Jose Mujica, the “Black Sheep” of Politics

More than 1,200 people excused Mujica for arriving one hour late to the fair on Sunday and gave him a standing ovation, shouting “Oe, Oe, Pepe.”

The former president then led a talk as if addressing old acquaintances, explaining his philosophy of life and politics and the reasons why the authors of the book, Uruguayan journalists Andres Danza and Ernesto Tulbovitz, titled it “A Black Sheep to Power.”

“There may be some black sheep in the sense that I am a chronic libertarian” and “long ago I decided not to live how I think to continue thinking how I live,” Mujica stated.

“I’m nothing but a sniper,” he said, before mentioning corruption, “which tends to flourish in materialistic times” and in defense of politics and austerity versus “squandering.”

He confessed that in his youth he was as materialistic as they come, so much so that he even wore a tie, but his personal history marked him and the years spent in prison after his conviction for participaing in the Tupamaros guerrilla movement were decisive in shaping his personality.