JOSÉ "Pepe" Mujica, the former president of Uruguay, passed away on May 13, 2025, at the age of 89. He is survived by his wife, Lucía Topolansky, a fellow former guerrilla and senator. Mujica’s life was a remarkable journey – from guerrilla fighter to becoming a president, from years of solitary confinement to earning global recognition as a man of the masses. The Latin America he once led, and the Latin America he leaves behind, are not the same. Mujica was born on May 20, 1935, in Montevideo, Uruguay, into a middle-class family.