Argentine ex-president cleared over 2001 deaths

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An Argentine court dropped charges on Tuesday against former President Fernando de la Rua over the killing of five protesters in demonstrations that forced him from office in late 2001.

De la Rua fled the country's pink presidential palace by helicopter after demonstrators and police clashed in the streets of Buenos Aires at the height of a 2001-2002 economic and political crisis.

A judge accused him last year of "not using the tools" available to him as president to prevent the bloodshed. But a federal court reversed an indictment against him and said he would no longer be investigated.

Thousands of people flooded the streets to demand De la Rua's resignation after the government froze bank accounts to stem a run on deposits, angering middle-class Argentines who feared losing their savings.

The country was suffering a sharp recession as a one-to-one currency peg to the dollar became unsustainable, and jobless and poverty rates began to soar.

Argentina defaulted on some $100 billion in sovereign debt after De la Rua left office and devalued its currency, in the country's biggest-ever economic meltdown.

(Reporting by Cesar Illiano; Writing by Hilary Burke)