Buenos Aires, Argentina — Peronist party legislator Eduardo Duhalde took office as Argentina's fifth president in two weeks late Tuesday, facing the country's most serious political and economic crisis in decades.
The new president immediately lashed out at free market policies, blaming them for the country's economic chaos.
Leftist demonstrators throw stones at supporters of Sen. Eduardo Duhalde outside Buenos Aires Congress. Duhalde on Tuesday became the country's fifth president in two weeks.
"This is the moment of truth: Argentina is worn out. The country is broke," he said in a speech to Congress after swearing in. The current economic model "destroyed our middle class, destroyed our industries and pulverized our work force."
The Peronist-controlled Congress, which had voted 262-21 to appoint the new president, cheered wildly. Lawmakers scrapped their original plans for a March presidential election, signaling Duhalde would remain in office until 2003.
Duhalde, a 60-year-old populist who hails from the left wing of the Peronist party, was elected after five hours of debate by Congress. He is to complete the unfinished term of Fernando de la Rua, who left power Dec. 21 amid street riots.
Presidential promises
A former two-term governor of Buenos Aires province, who also served as Argentina's vice president in the early 90s, Duhalde is the country's fourth president since rioting and looting forced de la Rua to resign.
"Viva Argentina! Viva Peron!" hundreds of supporters chanted outside Congress as Duhalde rose to power.
He promised to protect the savings of Argentine depositors who have millions of dollars locked in their bank accounts since a Dec. 1 freeze on cash withdrawals. He also said he would restore the peace after weeks of unrest, create 1 million jobs and a social safety for the unemployed.
But even amid cheers, it was a tense day in Argentina as riot police tightly guarded Congress, erecting tall iron fences around the ornate rotunda in downtown Buenos Aires.
In a brief outburst of violence hours earlier, hundreds of rival political demonstrators battled each other with slingshots, stones and paving blocks.
Although the violence was swiftly quelled by police firing tear gas and rubber bullets, the street brawling was a clear sign of Argentines' simmering anger at their politicians, whom they blame for a crippling recession of nearly four years
Resignation disrupts country
Waving red flags, student supporters of more extreme left-wing groups battled with the Peronist demonstrators. At least two injuries were reported.
Guarding against a return to the widespread street violence that has shaken Argentina in recent weeks, hundreds of police also stood guard outside the Plaza de Mayo, a major city square surrounded by government's central offices.
The abrupt resignation of interim President Adolfo Rodriguez Saa on Sunday left this country of 36 million without any clear leadership and, even worse, without an economic plan to save Argentina long Latin America's most prosperous country from bankruptcy and social chaos.
Argentina plunged into political turmoil Dec. 21 as de la Rua resigned his presidency after days of rioting, protests and looting across the country that left 28 people dead.
Rodriguez Saa was chosen by lawmakers to serve, but he quit when political support withered after one week in office. Protests in the capital continued as Argentines grew increasingly angry over strict banking restrictions, political infighting and his choice of Cabinet members, who were widely regarded as corrupt.
Two other men have also served briefly as acting president since de la Rua's resignation, both reluctantly: Former Senate leader Ramon Puerta inherited the job when de la Rua quit, and Chamber of Deputies leader Eduardo Camano took over Monday from Rodriguez Saa.
Duhalde, who ran second to de la Rua in a 1999 election, now faces the unenviable task of facing down an economy that has ground to a virtual standstill.
It is the worst crisis since the interruption of democracy by a 1976-83 dictatorship. The restoration of democracy sent the military packing to the barracks and left Argentina's political elites to feud for power, but there have been no rumblings from the military in the current crisis.
Almost immediately after taking office, Rodriguez Saa announced Argentina would halt payments on its $132 billion debt burden. He also proposed creating a new currency to circulate alongside the peso, now pegged one-to-one with the dollar.
As the crisis has deepened over the last year, consumer confidence has plummeted, the banking system is being stretched, and Argentina is coming under pressure to devalue its currency.
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