By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 27 2002 (IPS)

The devastating crisis in Argentina is wearing away at President Eduardo Duhalde as international financial help is delayed, street protests are on the rise and rumours hint at the risk of a coup d’état.

“I am going to be president until December 2003,” Duhalde stated Wednesday, the third time this week, responding to a flood of proposals for early elections and murmurs about a rupture in Argentina’s institutional order.

“My designation was completely constitutional and there is no way – not for any reason – that I will abandon (the presidency) at such a critical time,” said Duhalde, who was named to the post Jan 1 by the national Congress.

Demands for early elections are not only being heard from the political opposition. Duhalde admitted that provincial governors from his own Justicialista (Peronist) Party are “in a hurry” to set a date for elections.

Two Peronist governors, José Manuel de la Sota, of the central province of Córdoba, and Néstor Kirchner, of Chubut, in the south, have repeatedly proposed early elections, as has the head of the party and former president (1989-1999) Carlos Menem.

Menem said this week that there could be a coup like the one in 1976 if Duhalde continues to be “disoriented” with regard to the nation’s economic issues. The former president also said he is confident that he himself will return to the presidency next year, and he wants “to correct the errors made” by his successors.

The cover of ‘Noticias’ magazine, in the issue published over the weekend, stated that Duhalde has been “Delaru-ised”, in reference to Fernando de la Rúa, who resigned from the presidency last Dec 20 after losing the support of the coalition of parties that brought him to power two years earlier.

Duhalde’s own backing is fragmented, street protests continue to multiply throughout the country and involve nearly all social sectors, the economy is in its fourth year of recession, and poverty and unemployment increase day by day.

The president is leading a country without the support of his own party amidst the worst economic, social and political crisis since Argentine democracy was restored in 1983 after a seven-year military dictatorship.

For the second day in a row, Defence Minister Horacio Juanarena publicly denied the possibility of an armed forces-led coup. He said it could not happen “because society today defends democracy and because the military leadership would not permit it.”

Juanarena acknowledged that rumours of a military coup are circulating, but he stated that “reality is going to prove them wrong.”

A recent meeting between army commander Ricardo Brinzoni and business and banking leaders is believed to have fuelled the rumours.

At the same time, others were circulating about the existence of a group of military officers who sought to clamp down on street protests if a right-leaning civilian coalition were to take over the government.

Such an administration, according to the rumours, would have the support of governor De la Sota, of Menem, and of former minister of Economy and of Defence, Ricardo López Murphy, among others. It would also reportedly favour adopting the dollar as the national currency, an option Duhalde has rejected.

Gen. Julio Hang, commander of the Third Army Corps, responded to such reports saying that unknown groups are portraying the armed forces as “monsters” in order to frighten the population. He stressed that the military “does not have the capacity to respond to problems of a social nature,” such as those occurring in Argentina today.

On Wednesday, the federal government and provincial governors failed in their attempt to reach an agreement on reducing the provinces’ spending, which is necessary as a condition for international financial assistance.

Duhalde admitted that it would be “a miracle” if such an accord could be reached quickly.

Shortly after taking office, Duhalde dismantled the “convertibility” regime that had pegged the peso to the dollar, at par, for nearly 11 years, and he devalued the Argentine currency. Later, he opened up the currency exchange market, which has resulted in an exchange rate of 2.25 pesos per dollar.

A tax on petroleum imports aimed at boosting state revenues is being considered, and the renegotiation of the fees in dollars for privatised public services will begin next week. Meanwhile, food and fuel prices continue to mark a rising curve.

The decline in fiscal resources led the government to announce that public employees’ wages will be paid in quotas, while protests intensify as more and more people demand jobs, medicine, education and basic social assistance.

Tax revenues have been in a freefall since the beginning of the year, as has trade and production, already hard hit by four years of recession. And the restrictions on bank withdrawals are leaving savers cash-strapped and angry, prompting them to stage protests outside bank offices daily.

Social assistance for the poor is on the decline due to lack of fiscal resources, and more people are falling below the poverty line every day. Residents in central Buenos Aires province demonstrated outside four supermarkets and a meatpacking plant Tuesday to demand food.

The protests ended when police stepped in, arresting 14 people. But the incidents fed anxiety within the Duhalde administration of a possible repeat of the violent protests and looting of Dec 19, which led to De la Rúa’s resignation the next day.

In a bid to allay such fears, Duhalde backers in Buenos Aires are organising a march in support of the president, and are talking about the possibility of a referendum, which they say would reinforce the president’s legitimacy.

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