Jahangiri Confers With Uruguayˈs President

Santa Cruz, June 16, IRNA – Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri conferred with Uruguayˈs President José Mujica in Bolivia on Sunday evening. During the meeting on the sidelines of the Group-77 plus China Summit in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, the two sides underlined the need for the further expansion of relations. Iran has in recent years expanded friendly ties with Latin America, specially in economic, trade and industrial fields. Iran’s strong and rapidly growing ties with Latin America, specially with Venezuela, have raised eyebrows in the US and its western allies since Tehran and Latin nations have forged an alliance against the imperialist and colonialist powers and are striving hard to reinvigorate their relations with the other independent countries which pursue a line of policy independent from the US. José Alberto ˈPepeˈ Mujica Cordano born May 20, 1935 has been President of Uruguay since 2010. A former guerrilla fighter and a member of the Broad Front coalition of left-wing parties, Mujica was Minister of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries from 2005 to 2008 and a Senator afterwards. As the candidate of the Broad Front, he won the 2009 presidential election and took office as President on 1 March 2010. In October 2009, Mujica won a plurality of over 48 percent of the votes compared to 30 percent for former president Lacalle, falling short of the majority required by the constitution, while at the same time renewing the Broad Frontˈs parliamentary majority for the next legislature (2010–2015). A runoff was then held on 29 November to determine the winner; on 30 November Mujica emerged as the victor, with more than 52% of the vote over Lacalleˈs 43%. He has been described as ˈthe worldˈs ˈpoorestˈ presidentˈ, due to his austere lifestyle and his donation of around 90 percent of his $12,000 (£7,500) monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs./end