There’s a socialist in charge in Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, etc.
Now the Uruguayans have elected a former rebel leader (translation: terrorist) to be president.
A plain-talking former leader of leftist guerrillas who once sought power through kidnappings and bombings is now the president-elect of Uruguay.
Jose Mujica won more than 50 percent of the votes cast in a run-off election Sunday, according to exit polls by the South American country’s three leading pollsters, giving the center-left Broad Front coalition five more years in power.
Former President Luis A. Lacalle of the center-right National Party conceded defeat. He trailed with about 45 percent of the votes, exit polls by Cifra, Factum and Equipos Mori said. The Electoral Court was expected to release official results late Sunday.
Lacalle had sought to portray his rival as a radical who would transform Uruguay into an extremist socialist state, but Mujica campaigned as a consensus builder, saying he would continue the policies of popular President Tabare Vazquez and work to unify Latin Americans after taking office begins March 1.
The Tupamaro guerrillas, which were co-founded by Mujica, caused so much chaos in the 1960s that Uruguayans initially welcomed a dictatorship that ruled in 1973-85. Mujica spent all that time in prison, enduring torture and solitary confinement, an experience he said cured him of any illusion that armed revolution can achieve lasting social change.
Mujica, 74, vowed to do everything possible to build bridges and avoid creating an atmosphere of tension and drama. He said negotiation and dialogue would be his tools, and cited Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as his inspiration.
He says he’s repented but I’m not buying it. Especially after having done this:
Mujica helped start the Tupamaros, one of many Latin American leftist rebel groups inspired by the Cuban revolution in the 1960s to organize kidnappings, bombings, robberies and other attacks on U.S.-backed right-wing governments. Convicted of killing a policeman in 1971, he endured torture and solitary confinement during nearly 15 years in prison.
