Jose “Pepe” Mujica, the former president of Uruguay, said this week that recognizing the marriages of gay and lesbian couples is simply accepting “reality.”

Uruguayan lawmakers in 2013, while Mujica was in office, approved a number of liberal policies, including laws legalizing same-sex marriage, abortion rights and marijuana.

Following a meeting with the president of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, Mujica held a press conference, where he was asked how the marriage reform was going in his country.

He answered that Uruguay is only “recognizing the reality” and does not like to discriminate against anyone.

“It seems we are discovering a modern phenomenon, but the reality is that it is as old as the hills,” he said, using the Uruguayan proverb “mas viejo que el agujero del mate.”

“We have decided to accept the existence of reality,” he added.