Meet poorest world leader Uruguay’s president José Alberto “Pepe” Mujica Cordano

It’s a common grumble that politician lifestyle are far removed from those of their electorate. Not so in Uruguay.

José Alberto “Pepe” Mujica Cordano is a Uruguayan politician who served as the 40th President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015.

A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was imprisoned for 12 years during the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. 

He has been described the ” the world’s humblest head of state due to his austere lifestyle and his donation of around 90% (percent) of his US$12,000 monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs, has led him to be labeled the poorest president in the world.

I’m called the poorest president; but i don’t feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle and always want more and more; he says.

I may appear to be an eccentric old. But this is a free choice.

Lloyd M’bwana

I’m a Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resource (LUANAR)’s Environmental Science graduate (Malawi) and UK’s ICM Journalism and Media studies scholar. Also University of Malawi (UNIMA) Library Science Scholar. I have been The Malawi Country Manager and duty editor for the Maravi Post since 2019. My duty editor’s job is to ensure that the news is covered properly, that it is delivered on time, and that it is created to the standards set out in the editorial guidelines of the Maravi Post.