On the death of Pepe Mujica: An idol of the left

Pepe Mujica was once a member of a Marxist guerrilla group, then a highly regarded president of Uruguay. His demonstrative modesty set a precedent. He has now died at the age of 89.

It was a hot morning in Berlin, and Pepe Mujica looked tired. In the summer of 2016, the then 81-year-old sat slightly hunched on the terrace of a hotel in Berlin's Mitte district, sipping a cup of mate tea and talking about big questions : about happiness, about justice, and about the eternal struggles in his battered homeland of Latin America.