Uruguay bids farewell to Jose Mujica, its pauper presidentWyre Davies
Rio de Janeiro correspondent
1 March 2015
Jose Mujica is often referred to as the president most other countries would rather have, as Wyre Davies reports
Whatever your own particular "shade" of politics, it's impossible not to be impressed or beguiled by Jose "Pepe" Mujica.
There are idealistic, hard-working and honest politicians the world over - although cynics might argue they're a small minority - but none of them surely comes anywhere close to the outgoing Uruguayan president when it comes to living by one's principles.
It's not just for show. Mr Mujica's beat-up old VW Beetle is probably one of the most famous cars in the world and his decision to forgo the luxury of the Presidential Palace is not unique - his successor, Tabare Vazquez, will also probably elect to live at home.
But when you visit "Pepe" at his tiny, one-storey home on the outskirts of Montevideo you realise that the man is as good as his word.
Mr Mujica leaves office with Uruguay's economy in better shape than its bigger neighbours
Wearing what could best be described as "casual" clothes - I don't think he's ever been seen wearing a tie - Mr Mujica seats himself down on a simple wooden stool in front of a bookshelf that seems on the verge of collapsing under the weight of biographies and mementoes from his political adversaries and allies.
Books are important to the former guerrilla fighter who spent a total of 13 years in jail, two of them lying at the bottom of an old horse trough. It was an experience that almost broke him mentally and which shaped his transformation from fighter to politician.
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