Brazil's new acting leader mistakes a journalist for Argentina's president

Temer (left) talks with president of the Brazilian Senate Renan Calheiros on May 10, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS

BUENOS AIRES (REUTERS) - Brazil's interim President Michel Temer, who took over on Thursday after Dilma Rousseff was suspended as the country's leader, mistook a journalist interviewing him for a radio programme for Argentina's President Mauricio Macri.

"How are you President? ... I want to visit you soon," Temer told a journalist for Argentine radio station El Mundo shortly before taking up the presidency.

During the brief radio interview, the journalist never clarified that he was not in fact Macri.

Temer, who was vice-president under Rousseff, took over as acting president after the Senate voted to try her for breaking budget laws, meaning she is suspended for the duration of the trial.

Asked about the difficult situation in Brazil, Temer said he felt "very calm... concerned about the situation, but we're going to face it with a lot of enthusiasm."

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