By Lucinda Elliott
MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - José Mujica, a one-time guerrilla, prisoner and later president of Uruguay who has cemented himself as an icon of the Latin American left, maintains that he is a farmer and nature lover above all else.
At his smallholding on the outskirts of Uruguay's capital Montevideo, the former president who turned 89 this week said he still feeds the chickens and enjoys a turn on the tractor.
"It's more entertaining than a car, you are in permanent contact with nature, with the bugs and the birds," Mujica said in an interview with Reuters at his unpretentious single-storey home.
It is the same tin-roofed house where he chose to live throughout his presidency from 2010 to 2015, having refused to move into the presidential residence. The old VW Beetle he famously drove from the farm to work is still in "phenomenal" shape, he said, but on a tractor, "you have time to think."
Mujica's progressive thoughts are what transformed him from a boy who helped his mother grow flowers and vegetables, to a beacon of the political left in South America.
During his presidency, same-sex marriage, abortion and cannabis were legalized, a major shift for many in the predominantly Catholic continent.
Now at almost 90, he lamented how today's policies were "not up to the level" of advances in technology and science. Nations do not understand China, governments do not understand human behavior, and the United States "is always in a rush," said the former president, who says he turned 90 on May 20, but there was error registering his birth.
Climate change was perhaps the biggest "tragedy" when it came to policy, he said. "Politics had no respect for the recommendations of science," said Mujica, sitting at the kitchen table opposite his wife, his former vice president and senator Lucia Topolansky, as she read a newspaper.
The couple grow vegetables including garlic, onions and pumpkin in their garden. On the porch, crates of logs and fresh corn were stacked high "to feed the chickens" and fuel the living room fireplace.
When asked whether he and his left-wing contemporaries could have done more to mitigate the problems of climate change, perhaps by focusing less on export-led development to bolster growth, Mujica chose not to say whether the environment had been an oversight.
Instead, he pointed to a lack of leadership from major powers. "What can we do here, in the poor areas of the world?" he asked. When it comes to the environment "we need a global policy," he said. "(Ours) is a formidable civilization in its technical and scientific capacity, with no political direction."
'MIRACLE I'M HERE'
Known to many Uruguayans simply by his nickname "Pepe", Mujica spoke to Reuters hours after receiving radiotherapy treatment for cancer, which doctors said posed challenges following a diagnosis in April. A tumor in his esophagus is said to be benign and has not spread, but doctors advised against surgery due to an autoimmune disease he suffers from.
"It lingers in you," he said of the treatment that he is half way through. Each session lasts a few minutes. "I'm very old ... it's a miracle I'm here."
Mujica has had a tough life in his 60 years at the forefront of regional politics. He was jailed four times in the 1970s and 1980s for being a leader of the far-left Tupamaros urban rebel group during Uruguay's military dictatorship. He managed to escape twice, once by tunneling into a nearby house.
"I've had a complicated life, several injuries, so I have to take care of myself," he said, which has meant cutting back on rum - his drink of choice - pointing to several full bottles on the shelf behind him.
Long stretches of his 14 years in prison were spent in solitary confinement, at times down a hole where he only had ants for company. Mobile phones these days distracted him from his habit, or "vice" of talking to himself, he said, alluding to his time in isolation, so he no longer uses one.
Mujica expressed concern over the state of democracy in Latin America and beyond.
He said he was not optimistic about the upcoming vote in July when Venezuela is set to hold its first presidential election since 2018. He does not speak to President Nicolas Maduro, he said. "I don't know what will happen."
"Chávez was very different," Mujica added of Maduro's predecessor, late leftist leader Hugo Chavez. "He lost elections, and accepted them."
Asked about the younger generation of left-leaning leaders in Latin America such as Chilean President Gabriel Boric and Colombia's Gustavo Petro, he appeared disappointed. "I tried to help them as much as I could," he said.
'WE CAN'T PRETEND TO AGREE'
Mujica was part of a "Pink Tide" of left-wing Latin American leaders who ran the region in the early years of this century. He governed as a moderate, maintaining dialogue with opponents from the center-right, inviting them to traditional barbecues at his home.
Other guests at the farm included former Bolivian president Evo Morales and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil.
The region today is more divided, with regular diplomatic ruptures that Mujica attributed to a decision-making problem among politicians who were steeped in ideology.
"We can't pretend to agree on everything. We have to agree with what there is, not with what we like," he said. Politicians needed to be flexible, "not expect us to be all on the left, or all on the right."
Several of his leftist contemporaries eventually lost to right-wing governments. The most recent example was in Argentina where libertarian economist, Javier Milei, took office in December, pledging to slash the country's budget and throwing jibes at "communists" such as Mujica's long-time friend Lula da Silva.
Last year, Lula visited Mujica's Montevideo home having won his third election in a stunning political comeback following a prison sentence on corruption charges and 12 years after his first two terms as president. "He's much more mature these days," Mujica quipped. The two took the Beetle for a spin, alternating between Portuguese and Spanish: "Parlamos, we talk."
Mujica said Milei was only voted in because of high rates of inflation in Argentina. "Hyperinflation drives people crazy."
PUTIN IS A STATUE, UNDERSTANDING CHINA
Among the souvenirs lining the kitchen shelves was a Russian doll depicting Mujica with the Uruguayan flag that was picked up in Moscow by friends of the couple. It stood out next to the crockery and jars of pickled tomatoes. Mujica has expressed mixed views about Russia's invasion of Ukraine since war broke out two years ago.
"Of course, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has his responsibility (in the war). There are no little angels," he said. But the problem is not Russia, "the problem is China".
Mujica, whose parents were of Spanish descent, was critical of Europe in the ongoing conflict for "giving Russia to China." "Europe had to try and hug the bear, bring it to this side," he said.
The bear was a reference to Putin, who Mujica met once in Brazil. "It's like talking to a statue. He has no gestures," Mujica said of the Russian leader, "all part of his intelligence service training."
China became an important trade partner for Uruguay's beef and soybean exports under Mujica, as it has done for much of Latin America. "We don't understand (China)," he said. While other trade partners needed to move quickly, the Chinese have "no problem with time," he said, which will be a challenge in future negotiations.
DRUGS DEBATE
Mujica garnered support among Latin American leaders for legalizing cannabis, as the "war on drugs" increasingly was seen to have failed.
A more recent surge in drug related violence that has spread to previously tranquil nations including Costa Rica, Ecuador and Uruguay has led to fresh questions over how to tackle organized crime.
Mujica continues to support decriminalization "under strict state control," but stressed the bigger problem of addressing drug addiction.
"I do not defend drug use. But I can't defend the ban as it is, because now we have two problems: drug addition, which is a disease, and narcotrafficking, which is worse."
As the cold autumn weather set in, Topolansky gestured toward the fireplace. Mujica stood up stiffly and retrieved a log from the crate, placing it in the fire before settling down to read. "The problem is that the world is run by old people," he said, "who forget what they were like when they were young."
(Reporting by Lucinda Elliott; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Daniel Wallis)