KEY POINTS:
Cristina Fernandez was sworn in yesterday as Argentina's first elected female President, completing a rare husband-wife transfer of power as she promised to keep the nation's economic recovery moving forward.
Fernandez, whose husband is credited with leading Argentina out of its 2001-2002 economic meltdown, vowed to deepen the centre-left economic programmes of outgoing President Nestor Kirchner, create jobs and reduce high poverty levels.
During her hour-long inaugural speech, Fernandez's voice rose in anger as she demanded that dozens of slow-moving court investigations of human rights abuses of the 1976-83 dictatorship be speeded up.
"I expect that in the four years of my term, trials that have been delayed more than 30 years will be concluded. We must try to punish those who were responsible for the greatest genocide in modern Argentine history," she said.
Nearly 13,000 people are officially listed as missing or dead.
Fernandez's main challenge will be to prolong an economic recovery that has seen annual growth rates above 8 per cent in recent years.
- AP
