[[link removed]]

LUCÍA TOPOLANSKY ON PEPE MUJICA: ‘OUR JUNGLE WAS THE CONCRETE OF
THE CITIES’  
[[link removed]]


 

Andrea Cegna
June 1, 2026
Il Manifesto Global
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ People come and go, but causes remain. Someone must continue to
carry them forward, because they are not realized in the short term:
they require time, multiple generations. We must prepare the next
generation, otherwise the process is interrupted. _

,

 

One year after his death we remember Pepe Mujica, the Tupamaro who
became the poorest and most loved president in the world, with Lucía
Topolansky, his companion in the fight and in life.

YOU AND PEPE SHARED A LIFE TOGETHER. WHICH POLITICAL CHOICES BEST
ILLUSTRATE THE SHAPE OF HIS PARTICULAR PATH?

Uruguay is a small country that, at a certain point, began to
experience a gradual economic decline, due in part to its heavy
dependence on foreign markets and international reference prices. This
process began at the end of the Korean War, around the late 1950s.

Until then, a model had developed based on import-substitution
industrialization and a relatively high standard of living compared to
the rest of Latin America, with progress in many areas. But that model
quickly began to fall into crisis.

This generated a climate of growing social conflict. The impact of the
Cuban Revolution on Latin America also fits into that same context.
The continent had a long history of dictatorships widespread across
most countries. The Cuban process pointed to a path – what was
called the “armed path” – to achieve more quickly the changes
deemed necessary to bring progress for the people.

A major debate then arose within the Latin American left: which path
to follow, the electoral one or the armed one? Latin America tried
both paths, persisted with both and in both cases met with defeat,
because our northern neighbor instigated coups in every country,
bringing an end to democracies.

It was in this context that the struggle of the National Liberation
Movement, to which we belonged, arose. The movement set out to achieve
exactly this: national liberation. That was the original cause.

We were defeated, we spent many years in prison and, having emerged
from that ordeal, we entered institutional politics, legal politics,
because before we had been outside the system. We did so with our
cards on the table, without shortcuts, directly.

That was when we joined a coalition in which we were already taking
part through other comrades: the Frente Amplio. Along that path we
began to expand our political presence and, within that framework, we
reached the point of Pepe’s election as president.

WHEN DID YOU BEGIN TO HAVE CONTACTS WITH FIDEL CASTRO AND THE OTHER
LEADERS OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION? AFTER YOUR RELEASE FROM PRISON OR
ALREADY DURING THE CLANDESTINE PHASE?

The Cubans never agreed with our form of armed struggle, which was
urban. In our country we have gently rolling terrain: there are no
mountains or major geographical features. We used to say: where is our
jungle? Our jungle is the concrete of the cities.

But the Cubans had had very negative experiences with urban armed
struggle in their history, and for this reason they had always been
opposed to it. So much so that in 1963, in Uruguay, at the beach
resort of Punta del Este, a conference of the Organization of American
States (OAS) was held, in which Ernesto Che Guevara participated as a
delegate from Cuba.

After that conference, Guevara went to Montevideo and gave a very
emblematic speech in the main auditorium of the University of the
Republic. He was introduced by Salvador Allende, who would later
become president of Chile through the electoral process before being
overthrown by a coup d’état orchestrated from abroad.

At that conference Guevara said he was completely opposed to the urban
armed struggle path in Uruguay. So on this point we did not agree with
the Cubans.

Later, when our achievements became a concrete fact, the Cubans
accepted it and there were also contacts between us. Some of our
leaders participated in the conferences of OLAS, a continental
coordinating body, and there were also exiles in Cuba, although most
of our exiles were elsewhere.

HOW IMPORTANT – AND HOW DIFFICULT – WAS IT AFTER THE DEFEAT AND
IMPRISONMENT TO ACCEPT THAT THE ELECTORAL PATH WAS ONE OF THE POSSIBLE
PATHS TO CHANGE?

It was not easy, and not everyone in the Liberation Movement made the
same choice we did. That struggle had enjoyed some support from the
population, as polls at the time also showed, especially after
allegations of corruption in Uruguayan politics and of very painful
inequalities, particularly among some rural workers. Furthermore, that
experience introduced new issues into the political debate.

But we suffered a military defeat. We had a huge number of people
imprisoned. A group of comrades was taken hostage by the dictatorship:
they were removed from the standard system for political prisoners and
held in military barracks under extremely harsh conditions.

We had deaths and disappeared persons, although most of the Uruguayan
disappeared were in Argentina, because Operation Condor was active in
the Southern Cone countries, coordinating the dictatorships of
Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay and Chile, and facilitating the
exchange of people, information and everything else. We also had many
exiles.

Jimmy Carter played a key role in bringing this phase to an end on the
continent, as his presidency began to withdraw support from Latin
American dictatorships. This left them, in a way, without backing. The
dictatorships then began to look for off ramps, which varied from
country to country.

In Uruguay there were lengthy negotiations. At first the dictatorship
ended with some people still classed as outlaws, but that situation
eventually got resolved. Today we have enjoyed more than 40
consecutive years of democracy since the end of the dictatorship.

We chose to fight within the law and started from scratch. We had to
rebuild our relationship with our people, because after 12, almost 13
years in prison, the world and our country had changed.

So we decided to go out into the streets and squares to talk to people
with an open microphone. We called those initiatives “mateadas,”
because mate is our national drink, a Guaraní tradition, and it is
shared in a circle. We shared mate while having a conversation with an
open microphone.

People found it very exciting to be able to engage in dialogue that
way and have the chance to express themselves, because Uruguay is a
highly politicized country. So we began to receive support, joined the
Frente Amplio and participated in the elections.

Our comrades decided that our first representative would be Pepe,
along with another comrade, Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro, who has
also passed away. Both entered parliament as deputies.

AFTER ALL THIS, PEPE ENDS UP BECOMING PRESIDENT AND BUILDS A MESSAGE
OF PEACE AND THE REJECTION OF HATRED. WHY?

Because you cannot look to the past and remain a prisoner of hatred.

Love and hate are two blind forces: love builds, hate destroys. We
chose love and decided to build.

People understood this. And that is what led to the great popularity
that Pepe still enjoys today, almost a year after his death.

We live in the rural area surrounding the capital, an area inhabited
by simple people who grow vegetables and fruit, raise small animals
and produce everything that ends up on families’ tables every day.
We arrived here 40 years ago and began growing flowers.

At first we were “sapos de otro pozo” – outsiders – because it
was a rather conservative neighborhood. Then, when they saw that Pepe
became a deputy and did not leave, they were happy: there had never
been a deputy living there before, and those who attained such a
position usually left.

Then he became a senator and still stayed. Then a minister and still
stayed. And when he became president and stayed there still, it was a
great joy for them. Our home has always had its doors open. Neighbors
could come by at any time.

For them, this represented the essence of the Republic, and we wanted
to send exactly that signal. I believe we succeeded.

In Latin America, leaders often do not leave room for others. Mujica,
on the other hand, worked to set up the right successor.

Uruguayan law does not allow for the immediate reelection of the
president: one can be reelected, but only after skipping a term. Pepe
also upheld a more general principle: the best leader is not the one
who shines individually, but the one who leaves behind a group of
comrades capable of replacing him under better conditions.

Politics is always collective. There are no people with a magic wand
capable of doing everything on their own.

If only desert grows under a leader, when that leader disappears
nothing remains. We have seen this many times in Latin American
history.

People come and go, but causes remain. And someone must continue to
carry them forward, because they are not realized in the short term:
they require time, multiple generations. We must prepare the next
generation, otherwise the process is interrupted.

WHAT DID PEPE THINK OF THE MOVEMENTS OF THE NEW CENTURY, SUCH AS THE
SEM TERRA?

We have had – and still have – a very close relationship with the
Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil. Brazil is a neighboring country,
and we, being small and situated between two large countries, Brazil
and Argentina, must always maintain good relations with our neighbors.
Here we say that if Brazil or Argentina catch a cold, we catch the
flu.

The Landless Workers' Movement seeks to offer those who want it the
opportunity to work the land productively; it trains people and today
has reached a very high level of productivity. It is an important
example within Brazil.

In Uruguay, we have something similar with the National Institute of
Colonization. Another important example for us was Neo-Zapatism. It
made a deep impression on us and we followed it closely. It raised
many questions for us, but we never managed to establish direct ties.

WHAT REMAINS OF PEPE’S LEGACY TODAY?

Today, nearly a year after Pepe’s death, it is incredible how much
he is still present among the people. People loved him because he
spoke simply, because he made himself understood and because he was
close to the people.

Now we are working with our comrades to collect everything he wrote,
the authentic materials, because today, with artificial intelligence,
many falsehoods are circulating. We are building a space of memory, a
place where people can go to think and reflect.

We found many notes written by him, including on current issues: for
example, he had intuited what a second Trump administration would
mean. We will organize all this material by theme – youth,
agriculture, Latin American integration, worldview – because many
universities and institutions have requested it from us.

We want to spread his ideas, because that is what truly remains. Our
comrades will also organize activities for the anniversary, with music
and other forms of expression.

Before he died, Pepe asked to stay home, to be allowed to die without
pain and to scatter his ashes under a sequoia tree we have near our
home. That is where we laid his ashes.

People come there, sit down and reflect. And we let everyone in,
because we feel that place belongs to the people.

CAN THERE BE A FUTURE WITHOUT CAPITALISM?

We hope so. But we must be creative in building alternatives, because
the ones tried so far have failed.

Originally published at
[link removed]
[[link removed]]
on 2026-05-13

 

_Il manifesto was founded in 1969 on the idea that truth and
freethinking are more important than everything else, including
profit. The paper pays for its editorial idealism in the form of lost
advertising. But we more than make up for this in the support of tens
of thousands of subscribers who believe a better world is possible.
There are no owners (il manifesto is a cooperative), and the editor
and managers are elected every four years by the employees._

* Pepe Mujica
[[link removed]]
* Uruguay
[[link removed]]
* Tupamaros
[[link removed]]
* Fidel Castro
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]