KEY POINTS:
BUENOS AIRES - Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner took office as Argentina's first elected female president on Monday in a rare husband-to-wife handover that Argentines hope will sustain an economic boom.
Fernandez, a former senator and lawyer, won an Oct. 28 election promising to continue the leftist policies of her husband, President Nestor Kirchner, who presided over a dramatic recovery in South America's second-biggest economy.
Lawmakers cheered as Kirchner placed the light-blue and white striped presidential sash on his teary-eyed wife and tightly hugged her.
The Kirchners are Argentina's most powerful couple since Juan and Eva Peron, and have been compared with former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Some analysts have dubbed them the Clintons of the South.
A forceful orator and glamorous dresser, Fernandez vowed in her inaugural address to Congress to fight poverty and push forward along the economic path carved by her husband.
"We want Argentines to have hope again," she said. "While there is one poor person in the country, we will always be one step away from a definitive victory."
But Fernandez faces high crime, stubborn inflation and energy shortages that threaten to slow the country's biggest economic expansion in a century - nearly five straight years of growth of more than 8 per cent.
Leaders from across Latin America, several European countries and the International Monetary Fund attended her inauguration, which has been marked by a flurry of diplomatic efforts to win the release of hostages held by leftist rebels in Colombia.
In her inaugural speech, Fernandez called for the release of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who was kidnapped in 2002 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and she offered Argentina's help to reach a deal.
The appeal followed intensified diplomatic attempts to win Betancourt's release in recent weeks.
Several Latin American leaders appeared to be uniting to make a collective appeal for the hostages' release.
Many of the leftist Latin American leaders on hand, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, see Fernandez as an ally.
"She's going to strengthen the process of change in the region," Chavez said.
Fernandez was a key advisor to Kirchner during his four-and-a-half year term, and he is expected to have an influential role during her administration.
A 54-year-old mother of two, Fernandez is keeping many of her husband's top aides and has vowed to deepen his economic model emphasizing budget and trade surpluses and a weak currency to stimulate exports.
Kirchner leaves office with high popularity ratings after taking power in 2003 with 22 per cent of the vote, the weakest mandate in Argentine history.
He has never explained why he opted not to seek a second term and instead anointed his wife as his successor. Some analysts say the move is aimed at having the two rotate in the presidency, a claim they have denied.
- REUTERS
