- BUENOS , Argentina (Reuters)
- Argentina's deeply divided politicians, reeling from the second resignation
of a president in barely a week, clashed Monday over who would next lead
a country plagued by riots and recession.
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- After violent street protests and a battle within the
ruling Peronist Party led Adolfo Rodriguez Saa to suddenly quit as interim
president Sunday, depressed Argentina found itself adrift with no consensus
over how to end the chaos.
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- 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.
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- 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 deep
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 Friday night to protest strict curbs on bank deposits
and his appointment of a cabinet many believed was rife with corruption.
-
- The protests turned violent, 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
Sunday. ``This selfish, petty attitude leaves me no alternative but to
present my resignation.''
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- CAROUSEL OF PRESIDENTS
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- Television images showed a very small group of protesters
gathering outside the presidential palace early Monday, but they appeared
to be easily outnumbered by police in riot gear and expectant news photographers.
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- 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 presidential hopeful Carlos Ruckauf, governor of Buenos Aires province,
the country's richest and most populous. ``Argentina immediately needs
a government of national salvation.''
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- Peronist powerbrokers said Rodriguez Saa's plans for
a new currency and promises to create a million jobs sounded too ambitious
for a man only slated to stay in power for three months.
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- Right before Rodriguez Saa took office, one Peronist
spokesman had described him as a ``guy without many enemies in the party.''
But that label soon vanished, and key party leaders skipped an emergency
meeting he called for Sunday afternoon.
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- Rodriguez Saa said as he quit that the snub by the Peronist
governors was the last straw for his caretaker government.
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- ``He never consulted us on any measures that he took,''
said Jose Manuel de la Sota, another Peronist governor with presidential
aspirations. ``The people should elect their president, and the sooner
the better.''
-
- Argentina's next leader must decide what to do with the
dollar-peso currency peg, which economists say is on the brink of collapse.
Help from foreign governments is not expected since worries Argentina's
problems could spread to other emerging markets have long since dissipated.
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- In his first public comments since resigning, De la Rua
issued a brief statement calling for ``national unity.''
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- Many demonstrators over the weekend said they were worried
that Rodriguez Saa's plan to alleviate a cash crunch by issuing a new third
currency could spark runaway hyperinflation.
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- Many of those who took to the street early Saturday demanded
the end of unpopular caps limiting Argentines to $1,000 in cash per month
from their bank accounts, put in place a month ago to halt a run on the
brittle financial system.
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- But economists say lifting the cash limits would spark
certain collapse of many Argentine banks short on funds.
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