世界“最窮總統”高價賣舊車
President Jose Mujica says he has received a million-dollar offer to buy his 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" told the Uruguayan weekly Busqueda that an Arab sheik offered $1 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, according to a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk with the press.
Mujica said that if got $1 million 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.
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 assumed Uruguay's presidency in 2010 and declared that his entire wealth amounted to the 1987 Beetle. The ramshackle farm he lives on was in his wife's name.
Since then, in his official declarations of wealth, he has included the farm and he has been earning about $11,000 a month as president, of which he donates 20 percent to his political movement. Earlier this year he put his total wealth at $322,883, with the flower farm reportedly worth $108,000.烏拉圭總統穆吉卡日前稱，已有人出一百萬美元的高價購買其破舊的座駕。這輛1987年出廠的藍色“甲殼蟲”已經成爲穆吉卡簡樸作風的象徵。
穆吉卡被稱爲“世界上最窮的總統”。他在接受烏拉圭週刊《探索》採訪時表示，一位阿拉伯酋長願出一百萬美元的價格購買他的舊車。一次新聞發佈會上，穆吉卡被問及此事時說：“他們是這麼跟我說的，不過我沒把這當個事。”
一位因故不願透露姓名的墨西哥駐烏拉圭使館發言人告訴記者，墨西哥大使最近曾在一次閒談中建議穆吉卡把車拍賣掉，並預計能換回10輛四輪卡車。
穆吉卡表示，他將把賣車得來的100萬美元捐給一個爲無家可歸者提供住房的項目。如果換來的是卡車，則會將卡車捐給烏拉圭的公共衛生部門，或捐給參與活動的工人們。
對車的拍賣，穆吉卡並無吝色，因爲“對車沒有忠誠感”。他還開玩笑說，早先之所以沒把車賣掉，是因爲自己的愛犬“瑪努艾拉”的需要， 而這隻狗也因只有三條腿而聞名。
在被問及有人爲何能出如此高價買車時，穆吉卡答道：“人類都有點對物的迷戀，需要某種有形的紀念物”。他還談起自己收藏的一把錘子和一柄鏟子，兩件東西都是他父親的物件。“它們對世人而言無足輕重，但對我卻意義非凡。”
穆吉卡於2010年就任烏拉圭總統，因稱其全部財產爲自己的舊座駕而聞名於世；其居住的破舊農場也在妻子名下。
自就任以來，穆吉卡在正式申報個人財產時把農場也算入在內。穆吉卡每月的工資在11000美元左右，其中的五分之一用於資助其政治運動。今年早些時候，他的資產總額爲32萬2833美元，其中包括妻子價值10萬8000美元的農場。
