Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been sworn in for a second term, making her the first female politician to ever be re-elected as head of state in Latin America.
The 58-year-old Fernandez won a landslide re-election in October. The win was a bittersweet victory for Ms. Fernandez, whose husband, former president Nestor Kirchner, died of a heart attack a year earlier. Ms. Fernandez succeeded her husband in 2007.
The Argentinean leader is facing growing pressure to reign in double-digit inflation as the worsening global economic outlook has begun to strain the country's once vibrant economy.
Just days after winning a second term, Ms. Fernandez backed new exchange rules to stem the demand for foreign currency and reduce the capital flight that has caused billions of dollars to leave the country in recent years.
She also imposed new rules on oil and mining companies, ending exemptions that allowed them to convert most of their Argentine profits into foreign currency outside the country.