Valentin Paniagua

Valentín Demetrio Paniagua Corazao (Cusco, September 23, 1936-Lima, October 16, 2006) was a Peruvian lawyer and politician. Historical member of Acción Popular, he was Transitory President of Peru after the resignation of Alberto Fujimori from November 22, 2000 to July 28, 2001, the date on which he handed over the command to the president-elect, Alejandro Toledo.

In addition, Paniagua was a deputy during 2 periods (1963-1968 and 1980-1985), Minister of Justice (1965-1966), president of the Chamber of Deputies (1982-1983), Minister of Education (1984), congressman of the Republic (2000-2001) and president of Congress (2000).

Biography

He was born in Cusco on September 23, 1936. He was the son of Valentín Paniagua Medina and Hortencia Corazao Berti. His father was Bolivian and his mother Peruvian. He lost his mother at a very young age, due to an infection that could not be cured due to lack of penicillin.

Since he was little, he was known for being a lover of chess, a game in which he excelled. He completed his primary studies at the Salesian College of La Paz in Bolivia, his secondary education at the National College of Sciences and Arts of Cusco and at the Salesian College of Cuzco in Peru, finishing high school at the latter.

He studied law at the San Antonio Abad National University in Cusco, where he was leader of the University Front, and at the National University of San Marcos in Lima.

Political life

He began his political career as a member of the Christian Democrats.

Deputy (1963-1968)

In the general elections of 1963, he was elected Deputy of the Republic representing Cuzco by the Alianza Acción Popular-Demócrata Cristiana for the parliamentary period 1963-1968.

Minister of Justice

On September 16, 1965, he was appointed Minister of Justice by former President Fernando Belaúnde.

Paniagua became the youngest minister of the time; but after 4 months of holding office, he was censured by the Senate on January 21, 1966, which opposed the reform of the Penal Procedures Code proposed by Paniagua.

Opposition to the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces.

On October 3, 1968, a few months before the end of his legislative term, his position was interrupted after the coup led by Juan Velasco Alvarado.

During the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces, Paniagua withdrew from political activity, resigning from the Christian Democratic Party. For what he dedicated to teaching.

He was always identified as an opponent of the Velasco military regime as well as his successor, Major General EP Francisco Morales Bermúdez.

Deputy (1980-1985)

In the general elections of 1985, he was re-elected Deputy for Popular Action, for the parliamentary period 1980-1985.

President of the Chamber of Deputies

On July 27, 1982, Paniagua was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies for the 1982-1983 legislative period.

Minister of Education

On April 10, 1984, he was appointed Minister of Education by then President Fernando Belaúnde in his second government.

He remained in office until October 12 of the same year.

When Alan García assumed the Presidency of the Republic, Paniagua once again withdrew from political activities to dedicate himself to teaching.

In 1990, his party supported the writer Mario Vargas Llosa, forming part of FREDEMO. For the 1990 general elections, Paniagua ran for the Senate of the Republic for said alliance, however, despite the fact that the alliance had representation in the Senate, Paniagua was not elected after obtaining a low vote of 7,240 votes.

Opposition of the Fujimori regime

Paniagua has always strongly opposed the regime installed after the so-called self-coup d'état, committed by Alberto Fujimori on April 5, 1992, against the constitutional order of that time. During the Fujimori government until the end, Paniagua was always one of the great opponents because Fujimori changed the 1979 Constitution.

In 1998, he was elected National Secretary General of Popular Action.

Candidate for vice presidency of Peru

For the 2000 general elections, Paniagua was a candidate for the first Vice Presidency of the Republic on the presidential ticket of Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde for Popular Action, however the candidacy was unsuccessful in said elections.

Congressman

In the same elections, Paniagua was elected Congressman of the Republic by Popular Action with a low vote of 14,335 votes, for the 2000-2005 parliamentary period.

During his tenure, he was one of the opponents of the dictatorship of Alberto Fujimori and participated in the March of the 4 Suyos showing his support for Alejandro Toledo who was the leader of the opposition march to Fujimori.

President of Congress

On November 16, 2000, after the removal of Martha Hildebrandt from the Presidency of Congress, Paniagua was elected President of the Congress of the Republic with 64 votes in favor of the opposition.

After being elected President of the Legislature, Paniagua guaranteed a Transition Government after the crisis of the Fujimori government.

On November 19, 2000, former President Alberto Fujimori resigned from Japan by sending a letter via fax, but the Congress of the Republic did not accept Fujimori's resignation and rather removed him from office on grounds of permanent moral incapacity. After Fujimori's vacancy and after his Vice Presidents Francisco Tudela and Ricardo Márquez Flores had previously resigned their positions, Paniagua was left as the third in line of presidential succession and had to assume the Presidency of the Republic by constitutional mandate.

President of the Republic

On November 22, 2000, Paniagua assumed the Presidency of the Republic for the 2000-2001 presidential term.

After assuming the presidency, Paniagua during his first presidential message, announced to the entire country that the former Secretary General of the UN, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, would be its President of the Council of Ministers during his transition government.

The same day he assumed the Presidency of the Republic, Paniagua took the oath of Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, as President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Other members of his cabinet were Javier Silva Ruete, Diego García-Sayán, Emilio Navarro, Jaime Zavala Costa, Juan Incháustegui, Marcial Rubio Correa and Susana Villarán.

The main objective of his mandate was to call elections for 2001, elections that were not observed by any civil or political organization and that resulted in Alejandro Toledo of Perú Posible as the winner.

It is also worth mentioning the new trial that initiated the terrorist leaders in the civil courts, as ordered by the sentence issued on the subject by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, as well as promoted the creation of the Commission of the Truth and National Reconciliation, in order to elucidate the 20 years of terrorism that preceded his mandate.

After leaving the Presidency of the Republic, Paniagua assumed the Presidency of Acción Popular, shortly before the death of his beloved teacher Fernando Belaúnde, holding office until 2004.

Presidential candidacy in 2006

For the 2006 general elections, Paniagua announced his presidential candidacy for the Frente de Centro, a coalition formed by Acción Popular, Somos Perú and the Coordinadora Nacional de Independientes.

During his presidential campaign, he visited many towns across the country and introduced his funny cartoon "Chaparrón" at the request of the group "Youth with Valentín" in the middle of the electoral competition. On his presidential list, he was accompanied by Alberto Andrade for the first Vice Presidency and Gonzalo Aguirre Arriz for the 2nd Vice Presidency of the Republic.

His campaign team, especially the advance group, which accompanied him on all his trips, was made up of Augusto Gilberto Muñiz Yesquén, Enrique Aguirre, Renzo Belón Ortega and Jean Carlo Gallegos Fernández.

After a hectic and modest campaign and despite having led the polls in 2005, he achieved fifth place with 7% of the valid votes in the elections, being surpassed by Martha Chávez, Fujimori representative by more than 250,000 votes, but beating evangelical pastor Humberto Lay Sun by 200,000 votes.

Despite getting a third of the votes obtained by the winning list, their alliance won only 5 seats in the Congress of the Republic.

After the election of Alan García as President of the Republic in said elections, Paniagua was one of the first political leaders to meet with him and seek agreement. He was present at the transmission of command on July 28, 2006.

He participated, in his capacity as former president, in one of the sessions of the National Agreement together with Francisco Morales Bermúdez and Alejandro Toledo, as important and wise voices incorporated into this agreement.

Teaching activity

Paniagua carried out different teaching activities at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, at the University of Lima, at the San Martín de Porres University, at the Women's University of the Sacred Heart and at the National University of San Marcos in Lima. He was an honorary professor at the San Antonio Abad National University of Cusco and an honorary academic at the National Academy of Health.

In 2001, the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos awarded him the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa.

Until his last days, he was a professor of:

• Constitutional Law and Administrative Law
• Political institutions in Peru
• Master ' s Programme on Constitutional Law

Other activities

• Vice-President of the Constitutional Reform Commission of the Bar Association of Lima
• Exhibitor in forums and constitutional reform seminars at various universities in the country
• Member of the Dialogue Bureau, sponsored by the OAS in the case of the Constitutional Court and in the Electoral Reforms Commission
• It created the Truth Commission, then called the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR)
• Honorary President of the Peruvian Chess Federation

Death

On August 21, 2006, Paniagua was urgently admitted to the San Felipe Clinic in Lima for an apparent picture of pericarditis.

On August 24 of the same year, during the presentation speech before the full cabinet of the President of the Council of Ministers Jorge Del Castillo, the then Congressman Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde, president of Acción Popular, interrupted the session to announce - erroneously - his death to the Congress of the Republic, requesting 1 minute of silence in his memory and that the session be postponed. Immediately, the news went around the world. Later, this news would be denied by the relatives of the former president, his family doctor Luis Solari and, in plenary session, García Belaúnde himself would do so in an embarrassing confusion. Since then, all news about his health has been kept secret.

Finally, Valentín Paniagua died on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 5:00 AM at the age of 70, due to an infectious pulmonary complication after spending several weeks in a local clinic.

In honor of his life, a national mourning was decreed on October 16 and 17; and the 17th, a non-working holiday from noon. All the Peruvian flags of the national territory should have been hoisted at half mast and State Honors were given to him, as was his teacher Fernando Belaúnde's.

Awards

• Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun, Peru.
• Gran Collar de la Orden del Condor de los Andes, Bolivia.
• Great Necklace of the Order of Boyacá, Colombia.
• Gran Cruz de la Orden de Mayo al Mérito, Argentina.
• Gran Cruz de la Orden al Mérito, Chile.
• Gran Cruz Medalla de Honor del Congreso de la República.
• Gran Cruz Especial de la Orden Cruz Peruana al Mérito Naval.
• Grand Special Cross of the Grand Admiral Grau Order.
• Grand Cross of the Military Order Francisco Bolognesi.
• Grand Special Cross of the Order Captain Quiñones.