Argentina's five presidents in two weeks
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 22 August 2024
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2001, Argentina suffered an economic catastrophe so severe the country went through five leaders in two weeks. On the streets police engaged in battles with protestors. Eduardo Duhalde was the fifth President tasked with pulling his country back from the brink. He speaks to Ben Henderson.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
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(Photo: Eduardo Duhalde. Credit: Rafael Wollmann/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | How did the richest people on the planet make their fortunes? |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Simon Jack and I'm Zing Singh. |
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| 0:09.0 | Each episode we pick a billionaire and we find out how they made their money. |
| 0:13.6 | Like the comedian Jerry Seinfeld. |
| 0:15.2 | The financier George Soros. |
| 0:16.8 | The golf star Tiger Woods. |
| 0:18.6 | Then Simon and I have a decision to make. |
| 0:21.0 | Do we think they are good, bad or just another billionaire? |
| 0:24.3 | Good bad billionaire. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:27.7 | Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me |
| 0:39.1 | Ben Henderson. Today Argentina is in economic turmoil, but that's nothing new. |
| 0:47.5 | In this episode, I'm taking you back to 2001 when the country suffered an economic catastrophe so severe they went through five |
| 0:56.4 | presidents in two weeks. |
| 0:59.4 | I will never forget the 23rd of December 2001 when me and some others were persuading a governor |
| 1:10.0 | of a central province of Argentina to assume the position of president and he finally accepted |
| 1:16.8 | because now one else would do it. |
| 1:18.9 | This is Eduardo Du H, a stalwart of Argentine politics for decades. |
| 1:28.0 | So my friends and I and everyone else who was in the running went out to celebrate that we avoided it |
| 1:35.9 | because now one wanted to become president at this time. |
| 1:40.8 | You know it's bad when politicians are scrambling to avoid taking power. |
| 1:45.0 | So, how did things get to this point? |
... |
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