We watched sleepy Colonia del Sacramento wake up one Sunday. Our visit coincided with the Uruguayan elections. Jose (“Pepe”) Mujica, head of the Frente Amplio party and an ex-freedom fighter who’d spent 14 years in prison, had just been elected president. When the results came in, a cacophony of car horns started, and lasted all night. Girls, boys and babies hung out of car windows, waving flags and saluting everyone as they drove past. People with painted faces and huge grins walked by, wrapped in the Uruguayan flag. Standing in the torrential rain, the atmosphere was electric.
Every car sported several Mujica stickers and slogans. Even the quarterly restaurant guide we nabbed from the tourist office had a picture of Mujica dressed up as Father Christmas. Bizarrely, the outfit suits him, and the Uruguayans have nick-named their new leader “Pepe Noel”.
Strange to think this docile 74-year old man, with his moustache, chubby cheeks and resemblance to Santa Claus, was once a guerrilla...
Every car sported several Mujica stickers and slogans. Even the quarterly restaurant guide we nabbed from the tourist office had a picture of Mujica dressed up as Father Christmas. Bizarrely, the outfit suits him, and the Uruguayans have nick-named their new leader “Pepe Noel”.
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