U.S.'s O'Neill Greeted in Argentina by Protesters
O'Neill is touring Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina to meet with government and business officials to discuss what to do about long recessions and economic turbulence that has stricken the region as investors hope for new details on foreign aid, Reuters reported.
"He's come to demand more austerity which will only bring us more poverty and this government is receiving him like a friend," said socialist Congressman Luis Zamora among thousands of protesters in Plaza de Mayo near the Presidential Palace.
Zamora, who has said he plans to run for president in the March elections, enjoys significant support in polls in this nation of 36 million people where recession since mid-1998 has left one in two unable to meet basic food needs or pay home bills.
President Eduardo Duhalde held a "brief and cordial" meeting with O'Neill shortly after the U.S. official's arrival from Uruguay, which received a $1.5 billion bridge loan from the U.S. Treasury earlier this week to shore up its ailing bank system in a bank run caused in part by Argentina's collapse.
Argentina's economy collapsed in December when the International Monetary Fund suspended $22 billion in aid because the government failed to control chronic overspending and months of talks this year have failed to yield agreement.
"The president described our social, economic and political situation since January, his goal to resume economic growth and job creation ... and the need to express confidence in the country abroad," Duhalde's spokesman Eduardo Amadeo said.
O'neill told Duhalde he was eager to meet with Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna, Amadeo added.
Duhalde is known for damaging policy zigzags and expanding a hated freeze on life savings this year as unemployment soared to an historic high of 21.5 percent after January's default on its $103.9 billion public debt and the botched currency devaluation. The peso has fallen over 70 percent against the dollar.
"We hope the U.S. government will gain a better understanding of Argentina's situation to rapidly reach an aid deal with the IMF," an Economy Ministry official said.
Jobless and left-wing political party demonstrators outside O'Neill's hotel in downtown Buenos Aires burned a U.S. flag and photo of the U.S. official with the caption "Get Out O'Neill and IMF." Others outside the official presidential residence also burned his photo.
"We have come to tell you we are not destroyed, we will continue to defend our destiny," said Victor de Gennaro of the Argentine Workers' Confederation (CTA) public servants' union.