Pro-Tibet protesters have promised "suprise actions" during the relay of the Olympic flame in Buenos Aires on Friday, but vowed they would not seek to extinguish the torch.
Jorge Anibal Carcavallo, of the Free Tibet Association in Argentina, told reporters at a media conference organised late Tuesday by the city's mayor that the demonstrations against China's crackdown on Tibet would be "peaceful". He declined to elaborate, beyond saying various actions would take place between late Wednesday and late Friday.
"We are not looking to put out the flame," he stated. Carcavallo was an uninvited guest at the media conference called by mayor Mauricio Macri, who told reporters that "I have no doubt about the success of the event."
The relay through the Argentine capital on Friday is the only Latin American stop for the Olympic torch as it makes its way through 135 cities on five continents ahead of the August 8 opening of the Olympic Games in China. Protests have dogged the torch's route across Europe.
On Wednesday, the symbol was to be carried through San Francisco on its sole US leg. Police there have set up three layers of escort security around the torch to keep back demonstrators. Argentine officials have also deployed a serious police presence for the torch, which is to be flown to Buenos Aires on Thursday ahead of its 13-kilometer (eight-mile) run through the city.
Some 1,200 police officers and 1,500 coast guard officers have been called out to protect the Olympic icon as it is carried by 80 athletes, celebrities and representatives of Games sponsors.
Soccer legend Diego Maradona is among the figures invited to hold aloft the torch, Macri confirmed, though it remained to be seen whether he made it back in time from Mexico, where he was currently. Other torch bearers included Austrian former chancellor Victor Klima. The mayor said the relay was a "unique occasion" for the capital that should be kept separate from the protests over China's crackdown in Tibet.
"We must not transform a event meant to celebrate peace and fraternity into a political action," he said. Argentina's government has tried to keep a low profile in the preparations, saying the relay was entirely the responsibility of the city.
President Cristina Kirchner has portrayed herself as a strong supporter for human rights, most notably attending a march last weekend in Paris calling for the release of hostages held by Colombia's leftwing FARC rebel group. China, though, is the primary market for Argentine soya-the country's main export and a cash crop that brings in 24 billion dollars a year from abroad.