Argentina gets 6th president in 18 months [Full Text] BUENOS AIRES -- Nestor Kirchner took office on Sunday as Argentina's first elected president since the economy unravelled 18 months ago, pledging to protect jobs and industry to overcome the country's worst financial crisis in a century. A centre-left politician from a remote province in Patagonia, Mr Kirchner was sworn in as the country's 52nd president. Addressing a packed congressional chamber, he said he hoped his four-year term would signal a fresh start for the financially depressed country. 'We are leaving the past behind,' he told lawmakers and 12 Latin American leaders including Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. 'Today we have a new opportunity ... and change is the name of the future.'
His inauguration was loudly applauded by Dr Castro, Mr Chavez and Brazil's first elected leftist, Mr Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, all of whom have led an ideological shift to the left in a region where free market economic reforms have failed to curb widespread poverty. Mr Kirchner enters office with the weakest mandate in Argentine history after winning the election by default when former President Carlos Menem dropped out of a runoff race earlier this month. The 53-year-old president garnered 22 per cent of the vote in a late April ballot. Sunday's inauguration was seen as a new beginning for a country struggling to steady itself from five years of recession, a US$141 billion debt default and deep currency devaluation.[End]
THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT - On scale of stingy nations, U.S. may not be the worst***o POSTSCRIPT: On another issue, pay attention to Venezuela. Regardless of the outcome of a planned referendum on Venezuela's political future, well-placed U.S. officials suspect populist President Hugo Chávez will try to provoke a new coup against him to make a sweeping purge of the armed forces and complete Venezuela's transition to an authoritarian regime.
If that happens, there will be a toughening of the Bush administration's policy toward Venezuela, the sources say. U.S. sanctions against Venezuela are unlikely, but U.S. officials could release information that would be embarrassing for Chávez, such as reports about the alleged presence of nearly 1,000 Cuban officers in Venezuela. Stay tuned.***