The December 2001 riots were a period of civil unrest and rioting in Argentina, which took place during December 2001, with the most violent incidents taking place on December 19 and December 20 in the capital, Buenos Aires. 2001 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December Events: December 2 - Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection five days after Dynegy canceled a US$8. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Buenos Aires (disambiguation). ...

Background

History of Argentina
Pre-Columbian times
Indigenous peoples
Spanish rule
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
British invasions
An independent nation
May Revolution
Argentine War of Independence
Congress of Tucumán
Building a nation
Argentine Constitution of 1853
Conquest of the Desert
Generation of '80
Immigration in Argentina
The Age of Perón
Juan and Eva Perón
Montoneros and Triple A
Military government
Dirty War
Falklands/Malvinas War
Democracy and crisis
Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
Trial of the Juntas
Carapintadas
The Argentinazo
Present day Argentina
Modern Argentina
Topical
Military history of Argentina
Timeline of Argentine history

The riots were a predominantly middle-class uprising against the government of President Fernando de la Rúa, who had failed to contain the economic crisis that was going through its third year of recession. Since 1991, the Argentine peso was at a fixed exchange rate with the US dollar. The 1-to-1 rate had been instrumental to overcome the chronic hyperinflation bursts of the late 1980s, but deprived Argentina of full control over its monetary policy, and a sudden revaluation of the dollar in 1997 ended up harming exports, which were the only important source of foreign currency at the time. This article is about the history of Argentina. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Argentina. ... Olmec script These glyphs written in Epi-Olmec script, the earliest examples of writing in the Americas, give a calendar date of 7. ... Created in 1776, the Viceroyalty of La Plata (in Spanish, Virreinato del Río de la Plata) was the last and most shortlived viceroyalty created by Spain. ... The British invasions of the Río de la Plata (Spanish: Invasiones Inglesas al Río de la Plata) were a series of unsuccessful British attempts at military control of the Spanish colonies located around the Río de la Plata basin in South America, between 1806 and 1807, as... La Revolución de Mayo (the May Revolution) was the first attempt at independence in the Viceroyalty of the River Plate, which contains present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. ... The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1814 to 1816 by Argentine forces under José de San Martín against realista forces loyal to the Spanish crown. ... The Congress of Tucumán was the representative assembly of the United Provinces of the River Plate formed in 1816, initially meeting in Tucumán. ... Cover of the original manuscript of the 1853 Constitution The Argentine Constitution of 1853 was the first constitution of Argentina, approved with the support of the governments of the provinces —though without that of the Buenos Aires Province, who remained separated of the Argentine Confederation until 1859, after the modification... The Conquest of the Desert (Spanish: Conquista del desierto) was a controversial campaign by the Argentine government, executed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca, to wrest Patagonia from the control of the regions aboriginal tribes at the end of the 19th century. ... The Generation of 80 (Spanish: Generación del 80) was the governing elite in Argentina from 1880 to 1916. ... Non-native population in Argentina, 1869–1991 There is a theory that the original inhabitants of Argentina were descendants of Asian peoples that crossed the Bering Land Bridge into North America and then, over thousands of years, reached the southern end of South America. ... Juan Domingo Perón (October 8, 1895 – July 1, 1974) was an Argentine soldier and politician, elected three times as President of Argentina and serving from 1946 to 1955 and from 1973 to 1974. ... Maria Eva Duarte de Perón (May 7, 1919 – July 26, 1952) was the second wife of Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón (1895–1974) and the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. ... Official logo of Montoneros The Movimiento Peronista Montonero was an Argentinian radical leftist nationalist-catholic guerrilla group, active during the 1970s. ... The Alianza Anticomunista Argentina (Argentine Anticommunist Alliance, usually known as Triple A or AAA) was a far-right death squad active in Argentina during the mid-1970s, linked to the military junta led by Jorge Rafael Videla. ... Jorge Rafael Videla, first president of the Proceso Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (Spanish, National Reorganization Process, often simply Proceso) was the name given by its leaders to the dictatorial regime that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. ... Poster by the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo NGO with photos of disappeared. This article especially refers to the Argentine dirty war; however, the term has been used in other contexts, for example in Morocco; see also lead years. ... Combatants Argentina United Kingdom Commanders Presidente Leopoldo Galtieri Vice Admiral Juan Lombardo Brigadier General Ernesto Crespo Brigade General Mario Menéndez Prime minister Margaret Thatcher Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse Rear-Admiral Sandy Woodward Major General Jeremy Moore Casualties 649 killed 1,068 wounded 11,313 taken prisoner 75 fixed wing... The white shawl of the Mothers, painted on the floor in Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires. ... The Juicio a las Juntas (Spanish, Trial of the Juntas) was the judicial trial of the members of the de facto military government that ruled Argentina during the dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, which lasted from 1976 to 1983. ... The Carapintadas (Spanish: Painted Faces) were a group of mutineers in the Argentine Army, who took part in uprisings during the presidency of Raúl Alfonsín in Argentina. ... Motto En unión y libertad(Spanish) In Union and Freedom Anthem Himno Nacional Argentino Capital (and largest city) Buenos Aires Official languages Spanish Government Federal republic  -  President Néstor Kirchner  -  Vice President Daniel Scioli Independence from Spain   -  May Revolution 25 May 1810   -  Declared 9 July 1816   -  Recognized 1821 (by... This article is in need of attention. ... This is a timeline of Argentine history. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ... Fernando de la Rúa Bruno (born September 15, 1937) is an Argentine politician. ... The Argentine economic crisis was part of the situation that affected Argentinas economy during the late 1990s and early 2000s. ... A recession is traditionally defined in macroeconomics as a decline in a countrys real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for two or more successive quarters of a year (equivalently, two consecutive quarters of negative real economic growth). ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... The Argentine peso (originally established as the nuevo peso argentino or peso convertible) is the currency of Argentina. ... A fixed exchange rate, sometimes (less commonly) called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime wherein a currencys value is matched to the value of another single currency or to a basket of other currencies, or to another measure of value, such as gold. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Indian Ocean Territory,[1] the British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 2. ... Certain figures in this article use scientific notation for readability. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

De la Rúa's economic policies suffered a severe blow in March 2001 when Economy Minister José Luis Machinea resigned from office. He was briefly replaced by the then-Defense Minister Ricardo López Murphy, who himself was forced to resign following negative reception to his shock program. After only two weeks in office, López Murphy was replaced by Domingo Cavallo, who had previously served as Economy Minister between 1991 and 1996, and who was widely credited to be the man that took Argentina out of hyperinflation. March 2001 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December March 3 - A U.S. Air Force Materials Command C-23 Sherpa transport crashes during stormy weather in the U.S. state of Georgia, killing 21. ... José Luis Machinea (b. ... Ricardo Hipólito López Murphy (born 10 August 1951 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine economist and politician. ... Domingo Cavallo (right) Domingo Felipe Mingo Cavallo (born July 21, 1946) is an Argentine economist and politician. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

Cavallo took to administer the country's economy, establishing new taxes and special agreements with certain sectors of the Argentine industrial establishment. He also took to restructure Argentina's massive foreign debt in an operation known locally as the megacanje ("mega-exchange", i. e. an exchange of debt bonds for others at more advantageous conditions). From the first moment, there were allegations of corruption and money laundering about the megacanje. ). External debt is the part of a countrys debt owed to creditors outside the country. ... Money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial transactions in order to conceal the identity, source and destination of the money in question. ...

De la Rúa's political situation was also precarious. His arrival to power in 1999 had been possible thanks to the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education, a coalition formed by the Radical Civic Union and the FrePaSo, which managed to defeat the incumbent Justicialist Party (the Peronists) in that year's presidential elections. However, the Alliance (as it was known) failed to achieve a majority in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, and lost the provincial elections to the Peronists, who then remained in charge of large and critical districts such as the Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Santa Fe provinces. Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... The Alliance for Work, Justice and Education (in Spanish: Alianza para el Trabajo, la Justicia y la Educación) was a party coalition in Argentina around the turn of the third millennium. ... The Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical, or UCR) is the foremost opposition party in Argentina. ... Categories: Politics stubs | Argentine political parties ... The Justicialist Party (Spanish: Partido Justicialista, PJ) is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement. ... The Argentine Senate is the upper house of parliament in Argentina. ... The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the National Congress, Argentinas parliament. ... The Buenos Aires province (IPA: , Spanish: Provincia de Buenos Aires) is the wealthiest and most populated province of Argentina. ... Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. ... Santa Fe is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. ...

The government coalition was strained from the first moment; the FrePaSo leaders resented being "junior members" of the government (being forced to that position after losing their bid to the Governorship of Buenos Aires), while the Radicals were divided between their left- and right-leaning factions (De la Rúa was a leader of the party's conservatives), especially regarding economic policy. In late 2000 a political scandal broke out when it was reported that SIDE, Argentina's intelligence service, had paid massive bribes to a number of senators to approve a controversial Labor Reform Act. The head of SIDE, Fernando de Santibañes, was a personal friend of De la Rúa. The crisis came to a head on October 2000 when Vice President Carlos Álvarez resigned, citing De la Rúa's unwillingness to tackle corruption. A political scandal is a scandal in which politicians engage in various illegal or unethical practices. ... Secretaría de Inteligencia (Intelligence Secretariat, S.I) is the main intelligence agency of the Argentine Republic. ... The following is a partial list of intelligence agencies, past and present. ... Bribery is the practice of offering a professional money or other favours in order to circumvent ethics in a variety of professions. ... Carlos Alberto Chacho Álvarez (born on December 26, 1948 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine politician; he was Vice-President of Argentina during part of President Fernando de la Rúas mandate, and currently heads the Mercosur Secretariat. ...

The March 2001 crisis (see above) also caused the resignation of all the FrePaSo Cabinet ministers, leaving De la Rúa without political support. The congressional elections of October 2001 were a disaster for the government, which lost many of its seats in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies to the Peronists. The election results marked also a growing unrest within Argentina's voters, who took to cast millions of null or blank votes. The Peronists seized the opportunity to appoint Senator Ramón Puerta to be President Pro-Tempore of the Argentine Senate, a situation which added to De la Rúa's political weakness since in the Argentine system the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate is next in line for the Presidency after the Vice President. With no Vice President of its own, Puerta's designation meant that De la Rúa had a virtual Peronist Vice President. Argentina held national parliamentary elections on Sunday, 14 October 2001. ... Federico Ramón Puerta (born 1951) is an Argentine politician of the Peronist persuasion. ...

Social unrest was also growing. Since the late 1990s, protest movements had formed in Argentina, notably the piqueteros ("picketeers"), initially made up of unemployed workers. The piqueteros blockaded major roads and highways demanding government subsidies and other welfare measures. They featured prominently during the March 2001 crisis. A piquetero is a member of a social movement originally initiated by unemployed workers in Argentina in the mid-1990s, during Carlos Menems rule, a few years before the peak of the economic crisis that started in 1998 with a recession and erupted in 2001 causing the resignation of... A blockade is any effort to prevent supplies, troops, information or aid from reaching an opposing force. ... Welfare is financial assistance paid by taxpayers to groups of people who are unable to support themselves, and determined to be able to function more effectively with financial assistance. ...

This entire crisis came to a head on November 29, 2001, when Argentines took to banks and financial institutions to withdraw millions of pesos and dollars from their accounts. Had the withdrawal continued, Argentina's entire banking system would have collapsed. November 29 is the 333rd day of the year (334th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Corralito

The unrest started when Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo, introduced restrictions to the withdrawal of cash from bank deposits (see corralito), intending to stop the draining of deposits that had been taking place throughout 2001 and had reached the point where 25% of all the money in the banks had been withdrawn. These measures were aimed at controlling the banking crisis for a period of 90 days, until the exchange of Argentina's public debt could be completed. Domingo Cavallo (right) Domingo Felipe Mingo Cavallo (born July 21, 1946) is an Argentine economist and politician. ... Bank deposits accounts are the large part of the money supply. They come in different types depending on withdrawal restrictions. ... Corralito was the informal name for the economic measures taken in Argentina during 2001 by economy minister Domingo Cavallo in order to stop the draining of bank accounts. ... Debt restructuring is a plan for zoo, which is made to make possible to continue business operation without danger from lions. ... This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary. ...

Although people could still use their money via credit cards, checks and other forms of non-cash payments, the enforcement of these measures caused delays and problems for the general population and especially for businesses. Massive queues at every bank and growing reports of political crisis contributed to inflame Argentina's political scenario. Credit cards A credit card is a system of payment named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. ... Example of a Canadian cheque. ...

In this context, certain factions of the opposition, as well as interest groups who wanted a devaluation of the Argentine peso, seized the opportunity to fuel public anger and replace the government. Devaluation is a reduction in the value of a currency with respect to other monetary units. ... The Argentine peso (originally established as the nuevo peso argentino or peso convertible) is the currency of Argentina. ...

De la Rúa's position had become unsustainable. An attempt by the Catholic Church to mediate between the government and the opposition in mid-December failed. Between December 16 and December 19 there were several incidents involving unemployed activists and protesters which demanded the handing-out of food bags from supermarkets. These incidents ended up with outright looting of supermarkets and convenience stores on December 18, taking place on Rosario and the Greater Buenos Aires areas. This was of historical significance, as the previous Radical administration of Raúl Alfonsín had been forced to resign after a wave of looting in 1989. The name Catholic Church can mean a visible organization that refers to itself as Catholic, or the invisible Christian Church, viz. ... December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Exterior of a typical British supermarket (a Tesco Extra) Exterior of typical North American supermarket (a Safeway) This Flagship Randalls store in Houston, Texas is an example of an upscale supermarket. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... In the Gregorian calendar, December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years), with 13 days remaining until the end of the year. ... Rosario is the largest city of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and the third most populous in the country, after Buenos Aires and Córdoba. ... Gran Buenos Aires or Greater Buenos Aires is the metropolitan area next to the city of Buenos Aires and comprises the following 24 partidos (administrative subdivisions) of the Province of Buenos Aires. ... Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (born 13 March 1927) is an Argentine politician, who was the President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 9 July 1989. ... The 1989 food riots were a series of riots and related episodes of looting in stores and supermarkets in Argentina, during the last part of the presidency of Raúl Alfonsín, between May and June 1989. ...

December 19

This section does not cite its references or sources. Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) Any material not supported by sources may be challenged and removed at any time. This article has been tagged since June 2007. Image File history File links Information. ...

Throughout the day new lootings took place, and the Government believed that Peronist elements were fueling the protests, especially in the province of Buenos Aires. This came after noting that the lootings often took place in Peronist-governed towns, and that the Buenos Aires Provincial Police (which ultimately answered to Buenos Aires Governor Carlos Ruckauf, a top Peronist) was strangely mild in restoring order. With violence mounting across Argentina's major cities, President De la Rúa began to consider alternative measures to restore order. Carlos Ruckauf (born 1944) is a Argentina. ...

The first option considered was to deploy the military to contain the violence. However, Argentine legislation forbids military intervention in domestic security matters unless the police and security forces are overwhelmed, a situation quickly pointed out by the Chairman of the Joint General Staff and the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The military also pointed that they would only intervene if their deployment was authorized by a law voted in Congress, something impossible given the Peronist majority in both Houses. The Argentine military was unwilling to take the blame if violence grew worse, learning from what had previously happened when President Isabel Perón issued an executive order commanding them to fight the subversive guerrilla movements of the 1970s (see Dirty War). The Argentine Army (Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land armed force branch of the Argentine military and the senior military service of the country. ... The Navy of the Argentine Republic (Armada de la República Argentina, ARA) is the navy of Argentina. ... The Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Argentina, FAA) is the national air force of Argentina. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979. ... Poster by the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo NGO with photos of disappeared. This article especially refers to the Argentine dirty war; however, the term has been used in other contexts, for example in Morocco; see also lead years. ...

With military intervention no longer an option, De la Rúa resorted to declare a state of siege (essentially a state of emergency) throughout the country, deploying the Federal Police, the National Gendarmerie (border guard) and the Naval Prefecture (coast guard) to contain the growing violence. A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, may work to alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or may order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. ... A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, may work to alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or may order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. ... The Policía Federal Argentina (PFA; in English Argentine Federal Police) is a nationwide police force, it is the federal police agency of Argentina, with detachments in each of the countrys provinces, with a jurisdiction and organization similar to the United States FBI. Because of this, most routine police... The Gendarmería Nacional Argentina (Argentine National Gendarmerie; GNA) is an Argentine paramilitary service (or gendarmerie). ... PNA officer The Prefectura Naval Argentina (Argentine Naval Prefecture; PNA) is an Argentine paramilitary service created to protect the countrys rivers and territorial sea. ...

Later that night, De la Rúa addressed the nation to announce the state of siege and to call the Peronists to negotiate a "government of national unity". Following the broadcast, spontaneous cacerolazos ("pot banging") took place throughout Buenos Aires and other major cities, signaling the middle-class' own unrest. December 19 concluded with the resignation of Domingo Cavallo, who had lost whatever support he had within the government. Groups of protesters mobilized throughout Buenos Aires, some of them arriving to Plaza de Mayo, where there were incidents with the Federal Police forces. Cacerolazo is the name of a popular form of protest that consists in a group of people creating noise by banging pots, pans and other utensils in order to call for attention. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Overview of Plaza de Mayo The Plaza de Mayo (Spanish: May Square) is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina; it is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets. ...

December 20

Stencil graffiti about the riots, painted on their 5th anniversary on the delegation of the government of Santa Fe Province in Rosario.

What had began as rioting by unemployed and leftist-leaning groups had turned into a middle-class protest with the cacerolazos, and the resignation of Cavallo did nothing to calm down the situation. [1] The De la Rúa administration had agreed with the military to participate in an emergency handing-out of food, however, the plan failed due to lack of cooperation from the Ministry of Social Development. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2304 × 1728 pixel, file size: 965 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2304 × 1728 pixel, file size: 965 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Santa Fe is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. ... Rosario is the largest city of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and the third most populous in the country, after Buenos Aires and Córdoba. ...

Throughout the morning, groups of protesters converged on Plaza de Mayo despite the state of siege. [2] The Federal Police, acting under orders from the government, proceeded to try to control the protests. An attempt by a federal judge to halt police operations was disregarded, and the situation worsened with the arrival of new groups of protesters. The Policía Federal Argentina (Spanish for Argentine Federal Police), also known as the PFA, is the federal police agency in Argentina. ...

As violence expanded, President De la Rúa tried to impose censorship on all news outlets from Buenos Aires. The idea was to use the state of siege to force the television networks to stop transmitting current events and broadcast emergency programming. This plan also failed because De la Rúa's own Media Secretary refused to carry out his instructions.

Meanwhile, there were violent incidents between the police and protesters throughout the country. The most notorious ones took place at the Plaza de Mayo, where five people were killed. Some claim that the deaths were provoked by covert elements of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police in an attempt to further destabilize De la Rúa.^{[citation needed]} The Buenos Aires Provincial Police (Spanish: Policía de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, informally Policía Bonaerense) is the police service responsible for policing the Province of Buenos Aires, in Argentina. ...

With his options steadily being reduced, De la Rúa went onto national television at 4 p.m. to offer the Peronists to join the government and try to bring some peace to the country. At that time, a caucus of Peronist governors was taking place at a country villa in the province of San Luis. Three hours later, Humberto Roggero, head of the Peronist bloc of the House of Deputies, announced that the Peronist Party would not be a part of a "government of national unity". Categories: Argentina geography stubs | Argentine provinces ...

When he heard the Peronists' response, De la Rúa decided to resign from office. [3] The situation on Plaza de Mayo (right in front of the Casa Rosada, the Presidential Palace) was still too violent for De la Rúa to leave by car to his official residence at Olivos, thus the President's security detail decided to take him out of the Casa Rosada onboard an Air Force helicopter. The images of De la Rúa's "escape" by helicopter were broadcast throughout the country. The Casa Rosada La Casa Rosada (Spanish for the Pink House), officially known as the Casa de Gobierno (Government House), is the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina. ...

The violence slowly abated. By the end of the day, 26 people had died, five of them in Buenos Aires. The President Pro-Tempore of the Senate, Ramón Puerta, took over as Interim President, until Congress could appoint a successor to De la Rúa. Federico Ramón Puerta (born 1951) is an Argentine politician of the Peronist persuasion. ...

The Rodríguez Saá Administration

According to the Acephaly Act, Puerta would only be President until the Legislative Assembly (a joint session of the Senate and the House of Deputies) convened and appointed a new President from either one member of Congress or a provincial governor to complete the resigning President's period.

The Peronist governors assembled at San Luis -arguably the most powerful men in Argentina at the period- were divided on who to nominate. There were three "natural candidates", who were the governors of the three largest provinces: Carlos Ruckauf of Buenos Aires, José Manuel de la Sota of Córdoba and Carlos Reutemann of Santa Fe. As a temporary arrangement, the governors decided to nominate Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, Governor of San Luis. The Peronists' easy majority in both houses of Congress ensured that Rodríguez Saá was elected on December 22. Carlos Ruckauf (born 1944) is a Argentina. ... José Manuel de la Sota (November 28, 1949 in Córdoba) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. ... Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. ... Carlos Reutemann in 1980, near the end of his racing career Carlos Alberto Reutemann (b. ... Santa Fe is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. ... Adolfo Rodríguez Saá Páez Montero (born July 25, 1947) is an Argentine politician of Peronist beliefs. ... December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Rodríguez Saá was to be President for only three months, until Presidential elections were held in March. De la Rúa's term expired in 2003, but some argued that only a President legitimated by popular vote would be able to bring Argentina out of the crisis. However, Rodríguez Saá didn't seem at all satisfied with being a caretaker President.

From the first moment, Rodríguez Saá embarked on ambitious projects aimed at giving him popularity. In his inaugural speech, he announced that Argentina would default on its foreign debt, an announcement received by rousing applause from the members of Congress. He then proceeded to announce the issuing of a "third currency" (alongside with the peso and the dollar) to boost consumption. Later on, Rodríguez Saá announced that he would extradite every former military officer charged with human rights abuses during the Dirty War who was requested by foreign courts. Another measure was to stand down the state of siege. In finance, default occurs when a debtor has not met its legal obligations according to the debt contract, e. ...

There were also some unpopular designations to the Cabinet. The most notorious one was the appointment of former Mayor of Buenos Aires Carlos Grosso, arguably one of the most corrupt figures in Argentine politics. Rodríguez Saá also courted the powerful Peronist trade unions in a move that was recognized as an attempt to wrestle power from the other Peronist governors. A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers...

New riots and cacerolazos took place on Buenos Aires, with some protesters entering the Congress Palace and burning furniture. On December 30, Rodríguez Saá called for a summit of Peronist governors at the Presidential holiday retreat of Chapadmalal, 12 miles south of Mar del Plata. Of the fourteen Peronist governors, only five attended. Realizing that he lacked support from his own party, Rodríguez Saá returned to his home province to announce his own resignation to the Presidency after barely a week in office. December 30 is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 1 day remaining. ... Map of Mar del Plata and the surrounding region Panoramic view of Varese beach, Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the Buenos Aires Province, 400 km south of Buenos Aires. ...

The designation of Eduardo Duhalde

President Eduardo Duhalde (2002–2003)

Ramón Puerta refused to take over as interim President again, resigning as President Pro-Tempore of the Senate. With no President, Vice President or President Pro-Tempore of the Senate, the Presidency of Argentina was placed in the hands of the next-in-line: Eduardo Camaño, who was the Speaker of the House of Deputies. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Eduardo Oscar Camaño (born June 17, 1946) is an Argentine Peronist politician. ...

Camaño was to take over until a new Legislative Assembly was convened. The Assembly convened on 1 January 2002, and debated extensively before designating Deputee Eduardo Duhalde as President almost at midnight. January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Eduardo Alberto Duhalde Maldonado (born October 5, 1941) is a former president of Argentina. ...

Duhalde was one of the top leaders of the Peronist Party. However, many had thought that Duhalde's political career was ruined after his defeat in the 1999 presidential elections. In an ironic twist of events, Duhalde was called to complete the term of the man who beat him in the elections, Fernando De la Rúa. This was not to be a provisional presidency, as Duhalde was designated to complete the interrupted term of De la Rúa until the 2003 presidential elections. Argentina held presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday, 24 October 1999. ... Argentina held a presidential election on Sunday, April 27, 2003. ...

With regard to the economy Duhalde and his Economy Minister Jorge Remes Lenicov decided on an even more extreme freezing of the bank deposits, which was then coupled with the so-called pesificación ("peso-ification", a forced transformation of all dollar-denominated accounts into pesos at an arbitrary fixed exchange rate), and a regulated devaluation. The fixed exchange rate system was abandoned soon afterwards, which was followed by a large depreciation ( Further reading : Economy of Argentina#Modern era ) Devaluation is a reduction in the value of a currency with respect to other monetary units. ... Currency depreciation is the loss of value of a countrys currency with respect to one or more foreign reference currencies, typically in a floating exchange rate system. ... Argentina benefits from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, an export-oriented agricultural sector, and a diversified industrial base. ...

Sources and further reading

• Argentina in state of siege after deadly riots. CNN.com (20 December 2001).
• Argentine President Quits After Deadly Riots. Tribal Messenger (20 December 2001).
• Argentina teeters on possible economic collapse. CNN.com (21 December 2001).
• The events that triggered Argentina's crisis. BBC News - Business (21 December 2001).
• Javier Auyero, Timothy Patrick Moran. "The Dynamics of Collective Violence: Dissecting Food Riots in Contemporary Argentina". Department of Sociology, State University of New York – Stony Brook.
• Mark Ellis-Jones (April 2003). "States of unrest III: Resistance to IMF and World Bank policies in poor countries: Argentina". World Development Movement.
• Joseph Salerno (2 December 2002). Confiscatory Deflation: The Case of Argentina. Ludwig von Mises Institute.