Aerosmith members met with Uruguayan President José Mujica on Tuesday (Oct. 8) for 45 minutes, where they sang and gave the Latin American head of state an autographed guitar as a gift, Argentine news site Clarín reported.
"It's signed by all of them and that surely has a lot of value," said Mujica, according to Mexican news site Sin Embargo. "That instrument must have been invented by an anarchist who was also drunk, because it's very difficult." He will reportedly auction off the guitar to raise money to build housing.
After the meeting, band leader Steven Tyler called Mujica "a powerful role model" and "one of the best presidents of America," according to Clarín.
Tyler also said Mujica "lives as he preaches, donates his salary to the poor, build homes for the people and fights for freedom; he is a powerful role model."
The American rockstar also addressed Mujica's effort to legally regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana in pharmacies to adults over 18. The Uruguayan President voiced support for pot legalization in order to redirect police resources to fighting street crime and smugglers involved in trafficking other types of drugs, the New York Times reported. "This small country, Uruguay, we believe it's going in the right direction, we believe in it."
Back in August, and after more than 12 hours of debate, House lawmakers voted 50 to 46 to pass the legislation, which is scheduled to pass through the Senate this month. "If we legalize it, we think that we will spoil the market [for drug traffickers] because we are going to sell it for cheaper than it is sold on the black market," said Mujica last year, according to CNN en Español. "And we are going to have people identified."
Last year, the BBC labeled Mujica "the world's poorest president", since he lives in a modest farm outside the capital of Montevideo and gives away most of his salary.
"Your president is a freedom fighter," said the Aerosmith frontman after meeting with Mujica. "In many ways we fight for freedom ourselves, with music -- it transcends all languages."