MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US and UK low profile representation to Cristina K ceremony

US Secretary of Labor E. Chao

United States and Britain will be sending low profile representatives to the taking office ceremony of Argentine elected president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner next Monday December 10 in Buenos Aires.

United States Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao will head the US delegation and Bob Blizzard Labor MP for Waveney will represent the UK government. Even when Ms Chao holds a ministerial post in the President George Bush cabinet, she's not considered a first line White House official or member of the close advisors and counselors surrounding the US leader. In Buenos Aires this was interpreted as a consequence of the often strained relations between Argentina and United States, particularly in the last years of the Kirchner administration. This was most patent in 2005 when Argentina that hosted the Americas Summit in 2005 in Mar del Plata was one of the countries leading the opposition to the US sponsored Free Trade Association of the Americas. When President Kirchner took office in May 2003 President Bush's representative was Housing Secretary Mel Martinez. Ms Chao has been to the River Plate previously. In March 2005 she headed the US delegation to the taking office ceremony of Uruguayan president Socialist Tabare Vazquez. The British government representative Bob Blizzard, MP for Waveney, north Suffolk, is described as an important figure in the Labor Party for his 1997 win in Tory turf. However in 2003 he resigned to protest Tony Blair's support for the invasion of Iraq. He returned to Parliament in 2005.