MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tierra del Fuego with two governors

The extreme south Patagonian province of Tierra del Fuego in the middle of an institutional crisis and has two governors both claiming the job, one of them is suspended Governor Jorge Colazo and the second his Deputy Hugo Coccaro.

Tierra del Fuego's legislature suspended Colazo last Thursday, but provincial administration officials insist "the governor is still in office". Other sources, close to the deputy governor, say "Mr. Coccaro is in charge of the administration, in keeping with legislative rulings".

Mr. Colazo, until recently a member of the Radical Civic Union, or UCR, was impeached on Friday over alleged irregularities with the province's 2004 financial transactions plus claims he withheld funds allocated to a municipality.

Mr. Colazo was first suspended last September and replaced by Coccaro for three days, until a superior court reinstated him and allowed impeachment proceedings but with the governor in office.

Tierra del Fuego legislators insist the ruling is "unconstitutional," because the constitution says that when an official is impeached, he must be suspended through the end of his trial.

Upon learning of the legislators' action, officials in the provincial administration accused them of "rebellion" in a federal court and vowed not to leave government headquarters in the absence of a judicial ruling.

After voting to suspend the Radical governor, the legislature swore in speaker Coccaro, a Peronist.

"The suspension lacks proper grounds, as the legislators merely ratified their previous resolution. To unseat Colazo, they must provide new grounds," administration officials said. Meanwhile, Colazo and his Cabinet remain at government headquarters, threatening to resign en masse if the courts uphold Coccaro's appointment. Colazo supporters have set up camp in front of the government building.

Despite his party membership, Colazo says he supports Argentine President Nestor Kirchner of the Justicialista (Peronist) Party, saying he will work "from within or outside" the government to make sure he is re-elected.

Tierra del Fuego's confrontation is a chapter more of the open dispute at national level between President Nestor Kirchner and his fresh "Victory Front", and the traditional ruling Peronist party still under control of former president Eduardo Duhalde and who actually launched and ensured former Santa Cruz governor Kirchner presidential election in May 2003.