I'm from uruguay, and i don't really see this as a good thing. And don't }ook at our president Mujica as a great leader, he killed douzens during his youth.
You can say that about all of the current leaders of Latin America, whether they're from the left of the right (they were most likely either complicit or participated with the guerrillas, or they supported one of the many military governments).
But really, if you think about it most Western first-world leaders have most likely supported some form of unjustified military invasion or covert op designed to support their economic interests. That is not necessarily any better; hell I might prefer the people who got down and dirty to defend their ideals, however wrong they were, rather than the suits who signed the orders while they sat back and let soldiers kill for far less worthy causes.
I'm from Uruguay too, and while I didn't vote for Mujica, and probably wouldn't vote for his party, he did pay for his crimes, and in a pretty inhumane form too (11 years in a well) and we agreed as a country to leave those crimes behind for peace sake.
You can say a lot of things about him now, you might disagree with every single one of his political decisions, but you can't say he didn't got rid of his violent ways, in fact, for someone who used to be and extreme leftist, he is pretty centered now, and definitely not violent.
This quote is about "drawing wisdom from the past, to interpret current affairs". It's not about judging people by their past. In fact, if you research history you will find many examples of people who did grave mistakes and then went on to do great good later.
If he's good at organising a country, then a dozen people here and there really isn't anything compared to the benefits of his doing so. Someone can be a good leader and still be a horrible person.
Quite frankly, "killing dozens when you're young" isn't a predictor of good leadership when you're older, especially after you've been through solitary confinement for over a decade. In this regard Mujica's story is similar to Mandela's.
People in solitary confinement gather a lot of wisdom from the vast amount of time they have to meditate. And generally speaking, I believe people should be judged by what they are today, not by their pasts :)
But really, if you think about it most Western first-world leaders have most likely supported some form of unjustified military invasion or covert op designed to support their economic interests. That is not necessarily any better; hell I might prefer the people who got down and dirty to defend their ideals, however wrong they were, rather than the suits who signed the orders while they sat back and let soldiers kill for far less worthy causes.