Jose Alberto Pepe Mujica, the 40th president of Uruguay, popularly referred to as the poorest president in the world, lived a simple lifestyle and spread his wealth to the less fortunate.
Mujica was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, on the 20th of May 1935, and spent majority of his early years on the farm with his father, who would go on to die when Mujica was just five years old.
After losing his father to the cold hands of death, Mujica’s family was thrown into financial ruin.
An apostle of change, in his youth Mujica resorted to criminal methods to effect good intentions. In the 1950s Mujica was reputed to steal from the rich and distribute the money to the poor.
In 1970, Mujica wounded two policemen while resisting arrest and got shot six times. Fortunately, he was taken to a hospital and later sent to prison. However, by the next year he would successfully escape. He would eventually get recaptured and sentenced to solitary conferment, that affected his physical and mental health.
Following Uruguay’s return to democracy, Mujica was released in 1985, and he went ahead with few comrades to form a new political party, (MPP) The Movement of Popular Participation.
In the 2004 general elections, Mujica got re-elected to the senate and his party MPP, and by the 2009 elections, Mujica was elected the 40th president of Uruguay.
Even as president Mujica avoided the extravagance that came with the office and continue in his simplistic way of life. As president, 90% of his monthly pay ($12,000 at the time) was donated to the less privileged in the county.
Today Uruguay is considered to be fast developing in the committee of nations, and a sizeable praise and credit for their ascension can be assigned to Mujica, whose simplistic lifestyle set an example for contentment and fiscal responsibility.