Former President JLP dies.

Former President Jose Lopez Portillo, famous for his empty vow to defend the peso "like a dog," died on Feb. 17 of complications from pneumonia. He was 83.

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He enjoyed largely unchecked powers from 1976 to 1982, governing the country through an oil-driven

Lopez Portillo served as Finance secretary in the presidential administration of his boyhood friend, Luis Echeverria, a man with whom he continues to be linked by human rights activists for Mexico's "dirty war" in which hundreds of political activists disappeared or were killed.

He ran unopposed for the presidency after being hand-picked for the all-powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) nomination by Echeverria. He named several family members and his lover to key Cabinet positions.

At the end of his presidency Lopez Portillo divorced his wife, Carmen Romano, with whom he had three children. He later married actress Sasha Montenegro in 1995.

Former presidents Echeverria, Miguel de la Madrid and Carlos Salinas paid their last respects to Lopez Portillo at a military compound in Mexico City.

"He led the country through a relevant phase of its history," said President Fox, who, like most politicians, even his enemies, were reluctant to speak ill of the deceased man.