“He’s the most extraordinary person I’ve met”, says Lula when paying tribute to Mujica

On a trip to Uruguay, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met, this Friday (5), with former president José Pepe Mujica at his small farm, on the outskirts of Montevideo, and decorated him with the National Order of Cruzeiro do Sul, the highest honor granted by the Brazilian State.

Both were visibly emotional at the meeting. “Of all the presidents I’ve known, been friends with, and spent many years with, Pepe Mujica is the most extraordinary person I’ve met,” said Lula alongside the former Uruguayan president, with his voice breaking.

Mujica thanked him saying: “Thank you, dear, you are also the best I have found in our suffering America.”

The Brazilian president also recorded the meeting on his networks, saying that “it is a thrill to be able to award our great companion Pepe Mujica with the highest Brazilian honor, the National Order of the Southern Cross, for his tireless fight for the best in Latin America and the world . An example for all of us.”

Also read: Final stretch: Mercosur-EU Agreement has summit in Montevideo with Ursula von der Leyen

Mujica is one of the greatest leaders of the Latin American and global left. As a member of the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement, in his youth he fought against the Uruguayan dictatorship, which lasted from 1973 to 1985. For his actions, he and other companions were imprisoned for more than a decade, a story richly told in the film “A Night of 12 years.”

Later, he was a deputy and minister until, years later, he became one of the country’s most beloved presidents, a position he held between 2010 and 2015 for the Broad Front, which returned to power in March after the victory of his protégé, Yamandu Orsi.

After leaving the presidency, he was elected senator, a seat he held between 2015 and 2018. Today, at 89 years old, Mujica is fighting esophageal cancer and continues to live on his farm, with his wife, former senator Lucia Topolansky.

Agenda in Uruguay

Still in Montevideo, Lula will participate, this Thursday and Friday, in the 65th Summit of Mercosur Heads of State. The event also marks the end of Uruguay’s pro tempore presidency and its transfer to Argentina. Bolivia participates for the first time as a full member of the bloc, after making its membership official in August this year.

It is expected that the meeting will conclude a trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, which has been in the works for years and is facing resistance, including that of France.

Last week, President Lula met with the elected president of Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi, and both discussed the prospects for the Mercosur Summit, in addition to the agreement with the European Union. According to Palácio do Planalto, the future Uruguayan president was also optimistic about the possibility of strengthening ties with other regions.

After arriving in Montevideo this Thursday (5), the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, published a message on her social networks, giving an important signal about the agreement. “We landed in Latin America. The finish line of the EU-Mercosur agreement is in sight. Let’s work, let’s get through it. We have the opportunity to create a market of 700 million people.”