Many Latin Americans on Tuesday greeted the inauguration of Barack Obama with high hopes that the 44th president of the United States will successfully steer his nation and the world out of its current crises, but some were skeptical.

Newspapers and websites throughout the hemisphere featured exhaustive coverage of the swearing-in and other events in Washington. There were also plenty of laudatory editorials and analyses, ranging from fashion to bilateral relations.

''Obama's speech, at the center of world expectation,'' read a headline on lanacion.com in Argentina.

''Latin America maintains hope with Obama's new government,'' said the website of Lima's El Comercio, and the site of El Nacional in Caracas used the headline ``Obama is sworn in as U.S. president amid prayers, music and applause.''

The front page of Tuesday's Zero Hora of Porto Alegre, Brazil, featured a close-up portrait of Obama and the words ``A New Beginning for America.''

''There is a feeling this is a historic event,'' said Raúl Trejo, who teaches political and social sciences at the Universidad Autónoma de México. ``Seventy-six percent of those polled today by the newspaper Excelsior believe things will go better with Obama.''

At the Plaza Murillo in downtown La Paz, Bolivia, even indigenous residents from rural areas were pleased that the United States had inaugurated its first black president.

''He's not like other presidents, just like we have our first Indian president,'' said Gladys Sanjinez, referring to Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian who took office three years ago.