Former President of Uruguay José Mujica receives the highest distinctions from Brazil and Colombia

The former president of Uruguay, José “Pepe” Mujica received the highest decorations from Brazil and Colombia on Thursday during a visit by the respective leaders Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Gustavo Petro to the South American nation.

Lula arrived on Thursday afternoon at the Mujica farm – with whom he shares a long friendship – for a meeting with the former president who governed Uruguay between 2010 and 2015.

The elected president of that country, Yamandú Orsi, Mujica’s political heir, also participated in the meeting.

The Brazilian head of state, who is in Montevideo for Friday’s summit of the leaders of Mercosur – a bloc formed by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and the recently joined Bolivia – was received with hugs by Mujica and took advantage of the moment to hand him to the former Uruguayan president the Grand Collar of the National Order of the Southern Cross, the highest Brazilian honor granted to foreigners.

“This medal that I am giving to Pepe Mujica is not because he was president of Uruguay. “It is because he is Mujica,” said Lula, after placing the badge on him, while adding that “Pepe” is the “most extraordinary” person he has ever met.

Mujica, 89, who suffers from esophageal cancer detected in the middle of the year, thanked the recognition although he stated that he is not a “man of awards or medals.”

“I am a man of the people, I have done what I could for my people and nothing more, but this is a friend of many years,” he expressed, in brief statements to journalists, next to Lula. “It is the best thing I have found in this long-suffering America,” he added.

Earlier, Mujica also met with the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, who in turn presented him with the Extraordinary Grand Cross of Boyacá, the highest honorary distinction that Colombia grants, for his “commitment to peace and dialogue.”

Petro took advantage of his official visit to Uruguay to decorate the former Uruguayan president, also at his farm, located on the outskirts of Montevideo.

After an affectionate greeting between the political leaders, and without any speech given, Mujica received the distinction from Petro, which consists of a cross held by a blue cloth band.

“This is recognition for their fight and work for Latin American integration. The government recognizes Pepe for his firm commitment to reconciliation, justice and social equity,” indicated the Colombian Presidency through a message on its X account.

The Mujica farm thus became a setting for parallel meetings – in view of the Mercosur meeting – between some of the main leaders of the Latin American left, an ideological current that will return to power in Uruguay after Orsi’s victory in the second electoral round. in November.

Although Orsi will take office on March 1, he has already held meetings with both Lula and Petro and, in addition, will participate alongside the current Uruguayan president, Luis Lacalle Pou, in the summit of the leaders of the South American bloc.

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