MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pepe Mujica receives yet another honorary university degree

The former President has 23 honorary degrees

Former Uruguayan President (2010-2015) José Mujica has been awarded Wednesday an honorary doctorate from the Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto (UNRC) in the Argentine province of Córdoba for being “one of the main voices critical of savage capitalism.” Teachers, authorities, and students of the UNRC proposed the distinction for Mujica's “extensive career in political and social militancy.”

A delegation traveled from Argentina to give Mujica his accolade. The ceremony took place at the University of the Republic (UdelaR) in Montevideo because “it is difficult for the honoree to go to Río Cuarto due to his health condition, so it was decided that the ceremony would take place in Uruguay”.

“We consider that the figure of Mr. José Alberto Mujica Cordano is worthy of receiving the highest distinction that a university can grant due to his extensive career in political and social militancy,” the UNRC stated.

The UNRC also highlighted “the social policy of his government,” which was “aimed at the development of human rights, as well as strongly oriented to achieve the unity of the Uruguayan people” while preserving “equity and inclusion”.

Mujica was also praised for “his gifts as a clear, simple and profound communicator; becoming one of the main voices critical of the prevailing savage capitalism, promoting an example of austerity and sobriety in the face of the consumer society.”

“Pepe Mujica is an example of austerity since during his time as president of Uruguay he resigned the comfort that would be granted to any president. He continued to live in the same way on his simple farm, where he is able to continue to live peacefully and without ceasing to practice family agriculture, which has always been his way of life,” the UNRC said.

After receiving the award, Mujica spoke about the importance of education for the working future of the new generations. “The world has entered not a time of change but a change of era. Those workers in overalls and caps are nostalgia of our youth,” he added.

“The workers of the world to come are young people who are entering university. The qualification of work, the technological and scientific progress, determines that these are the future generators of surplus value,” he added.

Mujica also insisted that “it is time for universities to understand that they have the responsibility to put intelligence at the service of an America in which we have been able to build a lot, but we still need to be present in the world.”

The Frente Amplio leader has 23 honorary degrees in Latin America to his credit. “I am a strange old man and I am taken as a symbol because of my way of living, of being; because in general, we live in hierarchical societies and presidents seem to us like kings. I am still the Pepe I always was and that seems to be surprising and for me, that is neither a merit nor a demerit, it is a comfort to be the way one is, simply.”

“To succeed in life is not to get somewhere, it is to get up and start again every time one falls with the desire to live in every order and in every age,” Mujica stressed in a message to the younger generations. But “like all old men who give advice, nobody gives me any more credit,” he joked.

After receiving the award, Mujica spoke about the importance of education for the working future of the new generations. “The world has entered not a time of change but a change of era. Those workers in overalls and caps are nostalgia of our youth,” said the former president, and added: “The workers of the world to come are young people who are entering university. The qualification of work, technological and scientific progress, determines that these are the future generators of surplus value”.

Mujica also insisted that “it is time for universities to understand that they have the responsibility to put intelligence at the service of an America in which we have been able to build a lot, but we still need to have a presence in the world.”