Two Argentines Shot Dead in Anti-Government Riots Wed Jun 26, 3:39 PM ET By Simon Gardner
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Two Argentines were shot dead on Wednesday, as hundreds of anti-government demonstrators fought pitched battles with police in the worst riots since an elected government was toppled in December.
Argentina's President Eduardo Duhalde, at the bottom in polls and fighting for his political future, had vowed a get-tough approach on protests as he struggled to convince a skeptical International Monetary Fund ( news - web sites) to grant an aid pact vital to stem a spiraling social crisis and four-year recession.
The riots came just as Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna journeyed to the United States to meet senior IMF officials on Thursday in a bid to get negotiations on the pact rolling. But things look bleak.
Riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse unemployed protesters, some wearing ski masks and holding sling-shots, who tried to block highways into the city. At least 15 people were injured, two seriously, and 50 people were arrested.
The riots were the latest chapter of violence and protests this year against Latin American governments as they grapple with mounting economic problems in a region also affected by chaos in Argentina and financial jitters in Brazil.
Peru has been hit by major riots against privatization plans, Venezuela was rocked by a failed coup and neighboring Uruguayans have gone on strike against IMF austerity policies.
"We have got to end Duhalde and the IMF's reign. If we don't get change, we will have to fight on." one picketer brandishing a catapult said. Tear gas mingled with smoke from burning tires laid on the road by demonstrators.
Hundreds of protesters scattered through the streets, falling over each other as they ran through a gritty industrial suburb after the clashes. Some demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails; others shattered car windows.
Television showed one protester beating a policeman around the head outside a hospital where injured had been taken. A camera panned in on the bloodied faces of protesters.
One in four of Argentina's workers is out of work, as Argentina scrambles to pull out of a recession which culminated in a default on part of the $140 billion public debt pile and the end of a decade-old currency peg to the dollar.
Meanwhile, the IMF wants clear signs that a government pressured by growing poverty and unemployment will stick to vows to end the runaway spending that put the economy in crisis.
SOCIAL PRESSURE COOKER
Deepening poverty -- in which one in two Argentines is no longer able to buy basic food and clothing -- and soaring unemployment have made Argentina a social pressure cooker.
Twenty-seven people died in December amid food riots and looting that forced the resignation of President Fernando de la Rua, ushering in the political chaos that finally saw Duhalde named as interim leader a month later by Congress.
The peso has now plunged toward four to the dollar -- shedding 75 percent of its value against the dollar since January's devaluation and prompting sharp price increases on supermarket shelves that analysts fear could herald a return to the hyperinflation of the late 1980s.
An advance IMF mission left Argentina over the weekend with no sign of progress toward a package analysts say would be just a rollover of existing obligations to lenders such as the fund, the World Bank ( news - web sites) and the Inter-American Development Bank at best -- if a deal could be reached at all.
IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler said in an interview with Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper that he had recently learned from the IMF mission to Buenos Aires that the "Argentines obviously are in no hurry to talk to us about restructuring the banking sector."
"That surprised and disappointed me," he said.
Analysts say Duhalde's future depends on his securing a deal. If he failed, he could be forced to call early elections, which would likely only deepen Argentina's spiraling chaos. The protester deaths will only compound the pressure.
"It's going to cause a tremendous problem for Duhalde," said local political analyst James Neilson. "All these (protest) movements are greatly benefited by such deaths -- they become instant martyrs.
"They're going to accuse Duhalde of being a fascist and being overly committed to the IMF. I think it's very, very bad news."
Duhalde's popularity rating has dived to around 8 percent, according to a poll. He has confessed to having slight doubts about whether Argentina could clinch a deal with the fund.
The IMF has wanted Duhalde to make mandatory an optional plan to offer bank depositors bonds in lieu of their savings. The fund fears that depositors would withdraw their cash at the earliest opportunity, turn it into dollars and stuff it under the mattress, making the country's financial crisis even worse.
******************************* Alternative Press Review - www.altpr.org Your Guide Beyond the Mainstream PO Box 4710 - Arlington, VA 22204
Infoshop.org - www.infoshop.org News Kiosk - www.infoshop.org/inews