Photo caption, José Mujica is 88 years old.Article information
- Author, Editorial
- Scroll, BBC News World
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April 29, 2024
The former president of Uruguay José Mujica announced this Monday that a tumor was detected in his esophagus and that his current health condition makes it difficult for him to follow regular cancer treatments.
In a press conference of the political group led by Mujica, Popular Participation Movement (MPP), the 88-year-old former president said that his doctors are evaluating how to proceed in this scenario.
“Last Friday I went to Casmu (Assistance Center of the Medical Union of Uruguay) to have a check-up, as a result of which it was discovered that I have a tumor in my esophagus,” said Mujica.
“It is something obviously very committed. It is doubly complex in my case because I have suffered from an immunological disease for more than 20 years that affected, among other things, my kidneys,” he continued.
“Which creates obvious difficulties for chemotherapy and surgical techniques. The doctors are evaluating all of this, doing cellular analysis.”
photo caption, Mujica governed Uruguay from 2010 to 2015.
Mujica governed Uruguay between 2010 and 2015, a period in which he gained great popularity internationally for his modest way of life. He came to be called by his supporters the “poorest president in the world.”
He resigned from his position as senator in 2018.
In his message this Monday, he said that he intended to continue being active in the MPP, which is part of the left-wing political bloc Frente Amplio: “In the meantime, as long as I can, I will continue to be active with my colleagues, faithful to my way of thinking. and entertained with my vegetables, with my chickens”.
With the good humor that characterizes him, he said that it is not the first time that “the grim reaper” was “hanging around the cot.”
“Surely, for obvious reasons, this time he comes with the scythe at the ready,” he said.
In a message to young people, he said that “life is beautiful and it is spent and it goes away. The triumphant thing in life is to start over every time one falls.”
“I am grateful and, at the end of the day, that they take away what I danced from,” he concluded.
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