Montevideo (EFE).- José Mujica’s remains arrived at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo at around 1:15 pm local time on Wednesday, as crowds of mourners poured into the streets of Montevideo to bid him a final farewell.
After ing through most of the center of the Uruguayan capital, the six-horse artillery reached the Legislative Palace, where Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi and Vice-President Carolina Cosse were waiting.
Orsi and the secretary of the presidency, Alejandro Sánchez, were among those who carried Mujica’s coffin to the Salón de los Pasos Perdidos, where Mujica will lie in state in a ceremony open to the public from 3:00 pm local time.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a close friend of Mujica, will attend.
Accompanied by thousands of people, the funeral procession left Montevideo’s Executive Tower for the Legislative Palace at 10:00 am local time on Wednesday.
Minutes later, the funeral procession moved to Avenida 18 de Julio (the capital’s main avenue), where it marched to the headquarters of the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement.
In front of the funeral procession, hundreds of militants from the Movement of Popular Participation party, a historical sector of the political coalition Broad Front, founded by the former president, marched with flags and dressed in black with a T-shirt on the back that read “I am not leaving, I am coming,” Mujica’s quote from Mar. 1, 2015, when he left the presidency after five years in office.
After stopping in front of the headquarters of the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement, the guerrilla movement to which Mujica belonged in the 1960s, the funeral procession continued on its way, also stopping in front of the headquarters of the Movement of Popular Participation and the Broad Front, both located in the center of Montevideo.
Pepe Mujica died on Tuesday in Montevideo at the age of 89, a year after he was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in his oesophagus.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, fighter, referent, and leader. We will miss you dear old man. Thank you for everything you gave us and for your deep love for your people,” President Yamandú Orsi posted on his X .
On Apr. 29, 2024, Mujica announced in a press conference that he had oesophageal cancer. In early 2025, in an interview with the local weekly Búsqueda, the former president reported that the cancer had spread to his liver. EFE
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