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Uruguay: Ex-guerrilla is presidential front-runner
Jose "Pepe" Mujica, Uruguay's most popular politician going into Sunday's presidential election, is no ordinary front-runner.
A former guerrilla and committed socialist who twice escaped from prison during the country's 12-year dictatorship and was convicted of killing a policeman in 1971, Mujica is now a grandfatherly figure who captures imaginations with his blunt, salty language and his commitment to changing the system, this time from within.
"In Uruguay, the congenital illness of the left–a lack of unity–can be overcome," Mujica declared as he closed his campaign before a crowd that jammed the capital's main street Wednesday night.
Mujica won the primary of the ruling Broad Front coalition and is expected to get the most votes Sunday, but not quite the majority needed for a first-round victory.
He'll likely face a Nov. 25 runoff against former president Luis Alberto Lacalle of the center-right National Party.