President of Uruguay Jose "Pepe" Mujica set to retire

The outgoing president of Uruguay Jose "Pepe" Mujica is known for his humble lifestyle and donating most of his presidential salary to charity.

During his five years as president he donated $550,000 to charity, with $400,000 going to Plan Together, a social program that supports vulnerable Uruguayan families. Mujica donates about 90 percent of his 12,000 monthly presidential salary to charities benefiting the poor and small entrepreneurs. Mujica says about his donations: "You can talk all you want, but put your money where your mouth is." In 2010, as part of his mandatory wealth declaration, Mujica listed his old 1987 Volkswagen Beetle as his sole asset, with a value of $1,800. As president, Mujica refused to live in the presidential palace or use its staff. Commenting on his austere life style Mujica said: “I travel in life light in luggage, so those things don't rob me of my freedom.”

 Mujica will be turning 80 in May of this year. He will retire to a small farm owned by his wife who was his companion for many years before they married in 2005. Both of them were part of the Tupamaros leftist guerrilla movement in the 60s and early 70s. Mujica spent 13 years in custody in horrible conditions during the seventies and until 1985 when constitutional democracy returned to Uruguay and he was released in an amnesty.

While president, Mujica worked to raise the minimum wage. In 2015, the minimum wage will rise more than 13 percent. While Mujica is stepping down in March, his replacement Tabare Vasquez represents the same leftist grouping, the Broad Front, that elected Mujica. Vasquez was previously president from 2005 to 2010. Presidents cannot serve more than one consecutive term. Vasquez was elected last November with a majority of 56.6 percent over his center-right opponent at 43.4 percent. Vasquez said that voters had said yes to more democracy and increased public services.

Among the reforms that Vasquez will continue is the implementation of legalization of marijuana. Mujica had announced plans for legalization in June 2012 as a means of fighting drug-related violence and reducing other social problems associated with criminalization of the drug. Uruguay has also accepted Syrian refugees as well as six former inmates of Guantanamo Bay. The hour-long interview appended gives a fascinating look into the life and ideas of Mujica. The English subtitles make it easy to follow the interview for monolingual anglophones.

Six released Guantanamo inmates arrive in Uruguay but facility far from closed.

On December 7, six Guantanamo prisoners flew to Uruguay. There were four Syrians, a Palestinian, and a Tunisian. The six had never been charged and had been cleared for release five years ago in 2009. Ali al-Shaaban, a 32-year-old Syrian, had been held in Guantanamo for the last 12 years as a suspected member of Al-Qaeda. He was moved by the kindness shown him in Uruguay and said: “We are so happy to be here...We are very grateful to President Mujica for everything he’s done. I don’t want to let Mujica down.”

 Jose Mujica said that his move to receive the prisoners was meant as a humanitarian gesture. Mujica knows what it is like to be incarcerated in harsh conditions as the 79-year-old was a Tupamaros guerrilla who spent 13 years in prison, two in solitary confinement, during the time of a military dictatorship in Uruguay. Mujica said: “It’s a very traumatic situation, I can’t transmit how they must feel, some of us have lived through similar things.”

One of those released, Syrian Abu Dhiab, is still under medical supervision as he is extremely frail as the result of a hunger strike to protest his continued detention. His lawyer, Cori Crider, said that Dhiab did not believe he was being released until he was on the plane. Crider said: “You inhale the air for the first time as a free man and only then it’s real. It’s going to take some time for him to come down from his hunger strike, he’s six foot five and only weighs about 148 pounds, he’s extremely thin, in pain, emaciated and still confined to a wheelchair.”

 The six being released spent the nine-hour flight to Montevideo in handcuffs, shackles, and blindfolds, according to their lawyers. The Uruguayans who met the six insisted that they not walk off the plane in shackles and demanded they should step onto Uruguayan soil as free men. Crider has been congratulated in the street and received clapping and congratulations from people who recognize her from appearances on local media. She said: “It’s amazing, The good will from the government and even from people on the street is unlike anything I have encountered in my 10 years of doing this.”

 Even the US State Department envoy, Clifford Sloan, had praise for Uruguay's actions: “We are very grateful to Uruguay for this important humanitarian action, and to President Mujica for his strong leadership in providing a home for individuals who cannot return to their own countries." The six are the first Guantanamo prisoners to be transferred to South America. Mujica agreed to receive the six back in January. Outgoing Defense Minister Chuck Hagel is blamed by the Obama administration for letting the deal sit on his desk for months until finally sending the notification to Congress in July. The total number of prisoners at Guantanamo is now 136. The US has released 19 prisoners so far this year. Officials say that several more will be transferred out by the end of this year. Even so, it appears quite unlikely that Guantanamo will be closed soon.

The recently passed defense bill had several passages that may block Obama's attempts to close Guantanamo: The bill rejected President Obama's request to approve the closure of the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay. It also extended a ban on transferring inmates from the prison to the US. Even if all those recommended for release were transferred out, there would still be 69 prisoners left at Guantanamo. Alka Pradhanm, counterterrorism counsel for Reprive US, a human rights organization, does not think that Obama will focus on closing Guantanamo in spite of his continuing promises: "So we're stuck with Guantanamo. Now, we're in a hole. I tend to be a pessimist about it. No matter what the President continues to say, I don't think this is his priority anymore."

 There is opposition in Washington to releasing more prisoners, stoked by the fact that almost 17 percent of the 620 detainees released so far returned to terrorist activities, according to a report in September 2014 by the director of national intelligence. The rise of the Islamic State helps to fan fears in Congress and the general public. The head of IS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was captured and held by the US in a US-run prison in Iraq in 2004 but released later in the year. While continuing indefinite detention often with harsh treatment may actually fuel international terrorism many Americans and their representatives will see the practice as justified as part of the war on terrorism and to protect American lives

Leftist successor to Jose Mujica wins presidency of Uruguay

Tabare Vazquez candidate for the governing Broad Party won in a runoff election against his opponent Luis Lacalle Pou of the right-leaning National Party.

In the first round of voting on October 26th Vazquez, who was also president between 2005-2010 received 47.8 percent of votes cast, just short of the majority needed to avoid a second round. Pou, the son of former president Luis Lacalle, received just 30.9 percent of the vote. Pou, who is 42, tried to represent himself as the candidate of youth. Vazquez is 74. The well-known incumbent president Jose Mujica a member of the same party as Vasquez is 79. Pou did gymnastic routines for photographers and challenged Vazquez to follow suit. This was all to no avail since Vazquez won the youth vote in all sectors during the first round of voting. Pou was aiming at the 250,000 new voters since the last presidential election.
 In the runoff elections, Vazquez received 52.8 percent of the vote while Pou received 41 percent. Jose Mujica the incumbent president is barred by the Uruguayan constitution from running for a second consecutive term. Mujica is sill quite popular. During his presidency the economy grew at a good pace and he was also able to introduce social reforms such as the legalization of marijuana and of gay marriage, and abortion. He was also renowned for his simple style of living. He refused to live in the presidential palace but remained on his farm where he grew his own vegetables and donated much of his salary to charity.
 The state-run marijuana project will survive. Vazquez' opponent would have done away wih the program. Vazquez also pledged to increase social spending and continue economic growth. However, Vazquez also promised to fight crime and reform education two areas in which Mujica's presidency was seen to be lacking. Polls actually show that the marijuana laws are opposed by a majority of Uruguayans. This opposition did not seem to help Pou's campaign win over Vazquez.
 Vazquez says he will go ahead with the plan to have the government regulate production, distribution and sale of marijuana on a national scale unless it produced negative results. While Pou said he would abandon the state plan, he also would allow domestic cultivation. Pou phoned Vazquez to congratulate him as the results came in. As supporters poured into the streets in celebration Vazquez said:" I want to be able to count on all Uruguayans, but not so they follow me but so they guide me, accompany me,"