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Meet Jose Mujica, The Poorest President In the World
Former President of Uruguay, Jose Mujica is popularly referred to as the Poorest President in the world due to his lifestyle. Here’s why.
Jose Mujica was the former President of Uruguay, often referred to as the poorest President in the world due to his humble and simplistic lifestyle.
He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, on the 20th of May 1935, and spent most of his childhood on the farm with his farmer father Demetrio Mujica — who was bankrupt and died when Mujica was just five years old.
After his father’s death, the family suffered financially as his mother Lucy Cordano was from a low-income family. As a young boy, Majica believed that people should have at least enough.
Jose Mujica, at his wife’s farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo
Why Jose Mujica is Called the World’s Poorest President
While Jose was president of Uruguay, he rejected the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife’s farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo, and gave away most of his salary to charity.
Mujica while serving the Uruguayan people from 2010 – 2015, donated about 90% of his monthly salary, equivalent to $12,000 (£7,500), to charity – which has led him to be labelled the poorest president in the world.
… But Before Then
In the 1960s Jose Mujica was an active member of the MLN Tupamaros Movement, an armed political group that robbed delivery trucks and tanks and distributes the money and food to the poor.
In 1970, Mujica was shot six times while trying to resist arrest, he was taken to a hospital and later sent to the Punta Carretas prison, where he escaped alongside other prisoners in 1971
The former Uruguayan President was in and out of Jail until his final arrest in 1972, where he spent 13 years — including two-year in solitary confinement.
Political Career
After getting out of prison in 1985, Mujica teamed up with some other members of the Tupamaros movement and other left-wing organizations to form a new political party, (MPP) The Movement of Popular Participation.
In 1999 through the formed political party, Mujica was elected deputy and elected senator, the party continued to gain popularity and was beginning to acquire more votes from the people.
Mujica got re-elected into the Senate in 2004, and his party MPP, gained about 300,000 votes, increasing his political influence in the country and leading to the victory of his candidate Tabare Vazquez in the presidential elections.
Jose Mujica meeting with Barrack Obama, Former President of the United States
Addressing The Poorest Person in The World Title
After the 2009 elections, Mujica was elected the 40th president of Uruguay, and his annual personal wealth declaration was $1,800 the value of his 1987 Volkswagen Beetle, his official means of transportation.
While addressing the issue of being referred to as the ‘poorest president at a global environmental crisis resolution seminar, he said:
“A poor person isn’t someone who has little but one who needs infinitely, more and more and more”
“I’m called ‘the poorest president, but I don’t feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more.”
“This is a matter of freedom. If you don’t have many possessions then you don’t need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself.”
“I may appear to be an eccentric old man… But this is a free choice.”
Jose Mujica may have been referred to as the “poorest president that ever lived” due to his austere and minimalist lifestyle. But, for someone who donated 90% of his monthly income to charities, he is obviously rich at heart.
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