The World's Poorest President

If you think that politicians are all glamorous and such, you haven't met Jose Mujica, the president of Uruguay who lives in a ramshackle farm and donates almost all of his pay. He's the world's poorest president:

Laundry is strung outside the house. The water comes from a well in a yard, overgrown with weeds. Only two police officers and Manuela, a three-legged dog, keep watch outside.

This is the residence of the president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, whose lifestyle clearly differs sharply from that of most other world leaders.

President Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife's farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo.

The president and his wife work the land themselves, growing flowers.

This austere lifestyle - and the fact that Mujica donates about 90% of his monthly salary, equivalent to $12,000 (£7,500), to charity - has led him to be labelled the poorest president in the world.

Vladimir Hernandez of BBC Mundo/Montevideo has the story: Link


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This comes as no surprised to those of us who know of his political party's affiliation. Pres. Mujica's Broad Front party is democratically socialist. As a member of the US based Democratic Socialist party, I recognize the earnest, humble dedication to his fellow workers. You've got to live it.
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