In the soaring palace of Uruguay’s parliament, left-wing presidents from the region have come to remember former President Jose Mujica as a generous and charismatic leader whose legacy of humility remained an example for the world’s politicians.

Crowds have poured into the streets of Uruguay’s capital to bid a poignant farewell to former President José Mujica, a guerrilla fighter-turned-pioneering leader who became an icon of the Latin American left, remembered most for his humility, simple lifestyle and ideological earnestness.

Former Uruguayan President José Mujica, a onetime Marxist guerilla and flower farmer whose radical brand of democracy, plain-spoken philosophy and simple lifestyle fascinated people around the world, has died.

In Uruguay, a small nation of some 3.3 million people, more than half identify as “nones” – atheist, agnostic or other religiously unaffiliated – the highest portion in Latin America.

FILE - In this March 1, 2005 Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez opens his arms to supporters from the balcony of the Government Palace in Montevideo, Uruguay. The former president died in Montevideo early Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Marcelo Hernandez, File)SANTIAGO – Uruguay's first socialist president, Tabaré Vázquez, who rose from poverty to win two terms as leader, died Sunday of cancer, a disease the physician dedicated much of his life to fighting. But in the second Vázquez administration, the economy softened, crime rose and Vice President Raúl Sendic was forced to resign over corruption allegations. During that first term, as president he championed some of the world’s strictest tobacco regulations.