Driven from power by a devastating economic crisis and deadly riots, outgoing President Fernando De la Rua returned to his offices for a last time yesterday to await the handover to a caretaker government.
Looking somber in a dark suit, De la Rua arrived at the Casa Rosada, or Government House, and lashed out at the opposition Peronists for failing to join him in a government of "national unity."
PHOTO: AFP
"The Peronists made a mistake," said De la Rua, saying their refusal to join him in a reorganized government as he had requested Thursday had hastened events that triggered his downfall.
Technically, De la Rua remained president until his resignation could be formally approved by Congress later yesterday. He said he wanted to cancel a state of siege he imposed Wednesday. "I would like that to be my last act in government," he said.
Facing riots and unrest that have since claimed 22 lives, De la Rua took up the emergency powers to forbid public gatherings and grant security forces greater powers of arrest.
De la Rua resigned late Thursday and flew from the government palace in a helicopter, driven out by deepening economic troubles, riots in the capital and looting of homes and supermarkets across Argentina.
It was Argentina's worst unrest in a decade, but the protests had largely subsided late Thursday in the capital though looting continued nationwide.
Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of anti-government protesters in the runup to his fall. Rioters looted houses and stores in other cities, and more than 200 people were injured nationwide.
"I'm delighted he's finally gone. Thank God!" said Maria Andrejuk, who was among those celebrating after tensions eased across much of Buenos Aires. But as night fell Thursday, some looting persisted.
Now Argentina's faltering economy awaits the hands of a caretaker government led by the party founded by strongman Juan Peron in the 1940s. The Peronists, who hold a majority in both the Lower House and Senate, will take their turn at trying to tame a crisis that has left the country perilously close to defaulting on its US$132 billion debt burden.
Senate Leader Ramon Puerta was in line to take over yesterday as interim president until a special legislative assembly decides whether to call new elections within months.
Puerta said yesterday he wished only to hold the presidency temporarily -- for 48 hours -- while Congress decides whether to call new elections.
"I've never held a post for which I have not been elected," Puerta told reporters.
"But I will fulfill my duties to the republic in these very difficult moments."
That means Congress must now either select one of Argentina's powerful provincial governors or a member of Congress to take over or call snap elections, analysts say.
They include charismatic for-mer Peronist President Carlos Menem, the most important Argentine politician of the last half century. His privatization drive opened Argentina up to foreign investment, but his legacy was smeared by corruption accusations that he is still battling.
Peronist provincial governors Carlos Ruckauf and Jose Manuel de la Sota, a favorite of foreign investors, are both seen as potential contenders, as is Peronist Senator Eduardo Duhalde -- who also served as vice president under Menem.
Many Peronist leaders said they favored calling new elections in no less than 60 days.
Whoever takes the helm inherits a ship sinking under the weight of its public debt and facing the prospect of insolvency or devaluation. The new leader will also have to wrestle with rampant rioting and looting that has left 24 dead so far and continues to reign.
Trade unions meanwhile have called a general strike until the effective state of emergency -- due to remain in place for 30 days -- is lifted.
De la Rua was departing as one of the most unpopular leaders in Argentina's history having imposed round after round of punishing spending cuts.
In working-class neighborhoods in Buenos Aires province, hordes of teenagers ransacked grocery stores as outnumbered police stood by helplessly on Thursday. Helmeted officers fired tear gas to disperse dozens of looters in a central Buenos Aires neighborhood.
The capital's streets looked like a battleground. Fires smoldered and smoke curled over the Plaza de Mayo outside the ornate pink government palace as thousands gathered to vent anger over the economy and call for De la Rua's ouster.
The US and Britain have urged Argentina to employ democratic means to resolve its crisis, while Brazil's President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said he regretted De la Rua's resignation.
But while words of support poured in from around the globe there were no signs the likes of the US or the International Monetary Fund would pony up more cash.
A recession in its fourth year, 18.3 percent unemployment, relentless pay cuts and tax hikes to service the public debt, plus draconian limits on cash withdrawals to stop a run on banks have effectively strangled the economy.
Every day 2,000 people drop below the poverty line in a country that was one of the wealthiest nations in the early 20th century and is now paying the price of decades of endemic corruption and economic mismanagement.
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