Crowds have poured into the streets of Uruguay’s capital to bid a poignant farewell to former President José Mujica, a guerrilla fighter-turned-pioneering leader who became an icon of the Latin American left,

He oversaw an economic boom, a reduction in poverty, and the legalization of abortion, same-sex marriage and marijuana.

Jose “Pepe” Mujica, the former left-wing guerrilla who spent more than a decade in prison before becoming president of Uruguay and making it the first country in the world to legalize cannabis, has died.