A Peronist political leader, Buenos Aires provincial Sen. Eduardo Duhalde, was heavily favored by lawmakers to take over as interim president after a congressional session set to begin Tuesday afternoon.

Rodriguez Saa became interim president on Dec. 23, taking over from acting president Ramon Puerta, who filled in for 48 hours after elected president Fernando de la Rua resigned. De la Rua was forced out amid protests and looting over the government's inability to contain an economic crisis and unemployment topping 18 percent.

Rodriguez Saa took a leave of absence citing unspecified health reasons, authorities said.

Lawmakers also signaled Monday that they wanted to scrap a scheduled March election and let Duhalde complete de la Rua's term ending in 2003.

Camano's position was more a formality while Congress finds a permanent successor for Rodriguez Saa.

Meanwhile, authorities bolstered security for New Year's celebrations.

A handful of rifle-toting soldiers in camouflage uniforms patrolled the Government Palace while riot police blocked traffic from circulating around the grassy square, the Plaza de Mayo, the scene of recent rioting.

Authorities said some 45,000 security forces had been placed on alert in and around the capital as a precaution against any flare-up of the unrest that saw widescale supermarket looting and rioting that ushered in de la Rua's downfall in December.

Hundreds of elderly pensioners lined up at banks around the country while others queued up at automatic teller machines after the government allowed a one-time withdrawal of $500 from each banking account for the New Year's holiday. Save that exception, a banking freeze limits cash withdrawals to $250 a week, a move that has provoked public anger.

In an angry departure speech Sunday night, Rodriguez Saa said he was left out in the cold by fellow political bosses but wouldn't be the one to defy an angry public that has rioted over a banking freeze and failed austerity measures.

"I am not going to be a president of repression who serves the privileged sectors in power," said Rodriguez Saa, whose fleeting presidency uncorked a power struggle among the left-leaning Peronists, Argentina's dominant force.

Enrique Ledesma, a 70-year-old pensioner, stood for hours in a line that stretched blocks in Buenos Aires province and complained ordinary Argentines were being treated badly. He was trying to get access to his pension, with hundreds ahead of him in line.

"This is bad, really bad. The truth is, we need to get rid everyone in power and start over again with clean, honest government," Ledesma said.

A retired schoolteacher in line, Juan Garcia, grumbled that Argentina should take the crisis as a wakeup call.

"This is a country but not a nation of one people. We need direction, we need leadership and we need politicians who will defend the interests of the Argentine people."

In the United States, President George W. Bush shook his head as he recalled speaking with Rodriguez Saa about that country's financial crisis on Saturday, only to have the interim leader resign a day later.

"Once they elect a president, we'll work with him," Bush said. "But the future president has got to deal with the economic crisis at hand, and once they come up with a plan that'll sustain economic growth, then we're willing to work with them, and we're willing to provide technical assistance to the government through the IMF."

Argentina racked up its $132 billion public debt through more than a decade of government overspending and heavy borrowing. The country, once a darling of Latin America's emerging markets, has gone from 9 percent annual growth rates a decade ago to four years of recession

Compounding problems, Argentina pegged its peso at one-to-one with the dollar in 1991 during the last economic crisis. While this brought currency stability and an end to hyperinflation, critics say the peso now is overvalued, raising the threat of a devaluation as Argentine exports have begun increasingly uncompetitive abroad.

The collapse of the latest government signaled the probable demise of plans by Rodriguez Saa for a parallel currency, the Argentino, which was intended to help put money in the hands of cash-hungry Argentines.

( AP )

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