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News > Uruguay

Uruguay's Mujica: Legalize Marijuana to Tackle Drug Violence

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    Jose "Pepe" Mujica traveled to Costa Rica after visiting Guatemala. | Photo: Reuters

Published 20 August 2015
Opinion

The former Uruguayan president called for Latin American unity and legalization of marijuana and same sex marriage while speaking about regional challenges.

Former Uruguayan President Jose “Pepe” Mujica called for Latin American integration and the legalization of marijuana and same sex marriage, during a visit to Costa Rica on Wednesday.

“Internationalism means starting to achieve equilibrium in a world that is multipolar,” said Mujica during a talk on challenges and prospects for Latin America to an audience of hundreds. “But we Latinos don’t represent a pole, but rather we are in the shadow of other poles.”

RELATED: The World's Wisest President? The Best Jose Mujica Quotes

Mujica called for greater unity, noting that while Latin American integration has been a longstanding point of discussion in the region, there has been “little progress” as there remains “a lack of clear political will to build integration.”

The former Uruguayan president strongly condemned capitalism and consumerism for bankrupting society with the concentration of wealth into the hands of a powerful few. He also called for integration efforts to move beyond matters of economy and trade in favor of expanding true political integration processes.

Before his public talk at Costa Rica’s state university and following a meeting with Costa Rican President Guillermo Solis, Mujica called for the full legalization of marijuana as a way to confront violence caused by drug-trafficking in the region.

Referring to the war on drugs, Mujica said, “we are bored of sending people to prison,” and made a call for reform saying, “humanity needs to change those policies.”

“For Pepe Mujica recognizing marijuana and gay marriage is to see reality.”

Mujica also called for the legalization of same sex marriage, saying that far from being a new phenomenon, same sex relationships are an age old reality that must be recognized as such.

RELATED: Farewell Uruguayan President Jose Mujica

Mujica, beloved worldwide as the “world’s poorest president,” traveled to Costa Rica after visiting Guatemala to attend a two-day regional forum on democracy, development, and integration in Central America and the Caribbean.

Uruguay became the first country in the world to fully legalize marijuana in 2013. Earlier the same year, the South American country also legalized same sex marriage.

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