Crowds poured into the streets of Uruguay's capital on Wednesday to bid a poignant farewell to former President José Mujica, a former guerrilla who became a pioneering leader and icon of the Latin American left,

The Uruguayan government has declared three days of national mourning in honor of the late former President Jose "Pepe" Mujica.

Jose Mujica, a one-time guerrilla and later president of Uruguay who drove a beat-up VW Beetle and enacted progressive reforms that carried his reputation well beyond South America, has died aged 89.