page_title: 1998–2002 Argentine great depression
section_title: December 2001 riots and political turmoil
hierarchical_section_title: 1998–2002 Argentine great depression / Rates, riots, resignations and default / December 2001 riots and political turmoil
caption_attribution_description: Luego de enviar la renuncia al Congreso, De la Rúa permaneció casi una hora retirando sus efectos del despacho presidencial
context_page_description: The Argentine Great Depression was an economic depression in Argentina, which began in the third quarter of 1998 and lasted until the second quarter of 2002. It followed the fifteen years stagnation and a brief period of free-market reforms.
  The depression, which began after the Russian and Brazilian financial crises, caused widespread unemployment, riots, the fall of the government, a default on the country's foreign debt, the rise of alternative currencies and the end of the peso's fixed exchange rate to the US dollar. The economy shrank by 28 percent from 1998 to 2002. In terms of income, over 50 percent of Argentines lived below the official poverty line and 25 percent were indigent; seven out of ten Argentine children were poor at the depth of the crisis in 2002.
  By the first half of 2003, however, GDP growth had returned, surprising economists and the business media, and the economy grew by an average of 9% for five years.
context_section_description: The freeze enraged many Argentines who took to the streets of important cities, especially Buenos Aires. They engaged in protests that became known as cacerolazo (banging pots and pans). The cacerolazos began as noisy demonstrations but soon included property destruction, often directed at banks, foreign-owned privatized companies, and, especially, big American and European companies.
  Confrontations between the police and citizens became common, and fires were set on Buenos Aires avenues. De la Rúa declared a state of emergency, but the situation worsened, precipitating the violent protests of 20 and 21 December 2001 in Plaza de Mayo, where clashes between demonstrators and the police ended up with several people dead and precipitated the fall of the government. De la Rúa eventually fled the Casa Rosada in a helicopter on 21 December.
  Following the presidential succession procedures established in the Constitution of Argentina, the Senate chairman was next in the line of succession in the absence of the president and the vice-president. Accordingly, Ramón Puerta took office as a caretaker head of state, and the Legislative Assembly (a joint session of both chambers of Congress) was convened.
  Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, the governor of San Luis Province, was eventually appointed as the new interim president.
caption: Amid rioting, President Fernando de la Rua resigned on 21 December 2001.
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