At 89, José "Pepe" Mujica is lucid. "We didn't change the world," said the left-wing former Uruguayan president (2010-2015). "But we did fight for a better distribution." During his term of office, he was nicknamed "the world's poorest president" because he preferred to stay on his modest farm in Rincon del Cerro, 15 kilometers from Montevideo, and continue growing his flowers there, rather than move into the presidential palace.

Google Maps shows "Chacra [farm] de José Pepe Mujica" at the site of his house, which is reached by a dirt track. All around are a jumble of tools, plastic chairs and plants growing anarchically, as well as crates of dried corn under the gallery. As soon as his health permits, Mujica plows his field with his tractor. Since the discovery of esophageal cancer in April – from which he is cured, he assured us – the crops have been somewhat abandoned.

However, in November, he took part in two rallies as part of the presidential campaign of the Movement of Popular Participation, the party he helped found in 1989. Its candidate, Yamandu Orsi, will contest the second round on Sunday, November 24 against the ruling right. On October 19, Mujica took to the stage at the closing ceremony of the first-round campaign, drawing tears from the crowd when he said he was fighting death and was "at the end of the game," concluding, "Hasta siempre."

Mujica welcomed Le Monde to his little house nestled under the trees with his wife, former senator and ex-vice president Topolansky (2017-2020), the day after Donald Trump's victory in the United States on November 6. He attributed the victory to a "crisis of democracy": "The fact that the US, the country with the highest rate of scientists, thinkers [and] brilliant academics, has chosen someone like Trump shows that contemporary democracy is sick and doesn't give answers to the growing complexity of this world."

Milei 'will destroy himself'

Opposite Uruguay, in Argentina, the vociferous far-right libertarian Javier Milei came to power in December 2023. His election came as no surprise to Mujica. "Why was Hitler elected in Germany? Hyperinflation drives people crazy [Argentina closed 2023 with 200% inflation]. The Weimar Republic was buried by inflation. He says he wants to destroy the state, but he's going to destroy himself. And Argentina is going to pay a very high price."

Mujica and Topolansky, aged 80, met as militants in Tupamaro, a guerrilla group that turned to armed struggle in the 1960s in an unsuccessful attempt to counter the establishment of a dictatorship (1973-1985) in Uruguay. They were separated by prison, where both spent long years in isolation and were tortured, and later reunited on their release, with the return of democracy, in 1985. After 40 years together, they continue to debate everything. Here they were, discussing drug trafficking, the impact on young people and the increasing absence of the state in working-class neighborhoods. In neighboring Argentina, Milei wants to cut up the state with a chainsaw. Topolansky believes that, on the contrary, comprehensive policies are necessary for work, housing, education and health.

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