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Comment by ggambetta | Hacker News Reader

I advise everybody not to stop at the current state-sponsored propaganda of Mujica as a wise old man; for completeness, also read about his colorful, shooting-cops-in-the-back-of-the-head, soviet-union-financed terrorist activities background, or the way education, everyday violence and society in general have gone to sh*t since he's in charge. He has almost single-handledly destroyed the country.

This is the reason why I left three years ago; it got to a point I couldn't take it anymore. A lot of young, qualified people are running away for the same reasons. Even if the government changed overnight and started doing everything right, the damage they've done in the last 5-10 years will take generations to reverse :(

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Mujica is a very complex person, and his current idolization certainly doesn't paint the whole picture, but, while I disagree with some of his policies, I respect him because he is honest to his principles.

I still live in Uruguay, I belong to an opposition party (and even ran for office :) ) but I think it's not as bad as you paint it.

The left wing government certainly has made a dent on young qualified people - their goal is to equalize but it has the effect of dragging down people who would stand out ("emparejar para abajo").

And yes, a major downside to Mujicas' government has been a huge drop in security (I was robbed twice this year already) and that's what the opposition uses as the campaign rhetoric ("more security", which is certainly needed).

What good is it to be "honest to your principles" if your principles are outdated, damaging or just plain wrong?

The event that made me leave was when thieves broke into my house, two rooms away from where my wife and I were sleeping. Thank God the noises didn't wake me up; by that time I was sleeping with a gun in my nightstand, and I really don't want to imagine what could have happened if I had woken up and walked around the house, as I had done many other times. I'd probably be either dead or in jail.

Nope, nope, nope. It took us a whole 5 months from that day to moving out of the country.

Wow :( yeah that's an awful experience (and exemplifies how security has gone down the drain). I'm glad you could find an awesome opportunity in Switzerland, and I can't think of a safer country.

I'd love to live there, but it would be very hard to leave family and friends behind, and unthinkable for my girlfriend who doesn't speak English nor German.

I do think security will get better here in Uruguay - if the current party doesn't address it, they'll lose the next elections (the ones in 2020), so they will do something. The choice of candidates for the opposition parties is unfortunate, the security issue is big enough for them to make a push in next year's elections (but not enough to win them).

I hope you've settled somewhere with a more conservative gvt that has everyone's best interests at heart (sarcasm). Perhaps your new home is in the land of the free?

My new home is Zürich, and to be honest, it's pretty awesome.

Hang on now, at no point did the parent comment state that he was looking for a more conservative government, nor did he state that there was anything politically wrong with Mujica. Instead he rebutted the homely, nice, old man image that was being presented of Mujica by pointing out the decidedly unpleasant things that Mujica has supposedly done (I can't comment on that; I know nothing of Mujica or his history).

If the parent had said something along the lines of "Mujica is a commie, pinko bastard who loves the USSR!" and had stated that as the flaws with Mujica as a leader, then your rebuttal (as I rather charitably term it) would perhaps be more valid. But to launch into a not-so-subtle criticism of right-wing governments in response to the parents comment seems, frankly, like rather a non-sequitur.

To preempt the inevitable comment that the parent had mentioned Mujica's "soviet-union-financed terrorist activities", and thus clearly had a problem with left-wing politics: the "soviet-union-financed" adjective seems rather less relevant than the "terrorist" adjective in both that sentence and the general theme of violent rule in the parent's post.

Mujica's history has a lot of shades.

During the 60's, there was an uprising in violence in Uruguay. As a response, the right-wing governing party became more totalitarian and allied with the military.

Each side accuses the other of starting the violence, but the thing is a left wing guerrilla movement was started - the "Tupamaros", with Mujica as a founding member, based on the Cuban revolution ideals, and started taking military action, bombings, etc (some predate the founding of the "Tupamaros"), in which Mujica took part. The government responded with more violence, ending in the military coup of 1973 and subsequent dictatorship.

Mujica was imprisioned twice, he once staged a cinematic escape from prision, but he spent a decade in prision overall.

After the reestablishment of democracy, he joined the left wing party Frente Amplio (Broad Front), which ended up winning in 2005. He's now more subdued, but he doesn't deny his guerrilla past.

Wait. He shot cops in the head? Awesome!

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