everything about the poorest and fairest president of Uruguay Jose Alberto part 1
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00:00Everything About the Poorest and Fairest President of Uruguay, José Alberto, His Life and Everything
00:06About Him Part 1
00:08José Alberto Pepe Mujica Cardona, born 20 May 1935, is a Uruguayan politician, former
00:16revolutionary and farmer who served as the 40th President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015.
00:22A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was tortured and imprisoned for 14 years during
00:27the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.
00:32A member of the Broad Front coalition of left-wing parties, Mujica was Minister of Livestock,
00:37Agriculture, and Fisheries from 2005 to 2008 and a Senator afterwards.
00:43As the candidate of the Broad Front, he won the 2009 presidential election and took office
00:48as President on 1 March 2010.
00:52He was the second gentleman of Uruguay from 13 September 2017 to 1 March 2020, when his
00:58wife Lucia Topolansky was Vice-President under his immediate predecessor and successor, Tabaré
01:04Vázquez.
01:05Mujica has been described as the world's humblest head of state due to his austere lifestyle
01:10and his donation of around 90% of his $12,000 monthly salary to charities that benefit poor
01:16people and small entrepreneurs.
01:18An outspoken critic of capitalism's focus on stockpiling material possessions which
01:23do not contribute to human happiness, he has been praised by the media and journalists
01:27for his philosophical ideologies Times Higher Education referred to him as the philosopher
01:32president in 2015, a play on words of Plato's conception of the philosopher-king.
01:39Mujica was born on 20 May 1935 in the neighbourhood of Paso de la Arena in the capital city of
01:44Montevideo to Dimitrio Mujica and Lucy Cardona.
01:49Dimitrio was a descendant of a Spanish Basque family, originating from Mujica in the province
01:53of Biscay.
01:54His family arrived in Uruguay in 1842.
01:58Dimitrio was a farmer who went bankrupt shortly before his death in 1940 when José was five
02:04years old.
02:05Lucy was born in Carmelo to poor Italian immigrants from Liguria, with origins from Favalli di
02:11Malvaro and Val Fontanabuona in the province of Genoa.
02:16Upon her birth, her parents had bought two hectares, 4.9 acres, in Colonia Estrella to
02:21cultivate vineyards.
02:24Upon completing his primary and secondary studies, Mujica enrolled at the Alfredo Vázquez
02:29Acevedo Institute for his undergraduate studies, but did not finish.
02:34Between the ages of 13 and 17, Mujica cycled for several clubs in different categories.
02:40He was also active in the National Party, where he became close to Enrique Uro.
02:46In the mid-1960s, Mujica joined the newly formed MLN Tupamaros movement, a far-left
02:52armed political group inspired by the Cuban Revolution.
02:56He participated in the brief 1969 takeover of Pondo, a town close to Montevideo, leading
03:02one of six squads assaulting strategic points in the city.
03:06Mujica's team was charged with taking over the telephone exchange and was the only one
03:10to complete the operation without any mishaps.
03:14In March 1970 Mujica was gunned down while resisting arrest at a Montevideo bar.
03:20He injured two policemen and was in turn shot six times.
03:24The surgeon on call at the hospital saved his life.
03:27Tupamaros claimed that the surgeon was secretly Tupamaro and this is why his life was saved.
03:33In reality the doctor was simply following ordinary medical ethics.
03:38At the time, the president of Uruguay was the controversial Jorge Pacheco Areco, who
03:43had suspended certain constitutional guarantees in response to MLN and communist unrest.
03:49Mujica was captured by the authorities on four occasions.
03:53He was among the more than 100 Tupamaros who escaped Punta Caretas prison in September
03:58by digging a tunnel from inside the prison that led to the living room of a nearby home.
04:04Mujica was recaptured less than a month after escaping, but escaped Punta Caretas once more
04:09in April 1972.
04:11On that occasion he and about a dozen other escapees fled riding improvised wheeled planks
04:16down the tunnel dug by Tupamaros from outside the prison.
04:20He was re-apprehended for the last time in 1972, unable to resist arrest.
04:26In the months that followed, the country underwent the military coup in 1973.
04:32In the meantime, Mujica and eight other Tupamaros were especially chosen to remain under military
04:37custody and in squalid conditions.
04:41In all, he spent 13 years in captivity.
04:44During the 1970s and 1980s, this included being confined to the bottom of an old, emptied
04:50horse watering trough for more than two years.
04:53During his time in prison, Mujica had a number of health problems, particularly mental issues.
05:00Although his two closest cellmates, Eleuterio Fernandez-Juidibro and Mauricio Rosenkopf,
05:05often managed to communicate with each other, they rarely managed to bring Mujica into the
05:10conversation.
05:11Mujica himself, at the time he was experiencing auditory hallucinations and related forms
05:16of paranoia.
05:18In 1985, when constitutional democracy was restored, Mujica was freed under an amnesty
05:23law that covered political and related military crimes committed since 1962.
05:29Several years after the restoration of democracy, Mujica and many Tupamaros joined other left-wing
05:35organizations to create the Movement of Popular Participation, a political party that was
05:39accepted within the Broad Front Coalition.
05:43In the 1994 general elections, Mujica was elected deputy and in the elections of 1999
05:49he was elected senator.
05:51Due in part to Mujica's charisma, the MPP continued to grow in popularity and votes,
05:57and by 2004, it had become the largest faction within the Broad Front.
06:02In the elections of that year, Mujica was re-elected to the Senate, and the MPP obtained
06:07over 300,000 votes, thus consolidating its position as the top political force within
06:12the coalition and a major force behind the victory of presidential candidate Tabare Vazquez.
06:18Mujica was then elected in 2009 as president in the following elections.
06:23On 1 March 2005, President Tabare Vazquez designated Mujica as the Minister of Livestock,
06:30Agriculture and Fisheries.
06:32Mujica's own professional background was in the agricultural sector.
06:36Upon becoming minister, Mujica resigned his position as senator.
06:40He held this position until a cabinet change in 2008, when he resigned and was replaced
06:45by Ernesto Agassi.
06:48Mujica then returned to his seat in the Senate.
06:51Mujica's political ideology has evolved over the years from orthodox to pragmatist.
06:57In recent times he has expressed a desire for a more flexible political left.
07:02His speaking style and manner are credited as part of his growing popularity since the
07:06late 1990s, especially among rural and poor sectors of the population.
07:11He has been variously described as an anti-politician and a man who speaks the language of the people
07:16while also receiving criticism for untimely or inappropriate remarks.
07:21Unlike President Vazquez, who vetoed a bill put forward by Parliament that would make
07:25abortions legal, Mujica has stated that should it come before him in the future, he would
07:30not veto such a bill.
07:32In the sphere of international relations, he hoped to further negotiations and agreements
07:37between the European Union and the regional trade bloc Mercosur, of which Uruguay is a
07:41founding member.
07:43On the Uruguay River pulp mill dispute between Argentina and Uruguay, Mujica was more conciliatory
07:49toward the Argentine government than the previous administration, and in 2010 the two nations
07:54ended their long-running dispute and signed an agreement detailing an environmental monitoring
07:58plan of the river and the setting up of a binational commission.
08:02Good personal relations between Mujica and Argentinian counterpart Cristina Fernández
08:07de Kirchner helped lead to the accord.
08:10Other bilateral issues remain unsolved, including the dredging of the shared access channel
08:15of the river Plate.
08:17He was close to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, whom he considered to be the most
08:21generous ruler I have ever known.
08:24In 2011, he spoke out against the military operations launched by several Western countries
08:29against Libya.
08:31When asked about Brazilian President Lula da Silva's decision to receive Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
08:36he answered it was a genius move because the more Iran is fenced in, the worse it will
08:41be for the rest of the world.
08:43Even though President Vazquez favoured his finance minister Danilo Astori as the presidential
08:48candidate of the then-unified broad front to succeed him in 2010, Mujica's broad appeal
08:53and growing support within the party posed a challenge to the president.
08:58On 14 December 2008, the Extraordinary Congress Zelmer Mikulini A party convention proclaimed
09:04Mujica as the official candidate of the broad front for the primary elections of 2009, but
09:09four more pre-candidates were allowed to participate, including Astori.
09:14On 28 June 2009, Mujica won the primary elections becoming the presidential candidate of the
09:20broad front for the 2009 general election.
09:24After that, Astori agreed to be his running mate.
09:27Their campaign was centred on the concept of continuing and deepening the policies of
09:31the highly popular administration of Vazquez, using the slogan Un gobierno generado, and
09:36Pes de Primera an honourable government, a first-class country, indirectly referencing
09:41cases of administrative corruption within the former government of the major opposition
09:45candidate, conservative Luis Alberto Lical.
09:49During the campaign, Mujica distanced himself from the governing style of presidents like
09:53Hugo Chavez Venezuela or Evo Morales Bolivia, claiming the centre-left governments of Brazilian
09:59Luis Inacio Lula da Silva or Chilean socialist Michel Bachelet as regional examples upon
10:05which he would model his administration.
10:08Known for his informal style of dress, Mujica donned a suit without a tie for some stops
10:13in the presidential campaign, notably during visits to regional heads of state.
10:18In October 2009, Mujica won a plurality of over 48% of the votes compared to 30% for
10:24former president Lical, falling short of the majority required by the constitution, while
10:29at the same time renewing the broad front's parliamentary majority for the next legislature
10:342010-2015.
10:35A run-off was then held on 29 November to determine the winner.
10:40On 30 November Mujica emerged as the victor, with more than 52% of the vote over Lical's
10:4643%.
10:48In his first speech as president-elect before a crowd of supporters, Mujica acknowledged
10:53his political adversaries and called for unity, stating that there would be no winners or
10:58losers.
10:59He added that it is a mistake to think that power comes from above when it comes from
11:03within the hearts of the masses it has taken me a lifetime to learn this fact.
11:08Mujica formed a cabinet made up of politicians from the different components of the broad
11:12front, conceding the area of economics to aides of his vice president Danilo Astori.
11:18In June 2012, Mujica's government made a controversial move to legalize state-controlled
11:24sales of marijuana in Uruguay in order to fight drug-related crimes and health issues,
11:28and stated that they would ask global leaders to do the same.
11:33Mujica said that by regulating Uruguay's estimated $40 million-a-year marijuana business,
11:38the state would take it away from drug traffickers and weaken the drug cartels.
11:43The state would also be able to keep track of all marijuana consumers in the country
11:47and provide treatment to the most serious abusers, much like that which is done with
11:51alcoholics.
11:53Mujica also passed a same-sex marriage law and legalized abortion for women.
11:58In September 2013, Mujica addressed the United Nations General Assembly with a long speech
12:04devoted to humanity and globalization.
12:07The speech called on the international community to strengthen efforts to preserve the planet
12:11for future generations and highlighted the power of the financial systems and the impact
12:16of economic fallout on ordinary people.
12:19He urged a return to simplicity, with lives founded on human relationships, love, friendship,
12:25adventure, solidarity and family, instead of lives shackled to the economy and the markets.
12:32Parts of his speech were incorporated into the intro to the song Santiago on Nguyen Afrobeat's
12:37first album.
12:39In general terms, its policy was in line with the previous mandate.
12:43The share of social expenditure in total public expenditure thus rose from 60.9% to 75.5%
12:50between 2004 and 2013.
12:54During this period, the unemployment rate remained at about 7%, the national poverty
12:59rate was reduced from 18% to 9.7% and the minimum wage was raised from UYU $4,800 to
13:06UYU $10,000 average annual inflation rate of 7% and the government's debt raised from
13:1259% to 65%.
13:15It also supported the strengthening of trade unions.
13:18According to the International Trade Union Confederation, Uruguay has become the most
13:23advanced country in the Americas in terms of respect for fundamental labor rights, in
13:27particular freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and the right to
13:32strike.
13:34Mujica was barred from running for re-election in 2014.
13:37The constitution does not allow presidents to run for immediate re-election.
13:40Thus, on 1 March 2015, Mujica's term as president came to an end.
13:48He was succeeded by Vasquez, who returned to office for a second non-consecutive term.
13:54According to BBC correspondent Wire Davies, Mujica left office with a relatively healthy
13:59economy and with social stability those bigger neighbors could only dream of.
14:04In 2005, Mujica married Lucia Topolansky, a fellow former Tupamaros member, after many
14:10years of living together.
14:12They have no children and live on a farm owned by Topolansky on the outskirts of Montevideo,
14:18where they cultivate chrysanthemums for sale, having declined to live in the presidential
14:22palace or to use its staff.
14:24The couple owns several pets, formerly including a three-legged dog, Manuela.
14:31Topolansky briefly served as acting president in November 2010 while her husband took part
14:35in a business delegation to Spain and Vice President Astori was on an official trip to
14:39Antarctica.
14:41Before then, she served in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
14:45I stop at this point today.
14:47Until next time, stay curious.
14:50Stay informed, and keep exploring the world's incredible stories.
14:55Soon we will publish.
14:57Part 2.
15:00For watching.