Despite heavy opposition from the public and the country's medical profession, Uruguay made headlines last year when the country passed a law allowing the sales of state-grown marijuana in pharmacies to registered users.

El carisma del ex presidente no encaja con las lecturas de la vieja escuela de la política. Ahí es donde los políticos tradicionales deben manejar el entusiasmo.

Sorprendió al mundo con su vida modesta, viajando en un Volkswagen "Escarabajo" de 1987 y asistiendo a la asunción de un ministro vistiendo pantalón encogido a mano y viejas sandalias.

Mujica projected, from his presidential perch, the wildly innocent virtue of Uruguay itself -- and magnified it. If Uruguay as a country is part exile, part refuge, Mujica made the country more the latter. One thing is certain, the world will remember Mujica -- the president, the person.