President Obama and his family arrived in Buenos Aires from Havana early Wednesday morning, for a two-day state visit aimed at establishing better relations with Argentina. Obama has been openly effusive about the recent change of leadership in Argentina, with President Mauricio Macri taking over in December from his more leftist, America-wary predecessor Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. "President Macri recognizes that we're in a new era, and we have to look forward," Obama said before landing in Buenos Aires.
Obama's trip is scheduled to include a meeting with young Argentinians, a state dinner, and a family visit to the southern town of Bariloche. It also coincides with the 40th anniversary of the 1976 coup that ushered in over a decade of military dictatorship, often at least tacitly backed by the United States. President George W. Bush visited Argentina for a summit in 2005, but the last state visit to Argentina by a U.S. president was in 1997. Argentina's governments have spent much of the two decades since then railing against the debt racked up during the 1990s and the IMF's U.S-backed proposals to fix Argentina's economic problems with austerity measures.
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