“I do fine with that amount; I have to do fine because there are many Uruguayans who live with much less.”
José Mujica - President of Uruguay is getting world wide recognition for donating 90 percent of his salary to charitable institutions. He is known as the "poorest" , "most generous" president. Uruguayans known him as "Pepe".
He earns a salary of $12,500 a month (N1,981,250), but only keeps $1,250(N198,125) for himself, donating the rest to charity.
Yahoo News even reported that the president doesn't have a bank account, has no debts and only enjoys the company of his dog, Manuela.
The president refuses to live on the presidential residence, instead, he offers the house to homeless families during the coldest days of winter. The Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) managed to find suitable alternatives, and the Presidential Palace was not used, but it remains as an option in case of emergencies.
The president lives in a farmhouse which is under his wife’s name, Lucía Topolansky, a Senator, who also donates part of her salary and he drives a Volkswagen Beetle car, worth £1,300. The president maintains a very simple and austere lifestyle.
Because of him, Uruguay has been known for low levels of corruption. The South American country ranks as the second least corrupt country in Latin America.
Video tour where the President of Uruguay lives.
I can't find videos with English subtitles.
Mujica as "The former guerrilla fighter"
1960's - Mujica joined the newly formed Tupamaros movement, an armed Political group inspired by the Cuban revolution.
1969 - He participated in brief takeover of Pando, a town close to Montevideo, and was later convicted by a military tribunal under the government of Jorge Pacheco Areco, who had suspended certain constitutional guarantees.
Mujica was captured by the authorities on four occasions, and he was among those political prisoners who escaped Punta Carretas Prison in 1971.
1972 - He was eventually re-apprehended and was shot by the police six times
After the military coup in 1973, he was transferred to a military prison where he served 14 years, this included being confined to the bottom of a well for more than two years. During his time in prison, he keeps in contact with other leaders of the Tuparamos.
1985 - democracy was restored. Mujica was freed under an amnesty law that covered political and related military crimes committed since 1962.
Several years after the restoration of democracy, Mujica and the Tupamaros joined other left-wing organizations to create the Movement of Popular Participation, a political party that was accepted within the Broad Front coalition which also marks as the start of the president's political career.
