Uruguayan President José Mujica really took the simplicity of the president to the extreme.
He took over as President of Uruguay in 2009. After becoming president, he gave up the opulent presidential residence and the drunken life he could enjoy as president, choosing to continue living in a dilapidated wooden house on his farm. There was only one muddy path in that place leading to the outside world. Life is even more difficult to the point that even basic drinking water has to be personally selected from a nearby well. He himself often drove the dilapidated tractor to the fields, like an old peasant in the countryside, and if no one told him, no one would have imagined that he was the president of a country.
As president, he is. He was usually protected by two plainclothes policemen and a three-legged dog. His car was a blue Beetle sedan made in 1987 with dull paint.
Although his monthly salary is as high as $12,000, he chooses to donate 90% of it after leaving enough basic living expenses to help the poor in need.
In October 2020, Uruguay's president, known as the world's poorest president, officially announced his retirement from politics, ending his political career. He left behind a country with a growing economy and a per capita GDP of nearly $20,000.
