ARGENTINA: Argentines take to streets to remember ten years since economic meltdown, set Christmas tree ablaze outside presidential palace

Record ID: 216300

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Argentines take to streets to remember ten years since economic meltdown, set Christmas tree ablaze outside presidential palace
  • Date: 21st December 2011
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (DECEMBER 20, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING AND SINGING FIREWORK BEING SET OFF BY DEMONSTRATOR DEMONSTRATORS BURNING TYRES DEMONSTRATORS BLOCKING ROAD PROTESTERS MARCHING VARIOUS OF PLAQUES TO DEMONSTRATORS KILLED IN 2001 CANDLE BURNING ON PLAQUE PEOPLE MARCHING VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS HITTING FENCE OUTSIDE BANK BANK BUIL
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina, Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Economy,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAVI298Z5QHBGAO7UJ3ZX8XZ7J
  • Story Text: Argentines took to the streets on Tuesday (December 20) ten years after a 2001 economic breakdown turned those same streets into a battleground.
    A decade ago, then-President Fernando de la Rua was forced to flee the country in a helicopter from the roof of the government palace as enraged citizens demonstrated.
    A bankrupt Argentina declared the world's biggest-ever debt default, froze bank accounts, and spiralled into chaos. The peso was severely devalued, Argentines lost billions in savings, and five presidents filed in and out of office in a matter of weeks.
    When the smoke had cleared, 38 demonstrators had been killed and Argentina was in shatters, without a clear leader and facing an uncertain future.
    Demonstrators cut roads, burned tyres, marched and chanted throughout Buenos Aires to remember the dead and continue to warn against the policies that led to the meltdown.
    Some left candles and messages on plaques to remember those killed in 2001, and demonstrator Diego Alejandro lauded a new generation of protesters.
    "We are proud to be here in the street, proud to continue with the same idea. Our dead are being vindicated, all those who died for the people's struggle. Today they aren't with us, but morally and spiritually they struggle with us. And these young people here renew themselves and come out to fight for a more just society and for a better world," Alejandro said.
    Protesters also set the national Christmas tree outside the presidential palace ablaze.
    The memory of December 2001 is still fresh for some, when thousand poured into the streets, clanging pots and pans and trying to break open cash machines.
    Banks pulled down iron curtains, but frustrated savers tried to force their way in, and police ruthlessly cracked down on them.
    But for others, an economic comeback has all but buried the image of De la Rua fleeing the country.
    Riding a soy price boom, unemployment is currently at a 20-year low and Argentina has the fastest growing economy in Latin America.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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