--- title: Uruguay President José Mujica Tells Obama U.S. Should Learn Spanish description: José Mujica used a White House visit to shame Obama for the United States' high smoking rates and for not speaking enough Spanish canonical: https://time.com/96454/obama-uruguay-jose-mujica/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-12T17:58:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:47:23.114Z article:section: Politics og:title: Uruguay President José Mujica Tells Obama U.S. Should Learn Spanish og:description: José Mujica used a White House visit to shame Obama for the United States' high smoking rates and for not speaking enough Spanish og:url: https://time.com/96454/obama-uruguay-jose-mujica/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt878a7d12cf5c7634/69868ef93617605e2190bf56/josc3a9-mujica.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Uruguay's President Jose Mujica delivers remarks as U.S. President Barack Obama welcomes before meeting in Oval Office in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Uruguay President José Mujica Tells Obama U.S. Should Learn Spanish twitter:description: José Mujica used a White House visit to shame Obama for the United States' high smoking rates and for not speaking enough Spanish twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt878a7d12cf5c7634/69868ef93617605e2190bf56/josc3a9-mujica.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Uruguay President Tells Obama U.S. Needs to Stop Smoking and Learn Spanish by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 12, 2014 5:58 PM UTC  Uruguay's President Jose Mujica delivers remarks as U.S. President Barack Obama welcomes him before their meeting in the Oval Office in Washington pn May 12, 2014. Uruguay's President Jose Mujica delivers remarks as U.S. President Barack Obama welcomes him before their meeting in the Oval Office in Washington pn May 12, 2014.Jonathan Ernst—Reuters by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 12, 2014 5:58 PM UTC President Barack Obama hosted Uruguayan President José Mujica in the Oval Office Monday to highlight the United States’ “close partnership” with South American country, but Obama may have gotten more than he bargained for. In brief remarks before their meeting, a tie-less Mujica, a one-time guerrilla fighter, lectured Obama about the dangers of smoking and the need for the United States to become bilingual. “You will have to become a bilingual country…” he told Obama. “Because the strength of Latin women is admirable and they will fill this country with people who speak Spanish and Portuguese, too.” Addressing Obama, a one-time smoker, Mujica highlighted his country’s ongoing litigation with tobacco company Philip Morris over Uruguay’s stringent anti-smoking laws. “Mr. President, who is speaking is an old smoker,” Mujica said. “But in the world, per year, eight million people are dying from smoking. And that is more than World War I, World War II. It’s murder. We are in an arduous fight—very arduous—and we must fight against very strong interests. Governments must not be involved in private litigation, but here we’re fighting for life.” Uruguay President José Mujica Tells Obama U.S. Should Learn Spanish ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/96454/obama-uruguay-jose-mujica/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/96454/obama-uruguay-jose-mujica/"},"headline":"Uruguay President Tells Obama U.S. Needs to Stop Smoking and Learn Spanish","datePublished":"2014-05-12T17:58:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:47:23.114Z","description":"José Mujica dropped in on the White House recently to lecture President Obama for high smoking rates in the United States. 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