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Argentina Faces New Year Leaderless And Broke
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line up at a bank to withdraw cash
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BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Argentina is ringing in the New Year plunged in its worst crisis in decades, after losing two presidents in as many weeks to popular unrest over a declining economy and dirty politics.
Congress convened for a joint session Tuesday to formally accept Rodriguez Saa's resignation and appoint a new president.
Politicians met Monday to find a consensus candidate to replace Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, who resigned as president Sunday, just one week after being temporarily appointed until elections set for March, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
His predecessor, Fernando de la Rua, resigned December 20.
Senator Eduardo Duhalde of the Peronist Party, which holds a majority in Congress, was emerging as the top candidate for interim president Monday.
Influential Peronist Buenos Aires province governor, Carlos Ruckauf, expressed the view that Duhalde, if elected, should remain in office until 2003, news agencies reported.
Buenos Aires Mayor, Anibal Ibarra, of the center-left party Frepaso, shared the same view, but added that "Argentina should not resist holding elections."
However, Jose Manuel de la Sota, the centrist governor of Cordoba province, favored holding popular presidential elections in 35 to 40 days.
The former vice president and governor of Buenos Aires province also reportedly enjoyed the approval of other congressional parties, which agreed whoever takes over now should complete de la Rua's stunted term to December 2003.
While politicians searched for a way out of the crisis, about 5,000 people took to the street in the capital's Floresta district to demand an investigation into the deaths of three youngsters gunned down by a commercial security guard during violent protests Saturday, December 29, 2001, AFP reported.
Security in Buenos Aires was tight Monday as e-mails circulated calling on residents to demonstrate once again with their pots and pans in front of the presidential palace, but provisional officials asked for calm.
Thousands of police have had their leave cancelled as extra guards were drafted in to protect the government palace and congress buildings, the scenes of violent demonstrations in the weekend, BBC’s online news services reported.
Meanwhile, Argentines, preparing for an uncertain new year, queued up once again at the banks, which extended their hours Monday at the request of Rodriguez Saa.
Banks were overwhelmed last week by depositors trying to extract what cash they could despite restrictions that limited withdrawals to 1,000 dollars a month.
It was mass protests over those restrictions -- imposed to prevent a run on banks -- that drove De la Rua from office December 20, 2001.
Argentines returned to the streets overnight Friday -- just five days into Rodriguez Saa's administration -- to once again demand an end to the restrictions, as well as the resignation of government officials widely seen as corrupt.
Rodriguez Saa announced his resignation in a dramatic televised address late Sunday, after spending just one week in office.
Senate leader Ramon Puerta, who under the constitution would have been next in line of succession, also resigned.
That left Eduardo Camano, leader of the Chamber of Deputies, as acting president. Congress has 48 hours to name an interim president, but Camano said he hoped the situation would be defined sooner.
The new interim president will be charged with rescuing Argentina from economic meltdown while at the same time calming social tensions that boiled over this month after nearly four years of recession.
He will have to decide whether to maintain the suspension of payments on Argentina's 132-billion-dollar debt announced by Rodriguez Saa upon taking office.
The former president had promised to use the money saved from the payments to create one million emergency jobs. More than 2.5 million Argentines are currently unemployed.
Possibly the most critical decision for the new president will be what to do with the country's monetary policy.
Argentina's peso-dollar peg, in place for a decade, originally stabilized the economy and slashed inflation of 5,000 percent to the single digits.
It is now blamed, however, for making Argentine exports less competitive on the world market due to the strong peso, which has exacerbated the current recession.
The country is entering its fourth year of recession and has an unemployment rate of 18.3 percent. It faces a profound economic crisis, with 42 months of recession and 15 million people in poverty.
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