page_title: Carlos Menem
section_title: 1st term (1973–1976) and detainment
hierarchical_section_title: Carlos Menem / Governor of La Rioja / 1st term (1973–1976) and detainment
caption_attribution_description: El nuevo presidente Héctor Cámpora saluda al gobernador electo de La Rioja, Carlos Saúl Menem, quien se impuso en su provincia con el 67% de los votos
context_page_description: Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 8 July 1989 to 10 December 1999. He has been a Senator for La Rioja Province since 10 December 2005. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and economically liberal, serving as President of the Justicialist Party from 1990 to 2001, with his political approach called Menemism.
  Born in Anillaco to a Syrian family, Menem was raised as a Nusayri Muslim, but later converted to Roman Catholicism to pursue a political career. Menem became a Peronist during a visit to Buenos Aires. He led the party in his home province of La Rioja, and was elected governor in 1973. He was deposed and detained during the 1976 Argentine coup d'état, and was elected governor again in 1983. He defeated the Buenos Aires governor Antonio Cafiero in the primary elections for the 1989 presidential elections, which he won. Hyperinflation forced outgoing president Raúl Alfonsín to resign early, shortening the presidential transition.
  Menem supported the Washington Consensus, and tackled inflation with the Convertibility plan in 1991. The plan was complemented by a series of privatizations, and was a success.
context_section_description: Menem was elected governor in 1973, when the proscription over Peronism was lifted. He was deposed during the 1976 Argentine coup d'état that deposed the president Isabel Martínez de Perón. He was accused of corruption, and having links with the guerrillas of the Dirty War. He was detained on 25 March, kept for a week at a local regiment, and then moved to a temporary prison at the ship "33 Orientales" in Buenos Aires. He was detained alongside former ministers Antonio Cafiero, Jorge Taiana, Miguel Unamuno, José Deheza, and Pedro Arrighi, the unionists Jorge Triaca, Diego Ibáñez, and Lorenzo Miguel, the diplomat Jorge Vázquez, the journalist Osvaldo Papaleo, and the former president Raúl Lastiri. He shared a cell with Pedro Eladio Vázquez, Juan Perón's personal physician. During this time he helped the chaplain Lorenzo Lavalle, despite being a Muslim. In July he was sent to Magdalena, to a permanent prison. His wife Zulema visited him every week, but rejected his conversion to Roman Catholicism. His mother died during the time he was a prisoner, and dictator Jorge Rafael Videla denied his request to attend her funeral. He was released on 29 July 1978, on the condition that he live in a city outside his home province without leaving it. He settled in Mar del Plata.
  Menem met Admiral Eduardo Massera, who intended to run for president, and had public meetings with personalities such as Carlos Monzón, Susana Giménez, and Alberto Olmedo. As a result, he was forced to reside in another city, Tandil. He had to report daily to Chief of Police Hugo Zamora. This forced residence was lifted in February 1980. He returned to Buenos Aires, and then to La Rioja. He resumed his political activities, despite the prohibition, and was detained again. His new forced residence was in Las Lomitas, in Formosa Province. He was one of the last politicians to be released from prison by the National Reorganization Process.
caption: Carlos Menem (right) meets the elected president Héctor Cámpora in 1973.
exif: {"Image Make": "samsung", "Image Model": "SM-G532M", "Image Orientation": "Rotated 90 CW", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "G532MUMS1ARJC", "Image DateTime": "2019:06:25 23:55:09", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "266", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "922", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "12362", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/17", "EXIF FNumber": "11/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "500", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:06:25 23:55:09", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:06:25 23:55:09", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "other light source", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "33/10", "EXIF SubSecTime": "93", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "93", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "93", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "774", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "31", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}