The president-elect of Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi, visited his mentor, former president José Mujica (2010-2015), on Monday, a day after having won the second round of the presidential elections, which marks the return of the left to power after five years of center-right government.
“We must be grateful,” said Orsi at a press conference after his meeting with Mujica, 89 years old and recovering from esophageal cancer, who was actively involved in the campaign of his political successor.
Orsi spent two hours talking with the former head of state, who governed Uruguay between 2010 and 2015, and his wife, Lucía Topolansky, who served as vice president from 2017 to 2020.
“What these veterans did was very important to me,” said Orsi after the meeting at the farm where the couple lives, on the outskirts of Montevideo.
Experts see Mujica as the “main strategist” of Orsi’s campaign, a 57-year-old history teacher who governed Canelones, the country’s second most populous department with 3.4 million people, for 10 years.
“My thanks to Pepe and Lucía,” said Orsi on Sunday, who beat the official candidate Álvaro Delgado by some 95,000 votes.
The president-elect said that the dialogue with Mujica represented a moment of “balance” and “vision.” According to Orsi, Mujica “never” specifies who should be part of his cabinet, despite suggesting names. “He tells me that I will serve as president and that I must make the decisions,” he said.
The Popular Participation Movement, the main union of the Frente Amplio and where Orsi has been involved since his youth, published photos of the visit on its account on the social network X.
