José Pepe Mujica—The journey from prison to the Presidency

By Steve Halpern

Recently I learned of the story of José Pepe Mujica. He was raised on a farm on the outskirts of Montevideo, Uruguay. His lifelong journey transported Mujica from a prison cell in solitary confinement to the Presidency of the nation of Uruguay. However, Mujica refused to live in the Presidential residence, and preferred to live in his small farmhouse.  

We might consider that the military dictatorships of Latin America did not allow for the right to protest. Denied these rights, Mujica joined the political organization known as the Tupamaros who defended their movement using armed struggle. They robbed banks to provide for the needs of the people. Mujica defended these actions arguing that the day-to-day operations of banks represent criminal activities against the majority of the population.

Mujica’s wife, Lucia Topolansky was also a member of the Tupamarus. She had been working for a bank and learned that this bank was engaging in routine corruption. In this country, corruption is often exposed by mass political movements, or by enterprising journalists. Since this was not possible in Uruguay, Topolansky took part in a raid of this bank where the internal documents were confiscated. This was how the Tupamaros exposed corruption.

In this country, I’ve supported protests against mass murder by the police, as well as the mass incarceration in this country. In the year 1971, 111 political prisoners in Uruguay protested against the conditions they faced by escaping from the dungeons where they lived.

However, in 1972 there was a government crackdown and many Tupamaros were arrested. José Mujica was one of those arrested. He was tortured, spent seven years in solitary confinement, and a total of thirteen years in prison.

During many of his years in solitary, Mujica was not allowed to read books. During that time he studied the lives of the insects and rats that he shared his prison cell with.

In 1985 because of a mass movement that opposed the military dictatorships in Latin America, the government released Mujica and the other political prisoners. Then, in 2010, after serving several years in the government, Mujica became the President of Uruguay.

I believe it is useful to look at all those revolutionaries who served time in prison, and then became government leaders or leaders of movements in support of the interests of the working class.

Revolutionaries who served time in prison

When we think of the idea of what a prison is, I believe we can also say that the institution of slavery was a mass prison. So, from that perspective, we can say that the Roman slave known as Spartacus went on to lead an uprising of about 90,000 slaves that defeated the Roman legions on many occasions. However, the Romans defeated his army and 6,000 former slaves, who supported Spartacus were crucified on a street called the Appian Way.

The former slave Toussaint L’Overture was the leader of a revolutionary movement that established the nation of Haiti. This was first nation in the American hemisphere that outlawed slavery.

Frederick Douglass as another slave who escaped slavery and became a central leader of the abolitionist movement. He then convinced President Lincoln to allow Black people to serve in the Union Army. This advice proved to be necessary in the Union victory against the confederacy.

The royal government of the Russian Czar arrested Vladimir Illich Lenin for participating in a meeting critical of the extreme repression in Russia during those years. Lenin was then exiled to Siberia. He escaped, and then lived in exile until 1917. Then he returned to Russia, and organized the Bolsheviks to take power and resolve profound problems the people faced in those years.

Leon Trotsky had a similar fate as Lenin. He was a leader in the 1905 rebellion in Russia. He also was arrested, exiled to Siberia, escaped and lived in Europe and the United States before returning to Russia in 1917. He was a leader of the Russian Revolution, and then became the commander of the Red Army that defeated an invasion of 14 nations attempting to overthrow the Bolshevik government.

When Joseph Stalin took power in Russia, he reversed most of the gains of the revolution. The new government of the Soviet Union arrested Trotsky and eventually exiled him from the country. However Trotsky continued to advance Marxist politics and continues to have a legacy in the international workers movement.

Eugene Debs was a socialist who ran for President several times in the United States. He gave a speech in Canton, Ohio protesting the U.S. sending troops to participate in the First World War. Because of that speech, Debs spent three years in prison. While in prison, Debs ran for President and received over 900,000 votes.

Mother Jones was an organizer for the United Mine Workers union. She supported strikes by workers throughout North America. When she attempted to support a strike in Colorado, the state militia placed her in prison.

While she was in prison, Mother Jones sent a letter to a support meeting held in New York City. She said that she was battling with “sewer rats” in her cell, but if she was out of prison, she would be battling with the “human sewer rats” who sent her to prison and opposed the demands of the strikers.

There was Malcolm X who experienced the routine discrimination in the United States. Denied a way of making a decent living Malcolm became a thief. He served many years in prison. Then he became a leader of the movement demanding unconditional liberation of Black people in the United States. Malcolm X became known all over the world. His speeches continue to inspire people seeking liberation today.

Martin Luther King was a leader of the movement protesting against the system of legalized discrimination known as Jim Crow. Government officials arrested King for violating those discriminatory laws. Today there is a national holiday celebrating the life of Martin Luther King. In Washington D. C. there is a prominent monument memorializing his life.

Then there was Fidel Castro. Castro faced the brutal dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Denied the right to engage in a legal protest movement, on July 26, 1953 Castro organized a raid on the Moncada military barracks located in Santiago, Cuba.

The military forces defeated Fidel’s raid at Moncada and Fidel served time in prison. Then, the July 26 movement organized a revolution that eventually took power on the island. That government continues to hold power in Cuba. Because of the revolution, today every Cuban has a lifetime right to education and health care.

Along with Fidel Castro was Celia Sanchez, who also was a leader of the Cuban Revolution. She was arrested and faced an almost certain execution. However, Sanchez managed to escape and became a central leader of the Cuban revolutionary government. 

Nelson Mandela was a leader of the African National Congress that organized to do away with the apartheid system in South Africa. For many years the ANC was a non-violent organization. Then, in the year 1960 the South African armed forces murdered 67 activists as they peacefully demonstrated in a place called Sharpeville.

Responding to those murders, the ANC armed itself and engaged in armed uprisings. Nelson Mandela was then convicted on charges of carrying out an armed struggle against the government. Mandela argued that there comes a time in the history of every nation when the people either use arms to defend themselves, or they cease to be a nation.

After serving 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa.

The ideas of José Pepe Mujica

Because of the nature of capitalism, corporations are driven to invest in advertising to the tune of $200 billion every year. They spend this money in an attempt to convince us to purchase things we might not need or want. They routinely make these huge investments in their drive to maximize profits. This state of affairs means that that the world will eventually run out of resources we all need to sustain ourselves.

Mujica has made it one of his priorities to promote a sustainable economy. This is why he donated 90% of his salary while he was President and lived on less than $10,000 per year. He has argued that: “If you do what you love, money is irrelevant.”

Mujica’s constant companion is his three-legged dog Manuela. Manuela lost her leg in an accident, but she has lived to be eighteen years old. This reflects the fact that in spite of Mujica’s limited income, he has taken good care of his dog.

Mujica expanded on his point of view saying: “When you buy something you’re not paying money for it. You’re paying with the hours of life you had to spend earning that money.”

“You’re only poor if you think you are. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle and always want more and more.”

“I’m not advocating poverty. I’m advocating sobriety” I’m free when I have time to spend on things I love, which may be different for you and her. That’s freedom.”

“If you don’t have many possessions, then you don’t need to work all your life to sustain them, and therefore you have more time to sustain yourself.”

One of Mujica’s priorities while he was President was to promote renewable energy sources. His administration legalized both abortion and marijuana.

Certainly these ideas do not attempt to correct the fundamental problem of our times. This is the routine functioning of the capitalist system that guarantees the majority of the human race to live in poverty.

Today, several years after Mujica was President, there is an extremely affluent class that lives in Uruguay. Mujica acknowledges that there are opulent homes in his country where the owners only live there about twenty days per year. While poverty was reduced while Mujica was President, it continues to exist in Uruguay.

Mujica argued that if he attempted to support a movement that redistributed the wealth in his country, powerful forces would have worked to end his life. He clearly learned this lesson in his thirteen years in prison. Yet Mujica has also spoken about how he was personally inspired by the life of the revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara.

Mujica also signed an agreement with former President Barack Obama accepting several prisoners who had been housed at the infamous prison at Guantanamo, Cuba. Mujica didn’t feel that these former prisoners would in any way be dangerous to the people of his country. He said that Uruguay is a nation of immigrants. He knows from personal experience how prison can break someone’s spirit. He feels that these former prisoners might be able to heal from the wounds inflicted during their time in the dungeons of the United States.

Finally, Mujica compared his life to making banana muffins. He said that if you follow a recipe for banana muffins, you will have a nice tasting muffin. However, if you want a better tasting muffin, you will experiment. Many of those experiments will be disasters. However, if you keep working, it is possible that you will make a truly exceptional banana muffin, and this will be all your own.

So when we look at the life of José Pepe Mujica and all the other revolutionaries who served time in prison, and then became genuine leaders, I believe there are a few things we can learn. First humanity has a tremendous endurance and we have the potential to overcome the most persistent obstacles. We can also learn how to make truly outstanding banana muffins that are all our own.