Wally Kairuz wrote: > > a day of great tension as bombs were found and dismantled in two public > buildings yesterday. a few minutes ago, the dogs in my neighborhood were > brusquely awakened by gunshot. they've been barking and howling for a while > now.
Who's shooting? The police? The military? Who's in charge of them and who are they shooting at? Are political groups protesting or is it more that angry individuals are gathering to protest? And to stay safe are people staying home all this time? No work? No school? Are you still able to work (even though it is for much less money all of a sudden)? > thanks for listening, dear family. Thanks very much for writing, Wally. From here, it's hard to grasp what's happening. Below is a news article I copied from today's NYTimes. From your point of view, is it accurate? Thinking of you and hoping that you and your country come out of this ok, and soon, Debra Shea -------- January 3, 2002 New Argentine Leader Prepares Cross - Party Cabinet Filed at 5:05 a.m. ET BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - New Peronist President Eduardo Duhalde prepared on Thursday to swear in a cabinet that must appeal across party lines and win over cynical and rebellious Argentines angry over a deepening recession that has sparked bloody riots. Duhalde, a power broker in the populist wing of the Peronist Party who is the fifth president in two weeks, is plotting a possibly unpopular and painful devaluation to try and save the economy from a recession now in its fourth year. He will need to scramble all the political support he can manage. Food riots killed at least 27 people last month and Latin America's third largest economy is on the verge of the biggest debt default ever, while the country has been reeling in its worst political crisis since a 1976 military coup. Analysts say Duhalde, in power until 2003, may herald a shift to populism -- including job handouts and trade protectionism -- and an end after a decade of the local peso being fixed at one-to-one with the U.S. dollar. That would also mark an about turn to the free market policies of the last decade that made Argentina a darling of Wall Street but failed to solve rising unemployment now nearly 20 percent of the workforce. "The recipe looks difficult. We believe that the pain has just started," said IDEAglobal consultancy in a research report, adding that the new president needs domestic political support as well as international backing if he is to avoid the fate of his four predecessors. The 60-year-old former vice president, who has promised a cabinet of national unity, will be looking over his shoulder at the reaction of ordinary Argentines to his appointments after a recent history of massive protests and violent clashes. His predecessor Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, also a Peronist, was forced to resign after only a week when his cabinet appointments sparked protests by the country's middle class that criticized the naming of figures tainted with allegations of corruption. President Fernando de la Rua, who defeated Duhalde in the 1999 presidential election, was also forced to resign last month midway into his four-year term amid protests and looting. That sparked a political crisis that saw Argentina pass through three other interim presidents, including Rodriguez Saa, before an emergency session of Congress appointed Duhalde on Tuesday. NEW APPOINTMENTS Despite talk of national unity, the most important cabinet post -- the economy minister -- appears set to go to a Peronist, respected economist Jorge Remes Lenicov who was Duhalde's former provincial economy chief. Carlos Ruckauf, the Peronist governor of Buenos Aires province, will be the new foreign minister. Local media said members of the center-eft Radical Party and the leftist Frepaso, which made up De la Rua's coalition government, could also be named to the cabinet. Duhalde is expected to announce his economic plan on Friday. A Duhalde adviser told Reuters it could include a 30 to 40 percent devaluation of the peso peg, which has turned Argentina into a virtual dollar zone where most home loans and major contracts are in greenbacks. Devaluation could bankrupt millions since they would need more pesos, in which wages are paid, to cancel dollar debts. But it is also seen as possibly the only way to end a slump which has impoverished a country with the highest incomes in Latin America. Duhalde is seen as a throwback to old-fashioned Peronism, founded as a working-class movement by Juan and Eva Peron in the 1940s. It became a vehicle for free-market reforms under Carlos Menem's presidency in the 1990s. As governor, Duhalde promoted job-creation schemes and defended local industry but ran up a budget deficit and faced accusations of corruption. World markets have also had plenty of time to adjust to what has been called the best flagged crisis in history. Talk of devaluation had little impact on European and U.S. markets.
