Pepe Mujica: “Nicaragua and Venezuela Are Indefensible”
The former Uruguayan leader stated in an interview with El Observador that Daniel Ortega and Nicolas Maduro “play at democracy.”
HAVANA TIMES – Former Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica declared that Daniel Ortega and Nicolas Maduro “play at democracy,” and their regimes are now indefensible.
“Nicaragua and Venezuela are indefensible as they stand today. On one hand, they play at democracy, but they don’t have the courage to say, ‘we stand for the dictatorship of the proletariat,'” he said in an interview published on Thursday, October 10, in El Observador.
Mujica reiterated that the stance of both regimes “is a mess, but it’s a political decision they made many years ago.” He added, “These guys play at democracy, but when it doesn’t work out for them… nah, it’s a joke.”
The former president referred to the situation in both countries when questioned about the position of the Tupamaro Liberation Movement (MLN), which had called Venezuela’s elections —where Maduro declared himself the winner— an “exemplary electoral process.” Mujica distanced himself from these statements.
Lula Tries to Mediate Between the Regimes
In the interview, Mujica, in his first after being hospitalized, noted that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had not been as decisive regarding these elections because “he’s seeking results.”
“Brazil has so many kilometers of border with Venezuela that not even NATO can control it. I trust Lula. But Maduro isn’t going to listen to him,” he said.
Lula has also tried to position himself as a “negotiator” with Daniel Ortega’s dictatorship, but without success. In 2023, Lula attempted to contact the dictator to deliver a message from Pope Francis, but Ortega didn’t answer his calls.
In 2024, tensions between Lula and Ortega worsened after the Nicaraguan leader criticized him during a speech, angrily questioning:
“How many terms in office have you served? You’ve served two terms, it seems you like being president, and from the presidency of that great country, Brazil, you want to become the representative of the Yankees in Latin America. That’s why we broke off relations with Brazil,” said Ortega on August 26, 2024.
The tensions between the two leaders led to Ortega expelling Brazil’s diplomatic representative from Nicaragua, and Brazil responded with a reciprocal action.
“Man Must Overcome Capitalism”
During the interview, Mujica was asked if he “continues to fight against capitalism.” He responded that “man must overcome capitalism, but the paths tried have been astonishingly naïve.”
The former president stated that socialism “was a spectacular failure. It had a good engine, but society doesn’t work like an architect designing a building. Humans are more complex.”
However, he believes that capitalism “will be surpassed, even by capitalism itself, or it will collapse under its own contradictions.”
“In the end, it’s not that I believe in socialism. I have the flaw of believing in humankind, despite all the troubles,” he concluded.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated into English and posted by Havana Times.