🔴Pepe Mujica live on @MVDNoticias. He spoke about Ojeda, Delgado, and the FA formula. «No matter how much opposition we have, this country has to have the courage to agree on 3 or 4 things. For that you have to respect the opposition. “Social security is an issue.”pic.twitter.com/6oasAbI93V
— Diego Martini Lemos (@cablamartini) October 24, 2024
The former president José ‘Pepe’ Mujicaalong with his wife and former senator Lucia Topolanskiparticipated in an interview with the municipal channel TV Ciudad, where they addressed hot topics in the current Uruguayan political landscape. Despite the health difficulties that have reduced his active participation in the electoral campaign, Mujica was animated and responsive during the meeting, offering detailed answers and without obvious signs of fatigue.
When asked about Andres Ojedathe presidential candidate for the Colorado Party, Mujica did not spare his criticism of his public figure. Describing the candidate as “strange,” he recalled that he began his career lifting weights, similar to the former president. Jorge Pacheco Areco with his love of boxing.
Mujica questioned Ojeda’s grandiose view of himselfpositioning himself as the candidate of innovation and modernity, pointing out that “attributing change to being 40 years old” does not address the issue of maturity, something that does not necessarily come with youth. “There are young old people and old young people”, he commented emphatically.
Furthermore, Mujica expressed his surprise at Ojeda’s lack of mention of José Batlle y Ordóñez, an emblematic figure of the Colorado Party. He compared this omission to a Christian who forgets Christ, suggesting that not recognizing Batlle y Ordóñez is ignoring the party’s ideological roots. This parallelism underlines the importance that Mujica gives to history and its emblematic figures as pillars of identity.
Questions about financing and party strategies
The former president also raised suspicions about the way in which Ojeda finances his electoral campaign. “I can’t explain how he does it. A minute of television costs 40,000 pesos, I did some math and I was terrified” he noted, suggesting that expense claims may not reflect reality. According to Mujica, unless the advertising spaces are given away or at a different price than the market, there are discrepancies that deserve to be investigated.
Mujica also criticized the field of National Partyespecially to the tactics of President Lacalle Pou regarding Álvaro Delgado. He indicated that, in his opinion, Lacalle Pou could be limiting Delgado’s projection to prevent him from overshadowing him politically. “It occurs to me, as an old man with bad thinking,” he mentioned, quoting the classic Martín Fierro to reinforce his argument about political intuition.
Electoral analysis and governance of the future
Making a forecast about next Sunday’s elections, the former president predicted the probability of a second electoral round, in which he predicts a victory for the Frente Amplio “through its own merit and through the demerit of others.” However, Mujica stressed the importance of an eventual government of his party maintaining an open dialogue with other political forces. He criticized the current government for its closed proximity to the president, without properly interacting with the opposition, a luxury that he believes Uruguay cannot afford.
Going back to his times in power, he recalled how during the 2022 crisis there was open communication with the then Minister of Economy, Alejandro Atchugarry, and even with former president Jorge Batlle. He described this model as representative of the true Uruguayan spirit. He concluded by highlighting that during his government space was given to the opposition not out of benevolence, but because it is beneficial for a mandate to have active and effective supervision, noting that ““No one is going to control you better than the opposition.”
