Ceremony for former Peruvian president who died on Monday

(18 Oct 2006) SHOTLIST
1. Tilt down from Peru's National Cathedral
2. Military officers carrying flag-draped coffin
3. Procession exiting the cathedral
4. President Alan Garcia walking behind the coffin
5. Coffin being carried along the street
6. People applauding during procession
7. Military officers carrying coffin while people on balcony throw flower pedals
8. Wide of flower petals being thrown over coffin
9. Coffin being carried along the street
10. President Alan Garcia greeting officials
11. Coffin being carried on horsedrawn carriage
12. Coffin on carriage
13. Reverse shot of people applauding as they follow the carriage
14. Wide of funeral procession
15. Wide of funeral ceremony
16. Medium of funeral
17. UPSOUND (Spanish) Jorge del Castillo, Peru's Cabinet Chief:
"Valentin Paniagua put aside his own health concerns in order to assume the presidency. Valentin Paniagua put aside any temptations to prolong his power in order to perform the duty he had received."
18. Wide of ceremony
STORYLINE
Government officials and Peruvian citizens mourned the death of former President Valentin Paniagua on Tuesday, as a military procession carried his flag draped coffin through the streets of Lima.
As military pallbearers carried the former leader's remains out of the capital's National Cathedral, President Alan Garcia walked behind the coffin with a bowed head.
Garcia declared Monday and Tuesday days of national mourning.
As the procession passed by the Presidential Palace and main government buildings, people in the streets applauded and threw flower pedals.
The body was later placed on a horsedrawn carriage and taken through the city where hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects.
Paniagua, an unassuming former law professor who shepherded Peru back to democracy as interim president following the 2000 collapse of Alberto Fujimori's autocratic regime, died Monday. He was 69.
Paniagua had been suffering from respiratory problems since undergoing surgery in August for inflammation of his heart membrane.
The death of Paniagua, who governed Peru from November 2000 to July 2001, was announced by Jorge del Castillo, Peru's current Cabinet chief.
"Valentin Paniagua put aside his own health concerns in order to assume the presidency. Valentin Paniagua put aside any temptations to prolong his power in order to perform the duty he had received," del Castillo said during the funeral service.
Paniagua governed for only eight months, but in that short time he forged a legacy for leading a broad-based government that took big strides toward rebuilding Peru's tattered democracy, including overseeing clean elections.
He left office with popularity ratings of nearly 70 percent, and surveys suggesting he was the favourite to win this year's presidential election.
But he delayed entering the race, and when centrist Popular Action party leaders finally persuaded him to run, his heart wasn't in it. He finished fifth in a field of 20 candidates.
In November 2000, Paniagua was the head of the opposition-led Congress during a six-day succession crisis.
President Alberto Fujimori fled Peru as his 10-year authoritarian government crumbled in scandals provoked by his shadowy security adviser Vladimiro Montesinos.
Paniagua became interim president after Fujimori's two vice presidents resigned.

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