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Unpopular
Duhalde Is Argentina's 5th President In 12 Days
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| Duhalde:
How long will he last? |
BUENOS
AIRES, Jan. 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - As soon as he was voted in as
Argentina's fifth president in 12 days, Eduardo Duhalde faced protests by
hundreds of people, banging pots and pans through the streets, demanding the
resignation of a man they see as just another corrupt politician.
"People don't want
Duhalde because as [former president Carlos] Menem's vice-president he's part of
the problem," 52-year-old Teobaldo Monserrat told Agence France-Presse (AFP)
as he set some cardboard boxes on fire four blocks from Congress.
Only minutes earlier Congress
had voted for Duhalde, 60, to replace Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, who resigned on
Sunday, as his predecessor Fernando de la Rua did 10 days earlier, due to
violent popular unrest over Argentina's bankruptcy.
Two caretaker presidents were appointed for 48 hour periods while lawmakers
decided who the next leader would be.
The first one, Senate leader,
Ramon Puerta, also stepped down leaving Chamber of Deputies leader, Eduardo
Camano, to take the helm, AFP reported.
"We're asking them to
stop their wheeling and dealing once and for all and start worrying about the
people going hungry, without a job," said 27-year-old Pablo, who was
wrapped in an Argentine flag.
A total of 30 people were killed in violent protests that rocked Argentina in
recent weeks, amid mounting anger over the economic crisis, sharp cuts in civil
servants' salaries, and what is perceived as widespread official corruption.
"All these people should go. They're shameless, corrupt and trash,"
said Ana Maria, a 50-year-old teacher participating in another noisy protest in
the residential Barrio Norte neighborhood.
Street protests continued overnight into Wednesday.
Duhalde, in his acceptance speech Tuesday, asked people to have patience while
he tried to whip the government and the country's crumbling economy into shape.
"Argentina is bankrupt," he told Congress after he was elected.
He made it clear Argentina could not afford to reverse a recent decision to
suspend payments on its 132-billion-dollar public debt, and pledged to build a
new social and economic framework to replace what he termed the old, worn-out
model.
He vowed to end the 10-year old convertibility law pegging the peso to the US
dollar, as well as the promotion of financial investments, liberalization of
imports and the guarantee that privatized companies can charge utilities rates
in dollars.
"The very essence of the (past) perverted model ended convertibility,"
he said. Duhalde said he would form a government of national unity to
extricate the country from its worst crisis in modern history, but gave only a
very broad outline of the policies he intends to follow.
He further called for the punishment of corrupt politicians.
Duhalde ran and lost against de la Rua in 1999. His presidential bid followed an
eight-year stint as Buenos Aires governor, when he was linked by the media to
drug trafficking, along with Argentine soccer legend, Diego Maradona.
"We've blocked the street against Duhalde," 28-year-old Leonel Perrota
said in another corner of Barrio Norte. "He's the same guy who ruined us 10
years ago when he was in power - and now he says he's here to save us."
"I've been in the last three pot-banging protests and we'll continue
holding them because it's the only way to get them to listen to us," Ana
Maria said.
In a show of hope, she added
that "There are good people in this country to govern us."
In the middle class
neighborhood of Almagro, 32-year-old Sergio Batan was banging a pot while his
18-month-old son sat on his shoulders.
"I'm fed up with getting robbed," he said. "People are tired and
can't take it any more. [We don't want] Duhalde or any of these same old
politicians."
Duhalde was the only candidate in Tuesday's congressional vote, which gave him
the presidency he had failed to obtain in 1999 elections won by Fernando de la
Rua.
Duhalde, who was vice
president under former president Carlos Menem from 1989 to 1991 and gained a
senate seat in October last year, was immediately sworn in Tuesday night, and is
to run the country for the remaining two years of de la Rua's term.
He faces the daunting tasks of battling a deep economic crisis, reassuring
panicky investors and managing the country's staggering debt, while confronting
widespread discontent over austerity measures.
Duhalde pledged to replace
what he termed the past "worn out" model, which includes the
peso-dollar peg, promotion of financial investments, liberalization of imports
and the guarantee that privatized companies can charge utilities rates in
dollars.
"The very essence of the [past] perverted model ended convertibility,"
he said.
"It pushed two million citizens into poverty, it destroyed the middle
class, it broke our industries and pulverized the work of Argentines," he
said.
The peg originally stabilized the economy and rid the country of hyperinflation,
but is now blamed for making Argentine exports less competitive as well as
exacerbating the recession, which has lasted for more than 3-1/2 years.
He made it clear Tuesday that he would uphold a decision to halt payments on the
public debt, saying the country was not in a position to pay its dues.
"We had to temporarily
suspend payments on the servicing of our public debt, simply because we are not
in a condition to do so under these circumstances of social explosion," the
Peronist politician said.
Meanwhile, the BBC's online news service reported that Duhalde appealed to the
international community to show understanding over the country's hefty foreign
debt.
Duhalde said the country
would need international co-operation to resolve its problems.
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