During his decade-long stint as president of Argentina, Carlos Saúl Menem made a lot of promises. Among his boldest: that by 2000, he would swim in the Riachuelo—the notoriously polluted river that runs through Buenos Aires. The pledge publicized plans for an ambitious, $500 million cleanup initiative to be financed with help from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Instead, it came to symbolize unmet environmental goals under Menem, who left office last year with the cleanup still largely confined to the drawing board. Needless to say, Menem never took the plunge. But the Riachuelo remains an environmental litmus test—this time for his successor, Fernando de la Rúa. Though Argentina’s new authorities have not been so bold as to set swimming dates... [Log in to read more]
