Posted on 05/26/2003 2:45:12 PM PDT by liberalnot
Argentina's Chief Is Sworn In and Comes Out Fighting
By LARRY ROHTER
BUENOS AIRES, May 25 — Promising to "reconstruct our identity as a people and a nation" after the worst economic crisis in Argentina's history, Néstor Kirchner was sworn in as president today. He immediately issued strong challenges to foreign creditors, the armed forces and the political establishment, which has opposed his unexpected rise to power.
In a 50-minute inauguration speech, Mr. Kirchner, who for the past dozen years has been the governor of a remote and sparsely populated province in Patagonia, took a markedly nationalist tone. He made clear his disagreement with the International Monetary Fund's recipe for an economic recovery here and also demanded that the amount, interest rates and repayment schedule of the country's foreign debt be significantly eased.
"It is not possible to return to paying the debt at the cost of the hunger and exclusion of Argentines, generating more poverty and social conflict," he said, drawing thunderous applause. "Creditors have to understand that they can only collect if Argentina is doing well."
Today would have been a holiday here even without the pomp of the swearing-in ceremony because it is the 193rd anniversary of the beginning of Argentina's struggle to break free of Spanish rule. Mr. Kirchner became the 49th president in that time, the first from Patagonia, and the sixth during the extraordinary period of economic collapse and political instability that Argentina has gone through in the past 18 months.
Mr. Kirchner, a 53-year-old Peronist, is himself coming to power in highly unusual circumstances. He finished second in the initial round of the presidential election on April 27, with just 22 percent of the vote. But he won the runoff by default when his opponent, former President Carlos Saúl Menem, withdrew rather than suffer what opinion polls predicted would be a crushing defeat.
Without mentioning Mr. Menem by name, Mr. Kirchner strongly criticized the man who governed this country in the 1990's. "Governability cannot be a synonym for impunity, obscure agreements, the manipulation of political institutions, or spurious pacts behind the back of society," he said.
Mr. Kirchner also called on the military to show a "commitment to the future and not the past." His declaration came after his newly appointed defense minister confirmed local news reports that three-quarters of army generals and more than half the air force and navy command, more than 50 generals and admirals over all, are being forced into early retirement.
To lead the army, Mr. Kirchner has chosen Gen. Roberto F. Bendini, who has held the rank of general for less than 18 months and most recently commanded an armored unit in Mr. Kirchner's home province of Santa Cruz. The new heads of the air force and navy have also served recently in Patagonia and are relatively junior and inexperienced officers.
In an interview published today by the daily Clarín, the new defense minister, José Pampuro, denied that a purge of the military was under way. The new president, he said, simply wanted "to generate a new space as he has done in politics," and in order to do that, the military must be "under the direction of men who are competent and who have his confidence."
Mr. Kirchner has also indicated he would not oppose efforts to impeach the entire Supreme Court, which was appointed by and is considered still loyal to Mr. Menem. That has led to speculation that he favors a new court that might overturn the amnesty granted more than a decade ago to military officers who committed human rights abuses during the 1976-1983 domestic "dirty war."
"I am part of a generation that was decimated and castigated by painful absences," he said this afternoon, referring to the estimated 30,000 people who disappeared during the period of dictatorship. "I joined the political struggle believing in values and convictions that I don't intend to leave at the door of the presidential palace," he continued, adding that "we arrive without rancor but with memory."
A dozen Latin American heads of state attended the inauguration, including Fidel Castro of Cuba, who is visiting Buenos Aires for the first time since 1959 and was the most heavily applauded of the foreign leaders. He is to meet Monday with Mr. Kirchner, who has declared an end to the policy of "automatic alignment" with the United States and hostility toward Cuba that Argentina followed in the 1990's. Relations between the countries may have reached their nadir in 2001 when Mr. Castro accused the government then in power here of "licking the boots of the United States." Last month, however, Argentina, citing the American invasion of Iraq and acting with Mr. Kirchner's approval, reversed a decade-old position of voting to condemn Cuba for human rights violations.
In what the news media here interpreted as a snub, the American delegation was led by Mel Martinez, the secretary of housing and urban development and a Cuban-American who came to the United States as a teenage refugee. On Friday, though, President Bush called Mr. Kirchner to congratulate him on taking office, pledge his support and invite him to visit the United States this year.
Mr. Kirchner said he would be seeking "an ample, serious and mature relationship with the United States." But he also made it clear that his main foreign policy priority was strengthening ties with neighboring Brazil and the other members of Mercosur, the South American common market, as part of what he called "a new model of nation."
i like the part, "it is not possible to return to paying the debt at the cost of the hunger and exclusion of argentines."
how long will this government last?
and so it becomes clear why american businesses prefer asia.
Having heard this before I would like to read a brief summary of European history in Argentina.
Saying this, he can't be all bad. No mention about cutting taxes, but he sees the corredct fork in the road.
OK......Give me about 2 weeks
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