Pepe Mujica faces the terminal phase of his cancer with palliative care.

Former Uruguayan President José Mujica is in the "terminal" phase of esophageal cancer and is receiving palliative care to relieve pain, his wife, former Vice President Lucía Topolanski, told a local media outlet.

The current situation is "terminal," Topolansky said, quoted by local radio station Sarandí, explaining that they are doing everything necessary to ensure that she lives the final part of her life "as best as possible."

In January, Mujica revealed that the cancer had spread throughout his body and that he would no longer undergo treatment at the age of 89.

Regarding the former president's (2010-2015) absence from Sunday's regional elections, in which the left retained power in the country's capital, Montevideo, his partner explained that the trip in the vehicle was too much for him and his doctor recommended that he not go.

On Sunday, Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi, Mujica's successor, asked that the former guerrilla's privacy be respected.

"We must all contribute to ensuring that dignity is the key at all stages of our lives. We mustn't drive him crazy, we must leave him alone," Orsi urged.

With his straightforward style and austere lifestyle, which earned him the nickname of the "poorest" president in the world—a claim he always denied—Mujica became an emblem of the Latin American left and, with his anti-consumerist rhetoric, won followers globally.