
Uruguay’s beloved Pepe bows out to spend time with his Beetle and 3-legged dog - tim333
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/16/uruguay-jose-mujica-humble-president
======
rabble
Mujica's great. I've lived on and off in Uruguay for a decade and really
things are going pretty well. There's laptops for all kids, free internet for
everybody, no taxes on tech companies, free universal education and universal
healthcare. What's more he's somebody who believes in leading by example.

The thing is, he's not actually retiring. He's president of the senate and
leads the largest faction of the governing coalition. Once he steps down from
the presidency he'll still be the major power broker in the government and 3rd
in line to be president again if anything should happen to Vasquez (new
president) and Sendic (new vice president).

He's a friendly old uncle figure who everybody finds adorable. But don't for a
minute think that he isn't an incredibly savvy political player. I think he
plays up the act because it's not as scary than having somebody who's a
libertarian marxist as president.

~~~
cesarbs
> free universal education and universal healthcare

Do they have universal education up to the university level? Do you know how
their public healthcare compares to the Brazilian SUS (Brazil's universal
healthcare system)?

~~~
singold
Yes, we have universal education up to University. Can't compare healthcare,
but I think we have a lot to improve in that regard (it is also, a lot newer
that university).

------
lentil_soup
Pepe Mujica is doing great things in Uruguay but I really wish articles about
him would focus more on what he is actually doing as a leader and less on his
way of life.

~~~
hcarvalhoalves
Agreed.

I mean, presidency is not a vow of poverty, the president is not the people's
redeemer. What matters is administration competency, efficiency, results...

I would like to know why presidents are held almost as emperors here in latin
america.

~~~
Max_Mustermann
In some ways we're still stuck with the old Spanish views.

------
Trufa
This headlines drive me nuts (I'm from Uruguay).

I'm not even arguing whether Mujica has done good things or not (I think he
has done), but, think of this:

"USA's Beloved Obama who spent his presidency fighting for a more fair medical
system in the US and has advocated LGBT rights is retiring to be more with his
wonderful family."

Yeah, right, politics are much more complicated than that aren't they?

~~~
singold
Totally agree (another uruguayan here :)

------
imd23
As an Uruguayan I can't be prouder. For the tech community knowledge he
supported deploying FTTH and LTE country wide with even free plans if you can
not pay for it. He's a hero in many ways, like it or not.

------
cesarbs
Can anyone from Uruguay comment on the public safety situation there? I'm a
Brazilian living in the US, but I have Uruguayan citizenship because my dad
was Uruguayan. I've always tried to keep an eye on the country as a place to
maybe move to if things get too dark where I am, but I hear little about
public safety issues. Brazil is awful in that regard (in any almost city
there's a good chance you'll get mugged even in broad daylight), I wonder if
Uruguay is a safer place to live.

~~~
msc
Its high compared to what it was before. I haven't lived in Brazil but I lived
in Germany and Chile for a couple of weeks and its high compared to cities
there.

It depends on the neighborhood and how aware of your surroundings you are.
Everyone knows someone who got mugged either a relative or a friend. Relative
of mine was having dinner at a restaurant, 4 armed robbers came in, took
everything from customers plus the money from the business. One of them shoots
his gun inside, aiming at the roof. There were people in the second floor
eating too, fortunately nobody got hurt. Personally, I just take cabs
everywhere at night, and walk during the day if I know the neighborhood.

------
eps
(Offtopic) - does anyone else get the linked article open the "Four Kingdoms"
app page in the AppStore when browsing on iPad? This is really weird. Looks
suspiciously like The Guardian got hacked.

~~~
ceejayoz
Probably a bad ad in their ad network, not a hack of the site itself.

