The New York Times | August 3, 2021
The story of José Mujica, the president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015, is one of extraordinary political reconciliation. Mujica was a leader of the Marxist guerrilla group known as the Tupamaros, who were admired for their ideological earnestness and fancied themselves the avant-garde of change: Their radical communiqués and Robin Hood-like heroics would, they believed, provoke a popular uprising that would lead to the overthrow of the government and a new Uruguay.
In the late 1960s, when the Tupamaros were the epitome of revolutionary cool, their strategy appeared to be working. But by 1970 the government cracked down, assassinating guerrilleros. They responded in kind and a predictable spiral of violence followed. Mujica was shot six times by the police before they were able to arrest him. Three years later the military took power, unleashing a reign of state terror upon the population, and support for the Tupamaros turned into resentment. It wasn’t until the end of the dictatorship that Mujica was released from prison, in 1985. He entered mainstream politics and 25 years later, having charmed the country with his modest way of living and his bracingly spontaneous campaign style, he was elected Uruguay’s 40th president.
The main character of Carolina De Robertis’s fifth novel, “The President and the Frog,” is a thinly veiled version of this unusual man. When De Robertis picks up the story, he is simply “the ex-president”: retired and in his 80s, living in quiet reflection on his wife’s small farm. He is still an international celebrity — because of his lifestyle rather than the relatively tame progressive policies he promulgated in office. His circumstances are so humble they are almost a form of ostentation. As head of state he refused to reside in the presidential palace and preferred his old Volkswagen Beetle to the usual black limousine. Like Mujica’s, his entire worth was the meager value of the Beetle. The novel opens with a young Norwegian journalist arriving to interview him, one of many reporters he has entertained since leaving office; “the Poorest President in the World” makes for good copy.
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