Argentina seeks new president amid crisis

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Argentina rang in the new year on Monday in the midst of a deepening political and economic crisis following the recent resignations of two presidents in a little more than a week.

Interim President Adolfo Rodriguez Saa resigned Sunday due to a lack of a political support following another round of protests. His resignation came a week after President Fernando de la Rua quit following civil unrest that left almost 30 protestors dead.

Congress is expected to convene Tuesday to formally accept Rodriguez Saa's resignation and appoint a new interim president who will hold office until elections in December 2003.

His resignation came soon after a plan to create a "national unity" government led by a president who had the support of a broad base of political parties was gaining support as the Congress prepared to hold a special joint session on Tuesday to determine the country's future course.

A seasoned veteran from the Peronist political party, Senator Eduardo Duhalde, met with leading officials from across the country's political spectrum on Monday as support grew for Duhalde to take charge of the country.

The next leader will find the country's economy in dire straits.

Upon taking office, Rodriguez Saa announced the government's intention to suspend payments on the foreign part of its $132 billion debt, and several leading politicians are now saying that the government cannot afford to pay its domestic debt either.

Argentina's people have shown they are prepared to take to the streets in protest again: expressing a growing lack of confidence in the country's political class and anger over the government's failure to turn around a 4-year recession in which unemployment has risen to 18 percent.

Head of the lower house, Peronist Eduardo Camano, was sworn in on Monday to lead the country until a new president could be selected during the special Congressional session.

Senate head Ramon Puerta who had been next in line to succeed Rodriguez Saa, and had temporarily taken the country's reigns after de la Rua's resignation, refused to take over again, ceding power to Camano on Sunday.

There was growing support for the Congress to choose a president who would rule until 2003 rather than call for new elections. Under such a plan, the Congress would nominate the president who would design a "national unity" government with broad support from the country's political parties, said Camano.

Consensus across the country's political spectrum on a program to re-start the country's economy is necessary to stop a "war of (Argentina's) people against one another," he said.

Leading members of the two parties that had formed de la Rua's Alliance coalition, the Radical Party and Frepaso party, voiced support for a broad based government with a president that would stay in power until 2003.

"There is an inclination to favor Duhalde and we would back this nomination to complete the term (of de la Rua)," said leading Radical party member Federico Storani.

Peronist Sen. Eduardo Duhalde ran for president in 1999 against de la Rua and served as vice president under former President Carlos Menem. However, some leading Peronist officials believed elections were necessary to give a new government enough of a mandate to effectively rule.

"I continue defending the right of Argentines to elect their authorities," said leading Peronist governor Manuel de la Sota in a television interview on Monday.

The Peronist party, which dominates Congress, had appointed Rodriguez Saa to the post of interim president until elections could be called on March 3 to select a president who would rule until 2003. The Peronist party, founded by populist leader Juan Peron during the 1940's, took the political stage again after de la Rua, a member of the main opposition Radical Party, resigned.

Menem, a Peronist, had put forward market reforms during the 1990's, but some analysts believe a flawed reform framework and alleged corruption within the administration contributed to bring about the country's current economic problems.

The Peronists are greatly divided at present. Infighting and rivalries among Peronist party members came to a head when Peronist Rodriguez Saa said that he would resign on Sunday after key Peronist governors failed to give him the backing necessary to govern.

Many Argentines have lost confidence in the country's political leaders seeing many politicians as corrupt and too preoccupied with personal ambitions to effectively deal with the country's problems. Many protesters who took to the streets last Friday evening and early Saturday were unhappy with Rodriguez Saa's choice of Cabinet ministers, many of whom were believed to be tainted by corruption scandals.

There were increased security forces around the country's Congress building and presidential palace, the Pink House as well as other locations around the capital, Buenos Aires, on Monday. The Congress and presidential palace were the principal sites where protestors battled against riot police during the unrest that led to the resignation of both de la Rua and Rodriguez Saa.

Tens of thousands of security forces were on alert on Monday ready to deal with any possible further civil unrest.

Argentines banged pots in protest in San Luis province on Monday where Rodriguez Saa had been governor for 18 years before being appointed president.

The resignation of Saa appears to be the death of a planned third currency, the argentino, he had announced to create more liquidity and pay bills. Argentina's currency, the peso, is currently pegged at a one to one parity with the dollar as part of a program implemented under Menem to counter inflation.

Many feared the new currency, the argentino, would mean an imminent devaluation and a return to the country's past inflationary tendencies. Argentines waited in long lines at banks on Monday to take out as much cash as possible under banking restrictions that were put in place by de la Rua's administration, which set a $1,000 a month limit on withdrawals.

The measures were put in place to stop a run on banks that drained billions from the system, and threatened to wreak more economic havoc. But the measures have also been one of the main policies Argentines have gone on the streets to protest, worried they will lose their savings. The new government will have to find a way to loosen the restrictions while staving off further financial disaster, said analysts.

"If things keep going like this the military will come back," said Paolo Mendez, a hot dog vendor who works near the presidential palace. "These politicians never learn."

Argentina's democracy is 18 years old, re-installed after a brutal military dictatorship in the 1970's and early 1980's. The military's role in the country was greatly diminished during Menem's administration, however.