Pepe Mujica, Leftist Icon, Dies at 89; Bolivia’s Trials and Tribulations; Desaparecidos in Mexico

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Issue Apr 02-May 31 2025: José “Pepe” Mujica, the former president of Uruguay, passed away on May 13, 2025, at the age of 89. Commentators around the globe pointed to his legacy of social and economic transformation. During his administration, Uruguay experienced historic growth coupled with inclusive policies that promoted human rights while reducing poverty.

The Bolivian Government of President Luis Arce Catacora announced measures to tackle the rise in food prices, fuel shortages, dollar scarcity, and the declining purchasing power of the Bolivian currency. He also moved to defuse the ongoing political crisis by declining to run for reelection and called on former President Evo Morales to do the same. Morales, who rose from poverty to become a crusading left-wing president and oversaw a decade of strong economic growth and dramatic poverty reduction, refused, even though he is prohibited from seeking reelection.

And in early April, during an ongoing crisis in which more than 100,000 people have gone missing in Mexico, the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) decided to open a process regarding the situation so the matter could reach the General Assembly. The Mexican Government rejected the statements of Committee members regarding the alleged practice of enforced disappearance by the state. Yet evidence mounts with the uncovering of clandestine graves all over Mexico, discovered and documented largely thanks to the relatives of the disappeared and groups like Guerreros Buscadores, a non-governmental organization dedicated to searching for desaparecidos in Mexico.

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