Pepe Mujica will undergo radiotherapy sessions to treat esophageal cancer

SANTIAGO (AP) — José Mujica’s personal doctor reported on Thursday that the former Uruguayan president suffers from esophageal cancer for which he will undergo daily radiotherapy sessions.

Dr. Raquel Pannone stated in a press conference that the tumor was detected during routine tests almost a week ago and that the “lesion is limited to the esophagus” and is not too extensive, so possible treatments include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Mujica, 88, announced his own diagnosis last Monday, which he described as “something obviously very compromised and doubly complex” in his case because he suffers from an immunological disease.

Precisely because of this disease and the kidney failure suffered by the former president, the medical team decided that radiotherapy is the most appropriate treatment in his case.

“Pepe is 88 years old, almost 89. He has an immunological disease and kidney failure. They rule out the possibility of surgical treatment at this time. They also rule out chemotherapy and we are left with radiotherapy,” said Pannone, Mujica’s personal doctor since before become president of Uruguay.

According to the doctor, the former president has no injuries to other organs and the treatment should begin in the next few days at the Oncology and Radiotherapy Clinic in Montevideo, although she avoided specifying how long it will last.

Mujica, the campechano leader of Uruguay, a country of only 3.3 million people, was first a leader of the Tupamaros, the Marxist guerrilla group that was inspired by the Cuban revolution.

In the 1960s and early 1970s he took up arms in an effort to overthrow the government, was shot several times and eventually ended up in prison until the fall of the country’s dictatorship led to his release in 1985.

While Mujica led Uruguay between 2010 and 2015, his government stood out for a broad social agenda that included support for same-sex marriage and the creation of the first national market for legal marijuana.

Mujica retired from the Senate and politics in 2020, although he never stopped advocating for the causes he defends and remained active in the ranks of the leftist Frente Amplio.