Pepe Mujica said he awaits death with joy, but has a request: “Please doña, continue another round”

His folk style, humility and honesty made him known around the world. Today, at 86 years old and already retired from public life, former Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica said he had only to await death “with the greatest joy”, even if he has confessed that when he knocks on his door, he will ask for “another return”.

“Now we must await the chariot with the greatest possible joy. I did what I could. The bottom line is that life is good despite all the falls and when the old woman arrives this inevitable I would like to say: “Please doña take another turn“, He assured.

Mujica, wearing a peaked cap and jacket as a coat, spoke to reporters on Thursday at his farm on the outskirts of Montevideo, where he lives with his wife Lucía Topolansky, after receiving the former union leader Fernando Pereira, one of the presidential candidates. above Wide front, the left-wing coalition that led him to the presidency between 2010 and 2015.

This is one of the few occasions the former president has addressed to the press in recent times since he stepped down from his seat in the Senate due to his health problems and the epidemiological situation caused by the pandemic. of coronavirus. Mujica suffers from an autoimmune disease.

Far from politics: “I am happy”

After a few minutes in which he answered questions on local economic issues, Mujica said he does not miss the life of a parliamentarian after his historic resignation from the Senate.

“What am I going to miss, my brother?” Twenty years of feeling the same speech that changes my date… I’m happy, ”replied the former president when asked if he was failing to be at the forefront of the country’s politics.

Mujica has been plagued by health problems in recent months. Last April, he was hospitalized for two days after undergoing an endoscopy, which revealed an esophageal ulcer. At the time, he had not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine due to his autoimmune disease.

Shortly thereafter, with the endorsement of his personal physician, Raquel Pannone, he received the two doses of the American Pfizer vaccine.

Mujica, in his dialogue with the press, had time to leave a message to the young people. “This is a piece of advice for boys: to succeed in life is not to happen, to succeed in life is to get up and start over with each fall», He indicated.

His vision on the big front

Mujica received on Thursday union leader Fernando Pereira, one of the three candidates for the presidency of the Wide front.

Both agreed that the left-wing coalition, today at opposition, we must “open the doors” to young people and to the world of culture and science.

“We want it to be more Front and Large and that means having other points of view that are not part of the structure. For example, pay attention to feminisms, young people, men and women of culture, scientists and academics. Placing ears in these places will build the Large Front we need, ”Pereira commented after the meeting.

For his part, Mujica agreed on the need to “renew” mentalities and declared that Pereira is “a good negotiator”.

For the presidential elections of 2024, Mujica offered his support to Yamandú Orsi, mayor (regional governor) of Canelones, in the south of the country.

“The best leader is not the one who does the most, but the one who leaves a bar that supplants him with an advantage. I put 1200 seeds, I am going to give birth to 40 oaks but these were born under the oak alone, now we must look for a little light to pass through so that the small trees grow, that it gives life to the little ones, leaves the light goes on. Because later, instead of one, there is a forest, ”he concluded.