Jose Mujica, the former president of Uruguay, has announced that he has esophageal cancer.
Mujica, who is almost 90, said Monday the tumor was discovered in a routine checkup Friday.
Doctors are discussing the best course of treatment for the former president who also has an autoimmune disease. “This is obviously very complicated and doubly so in my case, Mujica said.
Mujica was a leader of the Tupamaros, a Marxist guerilla group in the 1960s and 1970s.
He was in jail in 1985 when the South American country’s dictatorship fell.
Mujica was Uruguay’s president from 2010 to 2015. During his tenure in office, he passed several progressive laws, including the legalization of abortion and gay marriage. Also, under his watch, Uruguay became the first country in the world to fully legalize recreational marijuana.
During his presidency, Mujica was known as “the world’s poorest president” because he maintained a modest lifestyle, living in his own house instead of the presidential residence and driving a Volkswagen Beetle. He also gave away most of his salary.
He remained in politics after his presidency, resigning from the Senate in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I want to convey to all the young people that life is beautiful, but it wears you out and you fall,” the former Uruguayan leader said Monday. “The point is to start over every time you fall.”
