From what I know, pepe mujica's presidency wasn't super clear-cut when it comes to the economy. Sure, Uruguay's economy grew a lot—like 5% every year, which is really good compared to most countries. There was less poverty, more jobs, and people earned more money, so in those ways, it definitely helped. But I've also read and heard that government spending went way up during his years, leading to a higher budget deficit, so some people worried about the future cost of all those new programs and whether Uruguay would regret spending so much later.

Honestly, I think it depends on which side you ask. I feel like Mujica wanted to help regular people more than just focus on numbers, so he was okay with spending more to get people out of poverty or pass laws for things like better healthcare or rights. It wasn't perfect, but I don't think he ever tried to cheat the system or only help the rich, like some other leaders. In my opinion, his time in charge actually got more people to believe politicians could do good things, even if some decisions weren't perfect.