Montevideo, Uruguay - President Jose Mujica says he has received a million-dollar offer to buy his powder-blue 1987 Volkswagen Beetle, which has become a symbol of the Uruguayan leader's austere lifestyle.
The man once nicknamed “the poorest president in the world” said an Arab sheik had offered him $1 million (R11.28 million) for the humble car. When asked about the reported offer at a news conference, Mujica said: “That's what they said to me, but I didn't give it any importance.”
In an informal chat, Mexico's ambassador to Uruguay recently suggested to Mujica that he auction the Beetle in Mexico and predicted he could get 10 four-wheel-drive trucks for it
Mujica, a former leftist Tupamaro guerrilla leader, said that if got $1million for the car, he would donate the money to a program he supports that gives housing to the homeless. If he got trucks for it, he said, they could go to Uruguay's public health office or his campaign workers.
‘NO COMMITMENT TO CARS’
The president said he would gladly auction the Beetle because he has “no commitment to cars” and he joked that he didn't sell it because of his dog Manuela, famous for only having three legs.
Asked why someone would pay a fortune for his little car, Mujica said: “Human beings have a bit of fetishism; we need certain material symbols.” He noted that he keeps a hammer and shovel that belonged to his father. “They are little things to the world, but are worth a lot to you.”
Mujica gained world renown when he became president of Uruguay in 2010 and said the Beetle as his only asset; the ramshackle farm he lives on was in his wife's name.
Sapa-AP