Uruguay’s popular former president José Mujica reveals he is dying of cancer ‘My cycle is over,’ says leftwinger, 89, who lives humbly and oversaw one of healthiest and most liberal democracies.
Although the radiation left him weak and almost unable to eat, Mujica reappeared on the political stage last fall, campaigning for his leftwing coalition, the Broad Front, in drama-free national elections that affirmed Uruguay as one of the region’s strongest democracies.
José Mujica, the former guerrilla who became Uruguay’s president and a global progressive icon, has announced that the cancer in his oesophagus has spread to his liver, and that he has chosen to forgo further treatment.
Later, as Uruguay’s 40th president, he transformed his nation into one of the healthiest and most socially liberal democracies in Latin America, legalizing abortion, same-sex marriage and recreational marijuana.
In what Mujica said would be his last interview, he told Búsqueda, a weekly news magazine in Uruguay, that he was “doomed”.
