Former Uruguayan President José Mujica said that Radiotherapy for esophageal cancer diagnosed in May was deemed successful, but he feels “broken” and “wasting” his lifeaccording to statements to the American newspaper The New York Times published on Friday.
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“I had radiological treatment,” said “Pepe” Mujica, 89, when asked about his health. “According to the doctors, everything went well, but I’m devastated.”
“Life is beautiful. With all its twists and turns, I love life. And I’m missing it because I’m at the point of leaving,” he added later.
Life is beautiful. With all its twists and turns, I love life. And I am losing it because I am at the point of leaving.
The former president, a guerrilla who governed Uruguay from 2010 to 2015 and remains an influential figure in national politics and on the Latin American left, spoke from his modest farm on the outskirts of Montevideo, where he is recovering from radiotherapy sessions he received until mid-June.
In May, Mujica announced at a press conference that he had a tumor in his esophagus. He explained that it was detected during a medical check-up. Mujica said his case is “doubly complex” because of his immunological disease, a situation that “creates obvious difficulties” in undergoing treatment.
“As long as the roll holds out, I will be here. I want to thank them and tell the young people of this country that life is beautiful and has to be spent. The crux of the matter of succeeding in life is to start over every time you fall. And if there is anger, to transform it into hope. Fight for love,” Mujica emphasized at that time.
What else did Mujica talk about in the interview?
In the interview, in which the Times presents him as an “outspoken philosopher,” Mujica did not spare his criticism of consumer society.
“Humanity needs to work less and have more free time and be more sober. Why so much rubbish? Why change the car? Change the refrigerator?” he said.
“Because life is one and it goes away. We must give meaning to life. We must fight for human happiness. Not just for wealth,” he reflected.
He also highlighted his admiration for nature, and although he claimed not to believe in God, he said he greatly respected those who do. “It’s like a consolation for the idea of death.”
Asked how he would like to be remembered, he was emphatic: “as what I am: a crazy old man” who has “the magic of words.”
Mujica, who took up arms under democratic governments in the 1960s and 1970s and spent 13 years in prison, most of it during the civil-military dictatorship (1973-1985) and in harsh conditions, is recovering from his illness with his wife, Lucía Topolansky, a former guerrilla like him who became vice president of Uruguay (2017-2020).
In a note titled “The love story of two rebels who came to lead Uruguay”which the Times published alongside the interview, the former president referred to Topolansky.
“Love has ages. When you are young, it is a bonfire. When you are old, it is a sweet habit,” Mujica said: “If I’m alive it’s because she’s here.”
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