Argentina reeled yesterday from the second resignation of a president in just over a week, as bitterly divided politicians clashed over who would next lead a country plagued by riots and recession.
After violent street protests and a battle within the ruling Peronist Party led Adolfo Rodriguez Saa to suddenly quit as interim president on Sunday, depressed Argentina found itself adrift with no consensus over how to end the chaos.
Eduardo Camano, head of the lower house of Congress, found himself with the hot potato of Argentina's provisional presidency after the Senate chief also resigned. But Camano can only head the country for 48 hours before Congress must name a new interim president, according to the Constitution.
One powerful Peronist governor called for an emergency "government of national salvation," while another urged elections for a new president "as soon as possible."
But the non-stop political tumult raised questions about whether Argentina is governable at all as the crumbling middle class grows increasingly restless in its protests of widespread corruption and a ruthless recession now in its fourth year.
Rodriguez Saa, appointed just a week ago by Congress to lead until elections set for March 3, quit after stomping on the toes of Peronist Party barons who accused him of trying to delay or cancel the vote to cling to power longer.
His fate was also sealed by thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets on Friday night to protest strict curbs on bank deposits and his appointment of a Cabinet many believed was rife with corruption. The protests turned ugly, leaving a dozen police injured after clashes in front of the presidential palace. Looters also broke down the doors of Congress, set small fires and pushed couches and statues down its front steps.
"I'm not going to be the president who continues the old Argentina," Rodriguez Saa said in a televised address to the nation on Sunday. "This selfish, petty attitude leaves me no alternative but to present my resignation."
In his short term in office, Rodriguez Saa stopped payments on Argentina's foreign debt, setting up what would be the biggest sovereign default ever and consolidating Latin America's third-largest economy as a pariah in world markets.
Rodriguez Saa was Argentina's third president this year. Violent protests that killed 27 people forced Fernando de la Rua to resign as president on Dec. 20 only half way through his four-year term.
"What people want more than anything is a government," said Carlos Ruckauf, presidential hopeful and governor of Buenos Aires province. "Argentina immediately needs a government of national salvation."
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