Uruguay's population is 3.3 million, which is a bit smaller than Oklahoma, for comparison. It's not shocking to me that a head of state of a small country like that doesn't have all the trappings and security a of a country of 100mm / 300mm / a billion people.
Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
11–20 of 143 posts
Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
#12Pope Francis has also rejected some of the traditional trappings of the Papacy (1): For his unveiling as pope Wednesday to the throng in St. Peter's Square, he shunned a special fur-trimmed red half-cloak and golden cross in favor of plain white vestments and his usual iron cross. To go pray at a church in central Rome on Thursday, he hopped into a regular Vatican sedan, not the papal limousine. He prefers a simple m…
He apparently did the same thing as a cardinal in B.A.; he took an apartment near the "palace" the cardinal normally resides in; you can see pictures of it online.
Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
#13Uruguay's population is 3.3 million, which is a bit smaller than Oklahoma, for comparison. It's not shocking to me that a head of state of a small country like that doesn't have all the trappings and security a of a country of 100mm / 300mm / a billion people.
I'm pretty sure Uruguay can afford a palace and a motorcade ;-)
Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
#14Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
#15[deleted]
Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
#16Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
#17Uruguay's population is 3.3 million, which is a bit smaller than Oklahoma, for comparison. It's not shocking to me that a head of state of a small country like that doesn't have all the trappings and security a of a country of 100mm / 300mm / a billion people.
I'm pretty sure Uruguay can afford a palace and a motorcade ;-)
The article states there is a palace, but he has repurposed it as a shelter for the homeless.
This is is a deliberate decision, not becasue of a lack of resources.
Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
#18Immediately searched for "moving to Uruguay" after reading this. The thought of a sane politician is so refreshing.
Not so fast. South america is a weird place (disclaimer: I live in Brazil).
The overall vision is that the coming of democracy, after a history filled colonization, monarchies and military dictatorships in most countries, has been a net win; but at the same time, the presidential figure gets a disproportionate amount of worshiping in all of those, which is a sign that the democracy has not fully matured.
As positive as the bills passed by Mujica may be, the notion that the president has to be some sort of Robin Hood, Batman of the poor, is problematic, as it inflates the State, turns the legislative power useless, and has a tendency to pass popular policies, as opposed to good policies.
EDIT: Brazil is falling prey to that ideology, as many other countries around here, where the approval of the president is at an all time high, despite the government's failure in addressing all the systemic issues (education, crime, public health, infra-structure, foreign investment). There's an awful cognitive dissonance between what the population perceives and what results are, mainly because the poor are misinformed and cannot judge (the government will always blame an external force: the opposition, capitalism, USA, whatever), and the middle-class prefers to ignore reality (for them, it's better to have an incompetent, but left-wing government than to forfeit their ideologies).
Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Move to Wyoming. I used to run into the governor and his daughter at Baskin Robbins, no security detail or entourage.
[deleted]
It's a good thing that icky, conservative Baskin Robbins is banned from blue states. Oh wait: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=baskin+robbins,+san+jose,+ca
Re: Uruguay's president José Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills
#20Uruguay's population is 3.3 million, which is a bit smaller than Oklahoma, for comparison. It's not shocking to me that a head of state of a small country like that doesn't have all the trappings and security a of a country of 100mm / 300mm / a billion people.
Estonia has a population of 1.3 million, and the head of state certainly has all of those 'trappings' and security etc. It's more about a deliberate choice of how the country's money is spent.