Peronist to head Argentina at least till March elections

 



  BUENOS AIRES - Veteran Peronist Adolfo Rodriguez Saa was set to 
become the country's interim president yesterday, taking power 
after a devastating economic crisis toppled President Fernando 
de la Rua.

  Lawmakers meeting in a special session late yesterday were 
expected to approve the 54-year-old lawyer and provincial 
governor as president. De la Rua was brought down after violent 
protests against his economic steps left 27 people dead and more 
than 200 people injured.

  Taking on a job many in his own Peronist party spurned, 
Rodriguez Saa is expected to serve as president at least until 
new elections, tentatively scheduled for March 3. The leader 
elected then will finish out the two years of de la Rua's term.

  A populist who has ruled a western arid province for 18 years, 
Rodriguez Saa will have to deal with an economy on the brink of 
defaulting on its $132 billion public debt and struggling with 
more than 18 percent unemployment.

  His appointment would restore Argentina's largest party, the 
Peronists, as the country's dominant political force after the 
most widespread social disturbances since the late 1980s, when a 
previous financial crisis rocked this South American country of 
36 million. The party also controls Congress.

  Rodriguez Saa yesterday told the television network Todo 
Noticias he would announce an economic plan to ease the crisis. 
"I will work with all my might on behalf of my country. I am 
going to work hard and with honesty," he said.

  He has reportedly suggested Argentina will have to declare a 
moratorium on payments on its crushing debt load and has vowed 
to leave in place a key economic law pegging the Argentine peso 
to the U.S. dollar.

  Polls indicate that a majority of Argentines support keeping the 
peg in place, despite increased calls from many economists and 
several political leaders that only a devaluation can help the 
economy rebound.

  Argentines wary of surging unemployment, rising poverty, salary 
cuts and tax hikes are deeply skeptical of more calls for 
belt-tightening, the centerpiece of policies advocated by De la 
Rua and his economy minister Domingo Cavallo.

  "Enough. No more austerity plans!" said Pablo Arteaga, a 
36-year-old dentist whose wife is a state worker whose salary 
has fallen by 13 percent in recent months. "That was the message 
the people sent to De la Rua and all the other political 
leaders."

  De la Rua resigned Thursday, following two days of protests, 
food riots and supermarket looting. He complained that it was 
the Peronists who forced him from office by disregarding his 
call to join a government of national unity - his last-ditch 
effort to remain in office after the declaration of a state of 
emergency failed to quell the rioting.

  Rodriguez Saa is reportedly considering easing banking 
restrictions imposed by De la Rua, limiting to $1,000 the amount 
of money Argentines can withdraw from their accounts. A run on 
the banks had threatened a devaluation of the peso.



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