Argentine president to skip swearing in of successor

The buildup to Thursday’s inauguration has at times resembled a soap opera more than an orderly democratic transition, and culminated with a last-minute judicial injunction obtained by Macri ruling that Fernández’s ended at midnight, instead of at noon on the day of the handover, as had traditionally been the case.

But Macri has not seen the last of the retiring president. Macri was sworn in, inheriting myriad econo… The mayor of the City of Buenos Aires Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, left, kisses first lady Juliana Awada.

Macri, the son of a wealthy businessman, rose to fame as the president of Argentina’s most popular football club, Boca Juniors, during a storied string of trophy wins.

BUENOS AIRES Dec 11 Argentina will ease currency controls under its new President Mauricio Macri, but not until the true amount of central bank reserves is known and its board of directors has been replaced, a senior incoming bank official told Reuters on Friday.

The swearing in ceremony was boycotted by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Thousands of supporters thronged Argentina’s most famous square on Wednesday to say goodbye to Fernandez, who made her last public address before handing over power.

Mauricio Macri, the new right-leaning leader of Argentina, has just been sworn into office.

“With the resources this country has, there’s no reason for our economy to be stalled or imports to be blocked”, said Teresita Ugolini, a 70-year-old cosmetologist who remembers the open export policies that once transferred the wealth of the Pampas to the cosmopolitan boulevards of Buenos Aires.

He stated that “mendacity about and hiding” the state of the financial system had tarnished Argentina’s fame worldwide, a transparent dig on the Fernandez administration, which frequently put out suspect figures on inflation, poverty charges and GDP.

I will always be honest with you. “And being honest means telling you that the challenges in front of us are enormous”. Cristina Fernandez and members of her Justicialista Party of the Peronist political movement will not attend the inauguration.

Once there, he donned the presidential sash and gave another short speech, before busting some Argentine cumbia dance moves on the balcony, drawing loud cheers from the crowd. He additionally stated he would make good on his goal to realize “zero poverty” in the nation and be ruthless in cracking down on corruption. They spent heavily on social programs for the poor and aligned with South America’s anti-colonial leaders such as the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

Supporters say the changes he will bring in are long overdue, but he will have to tread carefully if he is to cut state spending to sustainable levels without pushing the troubled economy into recession. The loans would be repaid by the monetary authority in a year, said one of the people.