Thousands of Argentines protest government handling of economic crisis

Posted on Wednesday, July 10 @ 03:49:57 PDT
http://genoaresistence.org/webnuke/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=918

Tue Jul 9, 5:22 PM ET

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Thousands of unemployed Argentines, university
students, and labor activists marched on the presidential palace Tuesday to
protest the government's failure to end the country's economic crisis.

The demonstration - the second large-scale protest in as many days -
coincided with celebrations of Argentina's Independence Day. Some 8,000
protesters shouted anti-government slogans as they marched peacefully in
downtown Buenos Aires.
"Throw them all out!" protesters chanted, crowding the Plaza de Mayo that
fronts the offices of President Eduardo Duhalde.

Protests against Duhalde's handling of Argentina's worst financial crisis in
history have grown in recent days as he works to lure emergency aid back
from the International Monetary Fund ( news - web sites).

The IMF shut off billions of dollars in credits to Argentina last December
as the country plunged into a crisis that saw the presidency change hands
five times in two weeks.

The IMF has since refused to resume aid, saying Argentina must first enact
sweeping economic reforms and devise a sustainable financial and monetary
program.

Presiding over Independence Day ceremonies in northern Argentina, Duhalde
appealed to the international finance community to restore bailout funds,
saying his country "needs and deserves" financial assistance.

"Argentina is in danger," he said. "Years of mismanagement and mistaken
political policies have carried us to a critical situation that we can only
put behind us by working together."

Last week, Duhalde moved up presidential elections by six months to March,
hoping it would boost international confidence in his efforts to turn around
the economy.

Duhalde assumed the presidency after being appointed by Congress in January,
two weeks after deadly street riots and food riots forced Fernando de la Rua
from office.

Argentina faces a dlrs 141 billion debt default and the government has
struggled to contain a sharp devaluation of the currency, the peso, which
has lost 70 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar.

One in five workers are jobless in Argentina, and more than half of the
country's population is impoverished.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020709/ap_wo_en_ge/argen
tina_protests_2

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