Argentina Seeks Foreign Aid; Protests Continue
Thousands of unemployed Argentines marched to the government palace demanding work Monday as President Eduardo Duhalde sought economic aid to help the nearly bankrupt government.
About 5,000 people crowded the Plaza de Mayo in the latest large-scale protest against Duhalde’s efforts to revive an economy mired in four years of recession.
Hoping to win billions of dollars in emergency aid, Duhalde dispatched Foreign Minister Carlos Ruckauf to Washington, where he met Monday with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.
Ruckauf also was to meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul H. O’Neill and officials from the International Monetary Fund as part of a two-day visit seen as crucial to unlocking aid for Argentina.
Argentina reportedly is seeking at least $15 billion in IMF aid, but the agency is demanding that Duhalde first present a “sustainable” economic plan to reduce the country’s large budget deficits.
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