Uruguay’s popular Former President Mujica resigns from Senate

Tue, Aug 14, 2018 | By publisher


Foreign

URUGUAY’S Former President Jose Mujica, an icon of the Latin American left, on Tuesday renounced his seat in the Senate to retire, though he intends to remain active in politics.

In a letter to his wife, Senate President Lucia Topolansky, the 83-year-old says he was resigning out of “personal motives and fatigue from the long journey,’’ in a reference to his political career.

However, “while my mind is still functioning, I cannot renounce solidarity and the combat of ideas,’’ Mujica added in the letter that his Movement of Popular Participation party published on Twitter.

The former leftist guerrilla held the presidency from 2010 to 2015.

He became known as “the world’s poorest president,’’ donating nearly his entire salary to charity, living on a ramshackle farm, driving an old car and picking up hitch-hikers.

Mujica remains very popular among Latin American leftists, with his interviews and speeches circulating on social media. (dpa/NAN)

-Aug. 14, 2018 @ 18:53 GMT |

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