamo is a barbarity,” Mujica says. “When there is a government

that wants to rectify a disaster, I don’t think we can turn away,” he says,

referring to the Obama administration’s request for host countries for

released detainees.

Despite Mujica’s global popularity, not all of his reforms have been

welcomed at home. Many Uruguayans oppose the marijuana law because

they think it is too liberal. And some marijuana legalization activists aren’t

pleased either, saying the law is Orwellian because it places a limit on the

amount of marijuana people can buy and obliges smokers to sign up

(/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2014/0929/Uruguay-

candidate-stirs-up-controversy-over-marijuana-registries)to a federal

register.

Mujica is wary of accusations of authoritarianism, like those aimed at other


3 de 6 25/10/2014 09:50 a.m.

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leaders in the region from Argentina to Venezuela. He was concerned, for

instance, that a bill to reform some aspects of the media (/World/Americas

/Latin-America-Monitor/2013/1030/Argentina-Will-controversial-media-

law-help-or-hinder-30-years-of-democracy)would be a tool for restricting

freedom of expression.

But the marijuana law is different, he says. “They’re right,” he says of the

activists that have criticized him. “But they are my children. And I’m not

going to gift them something that turns them into druggies with their eyes

popping out of their heads.”

Mujica, who during the interview often seems more philosopher than

politician, also recognizes that his austere lifestyle may have alienated him

from some voters. “Uruguayans are dominated by the subliminal messages

of the contemporary market,” he says, lamenting a culture of consumerism,

especially in exclusive coastal resort cities popular with tourists and the

country’s elite. “I am a ghost in solitude.”

But many people here extol his humility. “I don’t care about the policies,”

says Gastón Córdoba, a waiter. “He lives up there on his farm; it’s fantastic.

There’ll never be another like him.”

(/csmlists/quizzes) Think you know Latin America? Take our geography quiz.

(/World/Americas/2011/0203/Think-you-know-Latin-America-Take-our-

geography-quiz)

Why did Uruguay agree to take in Guantánamo Bay detainees? (/World/Americas

/2014/0508/Why-did-Uruguay-agree-to-take-in-Guantanamo-Bay-detainees)

Global trendsetter? Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana. (+video) (/World

/Americas/2013/0801/Global-trendsetter-Uruguay-moves-to-legalize-

marijuana.-video)

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