Argentina's new cabinet offered to quit on Saturday after overnight protests at the government's inability to end a long recession sparked clashes with police outside the presidential palace and looting of Congress.
Barely a week after deadly riots forced out a previous president, a dozen police were injured after using tear gas to break up what had been a peaceful protest by thousands against hated banking curbs and politicians widely seen as corrupt.
Thirty-three people were arrested as broad frustration over interim President Adolfo Rodriguez Saa's week-old government boiled over. Some protesters pounded on the doors of the presidential palace, while others broke into Congress, where they dragged out furniture and set small fires that were quickly put out as the frenzy waned shortly after dawn.
``These gangsters have got to go!'' yelled one woman as she and thousands of others beat pots and pans in front of the palace in anger at a brutal recession in its fourth year and unemployment soaring over 18 percent.
Just days after being sworn in, all the ministers in interim Rodriguez Saa's caretaker government offered to quit following the violent protests, a government spokesman said. It was not known if their resignations had been accepted.
US President Bush called Rodriguez Saa and urged him to stabilize Latin America's third-largest economy and work with the International Monetary Fund amid worries that plans for a new currency could lead to rampant hyperinflation.
``The president emphasized the need for the Argentine government to develop a sustainable economic plan and to work closely with the IMF and other financial institutions to do so,'' White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
The protests marked an abrupt end to a fleeting honeymoon for Rodriguez Saa, who stopped payments on Argentina's foreign debt after being appointed president last Sunday by Congress, which is dominated by his Peronist Party.
Carlos Grosso, chief adviser to the cabinet but widely suspected of corruption during a stint last decade as mayor of Buenos Aires, resigned as the massive crowds outside the pink presidential palace shouted his name in disgust.
After hours of calm protest, about a dozen demonstrators hung from metal bars shielding the palace doors while others sprayed graffiti on its walls before police in riot gear broke up the crowd. Some of them then broke windows at downtown banks and shops before returning home.
``I understand the people's indignation, but these are very general accusations,'' said Foreign Minister Jose Vernet before entering an emergency Cabinet meeting. ``I think our society is going through a very special moment.''
Television images showed a crowd of protesters push one police officer to the ground and repeatedly kick him, but the unrest was still much less violent than the riots and looting that killed 27 people last week and led Fernando de la Rua to resign as president on Dec. 20.
Rodriguez Saa, Argentina's third president this month who is slated to serve until new elections in March, has drawn fire for his proposal for a new floating currency he hopes will inject fresh cash into the economy but which some fear could quickly become worthless.
Economists and politicians say there is no quick fix for Argentina, stuck in a deep recession since 1998 that has closed entire industries and sends 2,000 people across the poverty line every day, according to one study.
The IMF has already lent Argentina US$20 billion this year, but froze aid earlier this month as the government could not rein in chronic overspending.
``I'd like for all the people banging pots and pans to have to govern for just 24 hours so they can take some of the wise decisions they're proposing,'' Peronist Senator Oscar Lamberto told local radio. ``Surely they wouldn't do much differently.''
Some protesters also voiced anger over the Supreme Court's decision on Friday to uphold curbs on cash withdrawals from banks, which De la Rua's government implemented earlier this month to stop a run on the beleaguered financial system.
The unpopular restrictions limiting Argentines to US$1,000 in cash per month from their bank accounts have further suffocated consumer spending and led some to fear their life savings may be seized outright by the cash-strapped government.
``I put my money in the bank for them to look after it, not to be stolen,'' read one protester's sign.
Rodriguez Saa plans to create a currency called the ''argentino,'' which he hopes can ease a cash crunch but many fear risks massive inflation since it will be backed only by government property like the presidential palace.
In two weeks, the ``argentino'' will be on the streets floating freely alongside the peso, which has been pegged one-to-one with the dollar for a decade -- although the government has not yet decided how many it will mint.
(China Daily December 30, 2001)
