「世界一貧しい大統領」、食道の腫瘍公表　ウルグアイのムヒカ氏

【モンテビデオＡＦＰ＝時事】南米ウルグアイのホセ・ムヒカ元大統領（８８）は２９日、首都モンテビデオで記者会見し、先週受けた健康診断で食道に腫瘍が見つかったと公表した。元左翼ゲリラのムヒカ氏は２０１０～１５年の在任中は収入の大半を寄付し、「世界で最も貧しい大統領」と呼ばれた。（写真は南米ウルグアイのホセ・ムヒカ元大統領）
　ムヒカ氏は、免疫疾患があるため放射線治療や手術は困難だとし、「死に神に取りつかれるのは初めてではない」が、「今回は大鎌を携えてやって来たらしい。しばらく様子見だ」と語った。
　主治医は、腫瘍が悪性かどうかは現時点では判断できず、治療法もまだ確定していないと説明した。
　ムヒカ氏は、在任中は質素なライフスタイルも話題となり、カルト的な人気を博した。革新的な法制定に尽力し、人工妊娠中絶や同性婚、２０１３年には世界で初めて嗜好（しこう）用大麻の使用についても合法化を実現した。
　一方で、ムヒカ氏が所属していたゲリラ組織ツパマロスをめぐっては、１９７３年の軍事クーデターを引き起こし、１９８５年まで続く独裁政権を招いたとして、非難にもさらされた。ムヒカ氏はその間、１２年にわたり獄中生活を送った。
　新型コロナウイルス感染が流行していた２０２０年に上院議員を辞職。政治の第一線から身を引いた。
　会見では若者に向け、「人生は美しく、そして限りあるものだと伝えたい。人生で成功する秘訣（ひけつ）は七転び八起きだ」と語った。常に憎しみより愛を選ぶよう呼び掛けた。
　自身については、人生に感謝していると話し、「これまで過ごしてきた良い時間は誰にも奪えない」と結んだ。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/04/30-17:34）

Uruguay's leftist ex-leader Jose Mujica, once known as the world's poorest president for giving away most of his salary and driving an old Volkswagen Beetle, revealed Monday he was battling a tumor.
The 88-year-old told reporters in Montevideo the tumor was discovered on his esophagus last week during a medical checkup.
It is something obviously very compromising, he said -- doubly complicated because he suffers from an immune disease that would make radiotherapy and surgery difficult.
This is not the first time the Grim Reaper has been hanging around me, said Mujica.
This time it seems to me that he comes with the scythe at the ready and we will see what happens, he added.
Mujica's personal doctor Raquel Panone said that the tumor has not been confirmed to be malignant, and treatment has yet to be decided on.
The former guerilla fighter became a cult figure during his 2010-2015 rule, partly for his modest lifestyle.
On his watch, Uruguay passed a number of progressive laws -- legalizing abortion and gay marriage and becoming the first country in the world to allow recreational cannabis use, in 2013.
He remains a figurehead of the Broad Front, the leftist coalition in power from 2005 until it was ousted in 2019 elections by center-right leader Luis Lacalle Pou.
Mujica resigned from frontline politics in 2020, quitting his Senate seat amid the coronavirus epidemic, saying a weakened immune system put him at risk and staying in the office was no alternative to going out and meeting people.
Mujica was part of the MLN-Tupumaros rebels that waged an insurgency during the 1960s and 70s against democratic governments.
Though popular, many Uruguayans blamed them for provoking the 1973 military coup that ushered in a dictatorship that lasted until 1985.
Mujica spent 12 years in prison during that time, much of it in solitary confinement.
On Monday he offered words of advice to young people.
I want to convey to them that life is beautiful and finite... The crux of succeeding in life is to start over every time one falls, he said, and urged people to always choose love over hatred.
As for himself, Mujica said he was grateful for his life, concluding by saying: Nobody can take away the good times I've had.