The iconic 89-year-old -- who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity -- lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment.
“Pepe, eternal!” a cyclist shouted out minutes later, while passing government buildings.
The government announced three days of national mourning and said his body would be taken to the legislative palace on Wednesday to lie in state.
Leftist leaders from across Latin America and Europe paid tribute to the man described by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as an “example for Latin America and the entire world.”
“He felt and lived like ordinary people, not like today’s politicians who seem rich,“ the 53-year-old waiter said.
“I need little to live,“ he said.
In later life, he was disappointed at the authoritarian drift of some left-wing governments, accusing repressive leaders in Venezuela and Nicaragua of “messing things up.”
His wife Lucia Topolansky said this week he was receiving palliative care.
Over the course of five years in power, Mujica legalized abortion and gay marriage and made Uruguay the first country to legalize the use of recreational cannabis.
Former Bolivian president Evo Morales hailed his “experience and wisdom,“ while Brazil’s government bid farewell to “one of the most important humanists of our time.”
- From prison to politics -
He attended official events in sandals and continued living on his small holding on the outskirts of Montevideo, where his prized possession was a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.
During those years, Mujica lived a life of derring-do. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and took part in a mass prison breakout.
After his release, he threw himself into politics and in 1989 founded the MPP, the largest member of the leftist Broad Front coalition.
As president, he was praised for his fight against poverty but criticized for failing to rein in public spending.
Mujica asked to be buried on his farm, next to his dog.
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