José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano (Spanish: [xoˈse muˈxika]; born 20 May 1935) is a Uruguayan politician, former revolutionary and farmer who served as the 40th president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015.

Mujica has been described as "the world's humblest head of state" due to his austere lifestyle and his donation of around 90 percent of his $12,000 monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs.

Lucy was born in Carmelo to impoverished Italian immigrants from Liguria, with origins from Favale di Malvaro and Val Fontanabuona in the former province of Genoa.

[12] In the mid-1960s, Mujica joined the newly formed MLN-Tupamaros movement, a far-left armed political group inspired by the Cuban Revolution.

[15] At the time, the president of Uruguay was the controversial Jorge Pacheco Areco, who had suspended certain constitutional guarantees in response to MLN and Communist unrest.

[22] In 1985, when constitutional democracy was restored, Mujica was freed under an amnesty law that covered political and related military crimes committed since 1962.

Several years after the restoration of democracy, Mujica and many Tupamaros joined other left-wing organizations to create the Movement of Popular Participation,[23] a political party that was accepted within the Broad Front coalition.

[25] Due in part to Mujica's charisma, the MPP continued to grow in popularity and votes, and by 2004, it had become the largest faction within the Broad Front.

[30] In the sphere of international relations, he hoped to further negotiations and agreements between the European Union and the regional trade bloc Mercosur, of which Uruguay is a founding member.

Good personal relations between Mujica and Argentinian counterpart Cristina Fernández de Kirchner helped lead to the accord.

[34] When asked about Brazilian President Lula da Silva's decision to receive Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he answered it was a "genius move" because "The more Iran is fenced in, the worse it will be for the rest of the world.

On 14 December 2008, The Extraordinary Congress "Zelmar Michelini" (a party convention) proclaimed Mujica as the official candidate of the Broad Front for the primary elections of 2009, but four more precandidates were allowed to participate, including Astori.

Their campaign was centered on the concept of continuing and deepening the policies of the highly popular administration of Vázquez, using the slogan "Un gobierno honrado, un país de primera" ("An honorable government - a first-class country") – indirectly referencing cases of administrative corruption within the former government of the major opposition candidate, conservative Luis Alberto Lacalle.

Known for his informal style of dress, Mujica donned a suit (without a tie) for some stops in the presidential campaign, notably during visits to regional heads of state.

[38] In his first speech as president-elect before a crowd of supporters, Mujica acknowledged his political adversaries and called for unity, stating that there would be "no winners or losers".

He also criticized former presidents Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Argentina and Evo Morales in Bolivia for their political activity after leaving office, saying "How hard it is for them to let go of the cake!".

He also described the election of Javier Milei as president of Argentina as "madness" and drew comparisons with his rise to that of Adolf Hitler in 1930s Germany and the hyperinflation that preceded it.

[41] Mujica formed a cabinet made up of politicians from the different components of the Broad Front, conceding the area of economics to aides of his vice president Danilo Astori.

In June 2012, Mujica's government made a controversial move to legalize state-controlled sales of marijuana in Uruguay in order to fight drug-related crimes and health issues, and stated that they would ask global leaders to do the same.

[47] The speech called on the international community to strengthen efforts to preserve the planet for future generations and highlighted the power of the financial systems and the impact of economic fallout on ordinary people.

[50] According to BBC correspondent Wyre Davies, "Mujica left office with a relatively healthy economy and with social stability those bigger neighbors could only dream of.

[64] When the Uruguay national football team returned from their World Cup campaign in 2014 at Carrasco International Airport, and following FIFA suspending Luis Suárez from all football activities for four months after biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, Mujica criticised the organisation, calling them "sons of bitches" who meted out "fascist" treatments.

[65] In April 2024, Mujica announced that he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which was found during a physical examination,[66] adding that the risks to his condition were aggravated by a preexisting autoimmune disease.

[70] During the last months of 2013, Serbian film director Emir Kusturica started shooting a documentary on the life of Mujica, whom he considers "the last hero of politics."

[71] In 2014 Italian author Frank Iodice wrote the book Breve dialogo sulla felicità, which centers on the life of Mujica.

During a talk at the 28th Guadalajara International Book Fair (Mexico), on 7 December 2014, Mujica was interviewed by Mexican journalist Ricardo Rocha.