President Carlos Sa�l Menem Akil - 1989-1999 Further Reading President Carlos Saï¿½l Menem Akil - 1989-1999 Prior to 1989, Argentine politics were characterized by populist leaders, sometimes democratically elected and sometimes not, who ruled with the overt support of the military. Coups and outright military rule were not uncommon. Economic polices were highly protectionist, with significant barriers and restrictions on foreign trade and investment. Markets were highly regulated and the state was heavily involved in many industries. Inflation was routinely high and growth stagnant. Constant friction with the military, failure to resolve endemic economic problems, and an inability to maintain public confidence undermined the Alfonsin Government's effectiveness, which left office six months early after Peronist candidate Carlos Saul Menem won the 1989 presidential elections. As President, Menem launched a major overhaul of Argentine domestic policy. Large-scale structural reforms dramatically reversed the role of the state in Argentine economic life.

After their predecessors had hesitated for years, the governments of Carlos Saï¿½l Menem in Argentina (1989-99), Fernando Collor de Mello in Brazil (1990-92), Alberto Fujimori in Peru (1990-2000), and Carlos Andrï¿½s Pï¿½rez in Venezuela (1989-93) imposed drastic stabilization plans shortly after taking office. Unexpectedly, these painful policies aroused little protest and much support -- or at least acquiescence -- in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru, while triggering unprecedented riots in Venezuela. President Menem undertook a program of deregulation, liberalization and macroeconomic reform. The results were positive. After decades of economic decline and chronic bouts of inflation, Argentina under President Menem began an unprecedented, profound, and remarkably successful economic restructuring based on trade liberalization, privatization, public administrative reform, and macroeconomics stabilization. A decisive leader pressing a controversial agenda, Menem was not reluctant to use the presidency's extensive powers to issue decrees advancing modernization when the congress was unable to reach consensus on his proposed reforms.

Those powers were curtailed somewhat when the constitution was reformed in 1994 as a result of the so-called Olivos Pact with the opposition Radical Party. The 1994 political compromise between the two major parties paved the way for voters to elect a constituent assembly to revise the constitution. The new constitution, approved in August 1994, provided for the direct popular election of the president and permits him to run for a second consecutive term. It also provided for the direct election of the mayor of the Federal Capital and senators. That arrangement opened the way for Menem to seek and win reelection with 50% of the vote in the three-way 1995 presidential race. In May 1995, following a first term marked by economic success and political stability, President Menem was reelected to a second four-year term with nearly 50 percent of the vote. The PJ also won an absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies and retained control of the Senate. The 1995 election saw the emergence of the moderate left FREPASO political alliance.

This alternative to the traditional two main political parties in Argentina was particularly strong in Buenos Aires, but lacked the national infrastructure of the Peronist and Radical parties. Argentina held mid-term congressional elections in October 1997. The opposition UCR-FREPASO alliance made major gains in the number of seats it held and deprived the Peronists of an absolute majority. The elections were widely seen as setting the stage for the 1999 presidential race. The government's pro-market policies remained unchallenged, but continued high unemployment and growing public concern over corruption hurt the government's standing in public opinion polls. The resignation of Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo in July 1996 was initially greeted with skepticism from the markets. Cavallo was widely recognized as the man responsible for ensuring the convertibility of the peso by pegging it to the dollar, a move which saved Argentina from the hyperinflation and continuous drops in output which could have followed from the Mexican crisis in 1994. Confidence was quickly restored, however, with the appointment of Roque Fernandez, who promptly reaffirmed commitment to Cavallo's plan and introduced further measures for fiscal stability.

Argentine GDP growth in 1997 was 8.0%, up from 4.4% in 1996 and -4.4% in 1995. Argentina's growth, averaging over 6% from 1991 to 1997, had been driven primarily by domestic consumption. Immediately after the Mexican crisis, bank liquidity was restrained. However, deposits since returned to the system surpassing the levels that existed prior to the crisis and liquidity is very much improved. Lending also increased and consumer spending rebounded although it slowed somewhat due to the Brazilian crisis. The positive effect was that inflation, well over 150% at the beginning of the decade, was 0.4% in 1996. Unemployment was still troublesome for Argentina, quite high at 15%. Menem's economic liberalization policies succeeded in attracting foreign investment. From the US alone, approximately $10 billion was invested by 1996. Investors had been most attracted to the telecommunications, finance, and energy sectors. Argentina enjoyed a positive trade balance. The export economy was heavily weighted toward agriculture, which represented 60% of the total value of all Argentine exports.

Primary products are livestock, oilseeds, and grain. Argentina's single biggest trading partner was Brazil, and the United States was the second. Primary imports were machinery, vehicles and chemicals. In foreign policy, Menem dramatically made partnership with the United States the centerpiece of his approach. Argentina was the only Latin American country to participate in the Gulf war and all phases of the Haiti operation. The United States and Argentina enjoyed a close bilateral relationship, which was highlighted by President Clinton's visit to Argentina in October 1997. The efforts of the Menem Administration to open Argentina's economy and realign its foreign policy contributed to the improvement in these relations, and the interests and policies of the two countries coincided on many issues. Argentina and the United States often voted together in the United Nations and other multilateral fora. At the UN, Argentina was one of the US's closest collaborators. The Menem Administration supported the US campaign to improve human rights in Cuba and joined with the US in international disarmament efforts, the fight against international terrorism and narcotics trafficking, and efforts to control global warming.

On November 29, 1996 President Menem promised full support of investigations into Argentinaï¿½s actions during World War II and said Argentina would release all secret files on Nazis who fled to Argentina after the war. Menem was an enthusiastic supporter of the Summit of the Americas process, which included Argentina's decision to host the Second Specialized Inter-American Conference on Terrorism in November 1998, as called for in the Santiago Summit of the America Action Plan earlier that year. Eager for closer ties to developed nations, Argentina pursued relationships with the OECD and left the Non-Aligned Movement. It became a leading advocate of nonproliferation efforts worldwide. A strong proponent of enhanced regional stability in South America, Argentina revitalized its relationship with Brazil; settled lingering border disputes with Chile; served with the US, Brazil, and Chile as one of the four guarantors of the Ecurador-Peru peace process; and restored diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. Under President Menem, Argentina's traditionally difficult relations with its neighbors improved dramatically and Argentine officials publicly deny seeing a potential threat from any neighboring country.

In a solemn, historic setting, the Presidents of the Argentine Republic, Carlos Saï¿½l Menem, and the Republic of Chile, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, met in Punta Arenas and Ushuaia on February 15 and 16, 1999 to commemorate the important meeting held in 1899 by their predecessors, Presidents Julio A. Roca and Federico Errï¿½zuriz Echaurren. The visionary spirit of those men triggered a phase of renewed friendship between Argentina and Chile which, among other notable events, paved the way for the signature of the May agreements of 1902 -- the first agreements to limit weapons acquisitions. In September 1995, Argentina and the UK signed an agreement to promote oil and gas exploration in the Southwest Atlantic, defusing a potentially difficult issue and opening the way to further cooperation between the two nations. In 1998, President Menem visited the UK in the first official visit by an Argentine President since the 1960's.

As of October 1999, Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon had charged 186 persons with various crimes committed during the "dirty war" that the 1976-83 military regime conducted against alleged leftists. In November Garzon indicted the leaders of the military junta, including former military leaders General Leopoldo Galtieri, General Jorge Videla, Admiral Emilio Massera, and 95 other officers, including 1 active federal judge, on charges of torture, terrorism, and genocide. In 1983 the courts sentenced Videla, Massera, and Galtieri to life in prison, but President Menem pardoned them in 1990. On 07 June 1999, President Menem relieved General Eduardo Cabanillas from command of the Army's II Corps, based on his distribution of a book entitled "Subversion: the Forgotten History," which contained harsh criticism of the Government, the business sector, the media, and political parties. However, early in June, a military tribunal tried Cabanillas for human rights abuses, including torture, theft of babies, and deprivation of due process, committed during the dictatorship.

The trial followed allegations in the press that Cabanillas was involved in the theft of babies of women who had disappeared. While the court dropped the charges for lack of evidence, the army chief asked for his resignation. Cabanillas refused, stating that only the President could remove him from his post. In July President Menem discharged Cabanillas for insubordination. Even though investment and economic growth soared during the mid-1990's, so did borrowing on international markets.The Menem Administration never really fully implemented the free market model in Argentina. Instead, the Argentine economy remained relatively noncompetitive, with a bloated public sector, while growth was financed with international borrowing. When a recession hit Argentina in mid-1998, the bubble began to burst. The IMF - with US support - responded by calling for increasingly harsh fiscal austerity measures. The next presidential election was due in 1999. In accordance with the constitution, Menem, a member of the Peronist party, could not seek a third consecutive term. In an important development in Argentina's political life, all three major parties in the 1999 race espoused free market economic policies.

In October 1999 voters elected Fernando de la Rua President for a 4-year term; he took office on December 10, replacing President Menem. The elections were considered free and fair. Carlos Menem and 12 other people went on trial 13 August 2015 for allegedly conspiring to derail the investigation into the deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center. Prosecutors allege that Menem and his co-defendants, including his former intelligence chief and a former federal judge, tried to steer prosecutors from linking the bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association building to a Syrian-born man, Alberto Kanoore Edul, who was suspected of taking part in the attack. The 85-year-old Menem, who became Argentine president in 1989 and served a decade, is of Syrian descent. Currently serving as a senator in the Argentine legislature, Menem denied the charges. On 01 December 2015 an Argentine court sentenced former President Carlos Menem to four-and-a-half years in prison for embezzlement. Menem was a senator representing La Rioja province where he was born, a status as a lawmaker that protected him from being imprisoned.

The local court also sentenced former Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo to three years and six months for his role in illegal payments to staffers authorized by Menem during his 1989-1999 presidency. Investigators said Menem and Cavallo were part of a scheme to overpay officials and later split the take among all of those involved. The overpayments were intended for security and intelligence expenses. NEWSLETTER Featured Articles about Carlos Menem - Page 5 - latimes FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CARLOS MENEM - PAGE 5 NEWS WORLD IN BRIEF : ARGENTINA : Troops Dispatched to Forestall Riots December 8, 1989 | From Times Staff and Wire Reports The five-month-old Peronist government sent 500 paramilitary troops to Rosario, Argentina's second-largest city, to prevent a repetition of bloody food riots as it prepared new measures designed to tame the economy's chronic inflation. Riots last spring by slum dwellers in Rosario and other large Argentine cities, which left at least 14 people dead, were sparked by hyperinflation, growing unemployment and falling output.

Advertisement Argentina Seeks to Punish Falklands War Transgressors February 9, 1994 | Reuters Argentina will insist on punishment for any British veterans of the 1982 Falklands war who may be found guilty of crimes against Argentine prisoners, President Carlos Menem said Tuesday. Britain's metropolitan police are probing allegations made by veterans of both sides that British soldiers had tortured and shot Argentine prisoners during the 10-week war in the South Atlantic. NEWS New President Vows Honesty, Austerity December 11, 1999 | From Times Wire Reports Fernando de la Rua of the center-left Alliance party took over as Argentina's new president, criticizing outgoing leader Carlos Menem for corruption scandals, social problems and a budget that De la Rua said is in disarray.

The former Buenos Aires mayor, 62, assailed the Peronists' 10 years in power, telling Congress after being sworn in that Argentina has "a moral and social debt we should start repaying today." NEWS WORLD : Argentine Economy Minister Dies July 14, 1989 | From Times wire service s Argentina's economy minister, Miguel Roig, died of a heart attack today, less than a week after taking on the task of restoring the debt-ridden country's crumbling economy. Roig, 68, died in a car while traveling from the French Embassy to the Economy Ministry. Roig's first job on taking office was to announce a tough austerity program in an attempt to quash hyperinflation. NEWS Juan Carlos Ongania; Former President of Argentina June 10, 1995 Gen. Juan Carlos Ongania, 81, former president of Argentina who was installed by the military in 1966 and toppled in a 1970 coup. A hard-line anti-Communist who heavily censored the arts and the media, Ongania took office after the military ousted civilian President Arturo Illia.

Four years later, he, too, was toppled after labor and student unrest. NEWS BUENOS AIRES : Change in Cordoba July 11, 1995 A new governor takes office Wednesday in the troubled Argentine province of Cordoba, where riots broke out in June over the provincial government's failure to pay employees for more than two months. Gov. Eduardo Angeloz, unable to cope with the province's financial crisis, is resigning five months before the end of his term. His successor, Ramon Mestre, who was elected in May, will be taking office early. NEWS Accounts Tied to Menem Frozen Amid Allegations October 5, 2001 | From Times Wire Reports A Swiss magistrate said he froze two bank accounts linked to former Argentine President Carlos Menem amid investigations of alleged money laundering and illegal arms sales to Croatia and Ecuador. Claude Wenger, a Geneva investigating magistrate, said the accounts were blocked last week after a request from Argentina for judicial assistance in its probe. Wenger confirmed Swiss media reports that one of the accounts was held by Menem's ex-wife and daughter.

NEWS Court Frees Ex-President From Long House Arrest November 21, 2001 | From Times Wire Reports Former President Carlos Menem was freed from house arrest, cleared by Argentina's Supreme Court of charges he ran an illicit arms smuggling ring while in office. The court threw out charges that Menem and three aides smuggled weapons to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s. Menem, 71, who ruled from 1989 to 1999, heard the ruling in court, then returned to the same luxury chalet near Buenos Aires where he had been confined for five months. NEWS WORLD IN BRIEF : ARGENTINA : Leader's Estranged Wife Leaves Home June 13, 1990 | From Times Staff and Wire Reports Zulema Menem, estranged wife of Argentine President Carlos Saul Menem, moved out of the presidential estate in suburban Buenos Aires rather than face eviction. By law, the president has the sole right to say who may live there. Carlos Menem Biography - Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline Leaders Carlos Menem Biography Carlos SaÃºl Menem is an Argentine politician.

He served as the President of Argentina for a decade between 1989 and 1999. This biography provides detailed information about his childhood, life, political career and timeline. Quick Facts Also Known As ÐÐµÐ½ÐµÐ¼, ÐÐ°ÑÐ»Ð¾Ñ, å¡æ´æ¯Â·æ¢ å å§ Famous as Zulema Yoma, Cecilia Bolocco children Zulema MarÃ­a Eva Menem, Carlos SaÃºl Facundo Menem, Carlos Nair Menem, MÃ¡ximo SaÃºl Menem education National University of Cordoba Presidencia de la NaciÃ³n Argentina [CC BY 2.0 ( via Wikimedia Commons Carlos SaÃºl Menem is an Argentine politician. He served as the President of Argentina for a decade between 1989 and 1999. While he was President, he took steps to strengthen the economy and fought inflation and economic recession. He wanted to become a Peronist while pursuing his studies in law.

Soon after, he became a part of the Justicialist Party and began his career in politics. He was elected as governor of his home province in 1973, a post he held for six years. During this period he gained much support from public and earned popularity. Subsequently in 1989, he was elected the President of Argentina. During his term as President, he took several decisions contrary to the orthodox ideas of his party, like supporting the Washington Consensus and implementing the Convertibility plan. He also worked towards maintaining cordial relations with foreign nations. As per the constitution of Argentina, he ended his tenure as President in 1999 upon the end of his second term. Childhood & Early Life Carlos Menem was born on 2 July 1930 in Anillaco, Argentina to Syrian immigrants SaÃºl Menem and Mohibe Akil. He completed his preliminary education at Li Rioja in Argentina. He later pursued studies in law and graduated from the University of Cordoba in 1955. While studying at the university, he got the opportunity to meet President Juan PerÃ³n. He got influenced by his ideologies and became a Peronist.

Following the defeat of President Juan PerÃ³n in 1955, he participated in a revolt aimed at bringing back Juan PerÃ³n into power. As a result he was incarcerated for a short while. Career After obtaining his law degree, he began working as a trade union lawyer. During this time, he joined the successor of the Peronist movement â The Justicialist Party. In 1973 he was elected as governor of La Rioja province nut soon dismissed from office in the 1976 Argentine coup d'Ã©tat by a military council. He was accused of corruption and maintaining links with guerillas. He was imprisoned and subsequently released in 1978, with a warning to stay outside his home town. He was kept under house arrest until 1981. In 1983, along with the end of military rule, he regained the governorship of La Rioja. He worked towards expanding his government by favoring businesses with tax benefits and supporting industrial growth. His supporters grew in number and he was subsequently re- elected in 1987.

In 1989, he was elected as the President of Argentina during one of countryâs most difficult times. The country was plagued by high inflation and severe economic recession. As President, he took decisions contrary to traditional Peronist policies and decided to follow the Washington Consensus thereby reducing expenditure than money earned by the state, and opening opportunities for free trade. He also initiated the privatization of state enterprises like the telephones and the airline industry. These steps proved helpful in stabilizing the economy to an extent. As per the permitted âConvertibility planâ, the value of the Argentinean Peso was raised to an exchange rate of one-to-one for a US Dollar. The existent currency Austral was replaced by the new Argentinean Peso. This was done as a measure to curb hyper-inflation, but the strategy did not work after the initial years. State enterprises like water, electricity, gas including other state enterprises turned out to be favourable. However, in the following years a large section of people employed at these enterprises were fired and as a result unemployment rates grew by approximately 10%. Strikes and public outrage was prevented as the workers were given huge compensation.

Other decisions taken during his first term as President include the acquittal of human rights violators during the military rule period between 1976 and 1983, the signing of the âOlivos pactâ in 1993. The âOlivos pactâ was signed between him and leader of opposition party, giving him the right to revise the constitution of 1853 and allow a President to serve for two consecutive terms with a reduced term of 4 years. These actions attracted significant criticism. In 1995 he was re-elected as President and during his second term as President, he focused on improving International relations. His trip to Britain in 1998 was much talked about as it was the first trip of an Argentinean leader to Britain since 1982. During these years, the Peronist party was plagued by internal conflicts and corruption charges. After the end of his tenure of four years, he was succeeded by Fernando de la RÃºa. In 2001, he was held under house arrest following charges of his involvement in arms- smuggling. However, he was freed five months later.

The following year, the uncertainty and confusion in Argentinaâs social, political and economic conditions forced Fernando de la RÃºa to resign. Carlos Menem made an entry into politics soon after and attempted to regain his position as President. Following internal disputes within the Justicialist Party that led to a division, he contested against candidates from the Justicialist Party and other parties. However, he withdrew his candidature in between and Justicialist candidate NÃ©stor Kirchner was elected the President. In 2005, he was elected to the Federal Senate as a representative for La Rioja province. Two years later, he contested for the post of Governor of the province but was unsuccessful. In 2008, he came under scrutiny for his role in the arms scandal involved in the 1995 RÃ­o Tercero explosion. He was later found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison in 2013. However, his position as senator gave him immunity from incarceration. In December 2015, he was additionally convicted of fraud and punished with imprisonment for four and half years along with huge fine. His current term as senator ends in 2017.

Personal Life & Legacy Carlos Menem was born into a Muslim faith but he converted to Argentina Roman Catholicism in order to accomplish his political ambitions. He married Zulema FÃ¡tima Yoma in 1966 and the couple had two children, a son named Carlos SaÃºl Facundo Menem Yoma and a daughter named Zulema MarÃ­a Eva Menem. The couple separated after 25 years of marriage in 1991. His son died in a helicopter accident in 1995. He had an extramarital relationship with Martha Meza, a deputy from Formosa province and they had a son, Carlos Nair Menem born in 1981. On 26 May 2001, he married actress and former Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco. The couple had a son, MÃ¡ximo SaÃºl Menem Bolocco. However, they separated soon after and were officially divorced in 2011. Trivia Carlos Menem was the first Peronist President to assume office after the military rule in Argentina between 1976 and 1983.

Translate this page to Spanish, French, Hindi, Portuguese Pictures of Carlos Menem Don't Bray For Me, Argentina Don't Bray For Me, Argentina News Early in his tenure as president of Argentina from 1989 to 1999, Carlos Menem introduced sweeping economic reforms--from privatization to pegging the local peso to the U.S. dollar. The measures helped tame 5,000 percent inflation and boost economic growth. But critics now say the flamboyant leader also left behind massive debt and high unemployment, two of the problems that contributed to Argentina's current meltdown. Last year, after charges that he had led an illegal arms-trafficking operation, Menem was placed under house arrest. Freed in late November, he is now the target of new corruption allegations. NEWSWEEK's Jimmy Langman recently caught up with him in Santiago, Chile. Excerpts: LANGMAN: What happened to Argentina? MENEM: The situation in Argentina, starting on Dec. 10, 1999, began to deteriorate due to bad political leadership. That had a direct influence on the [economy and society]. That's the day Fernando de la Rua was sworn in.

What exactly did he do wrong? What he did wrong fundamentally was to increase taxes and cut pensions and [government] salaries, which subtracted profitability from production and took buying power from [consumers]. Property rights were tremendously affected by the freezing of bank deposits, which left people without resources, resources they had been saving for years. This paralyzed the economy. Try Newsweek for only $1.25 per week Some say your administration shares the blame. We left a country running smoothly, a country with more than $34 billion in the central bank. My government was criticized because the unemployment index climbed to 12 percent. But let's not forget that in 1995, when I was re-elected president, the unemployment rate was 18 percent. When I took over the presidency in 1989 poverty was 48 percent, and when I left it was 27 percent. The child-mortality rate went from 26 per 1,000 in 1989 to 18 per 1,000 in 1999. What about the large foreign debt the de la Rua administration inherited?

The foreign debt is not measured by [its size] but by an index. The Argentinean index for foreign debt was 46 percent of the gross domestic product when we left in 1999; when my government received the debt, it was 90 percent of GDP. Foreign debt is something almost all the countries on earth have. In Argentina, we had a modernization process to create new infrastructure--roads, bridges, etc.--and this required [public capital]. Also, during my term as president we received nearly U.S.$200 billion of investment in newly privatized companies. Some workers lost jobs because we modernized, and that translated into debts, but mainly it brought greater productivity and greater well-being for the people. What's your prescription for Argentina now? Strong leadership. Dollarization. The regionalization of Argentina: instead of 24 provinces, six regions, which would eliminate at least half the political positions. Also, a series of reforms to decrease public expenditure and especially political expenditure. Why do you think many Argentines hate politicians? For many reasons, but mainly because of a huge campaign against politicians.

A very hard campaign that has led to confusion in the people, because there is no relationship between what we delivered in December 1999 and what we are currently living. What is this campaign? It is a defamatory campaign. At this moment, there is a total and absolute aggressiveness against politicians and there is no difference being made between the politicians that did things well and those responsible for this disaster. But isn't the hatred fueled by a long history of corruption? I think that if there's someone that has fought corruption, it was my government with the privatization of the public companies, which were a permanent source of corruption. We destroyed the structural corruption. And the residual corruption which has remained, which we tried to fight, is an evil that happens in every country. But we investigated and tried to eliminate this type of corruption. I hope we continue down that path of investigating corruption to determine who is responsible and guilty. You are currently accused of receiving $10 million in a Swiss bank account from Iran to cover up that country's alleged involvement in a terrorist attack in Buenos Aires in 1994. That's another big lie. I don't have any accounts in Switzerland. But I leave that subject in the hands of my lawyer.

I can assure you that when [the courts] get to their final conclusions, the truth of this thing will be clear. Do you want to be president in 2003? I'm initiating a campaign for the internal elections of the Justicialist Party [this year]. If we do all right, and I'm certain we will, we will compete in 2003 for the presidency--to finish an unfinished task which was frustrated by the arrival of the de la Rua administration. Carlos Menem - Wikidata Carlos Menem Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999 Carlos Saúl Menem Cite this page This page was last modified on 14 January 2017, at 14:24. All structured data from the main and property namespace is available under the Creative Commons CC0 License ; text in the other namespaces is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Carlos Saul Menem facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Carlos Saul Menem Menem, Carlos Saul: 1930—: Political Leader Contemporary Hispanic Biography COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group, Inc. Carlos Saul Menem: 1930—: Political leader Twice elected president of Argentina , Carlos Menem's terms in office represented a rare period of political stability in the country. Yet Menem himself was never very far from controversy, both for his vivid public persona and a number of decisions that raised accusations of corruption and deceit. Since leaving the presidency, Menem has continued to be one of Argentina's most recognizable politicians. He has continued to lead his party, the Perónist Partido Justicialista, and has been rumored to be planning a run for a third term in office. Given Argentina's economic troubles, some Menem supporters claim that he is the best person to return the country to relative stability; however, his detractors point to a number of ongoing investigations into Menem's presidential actions that may derail any future political plans of the former president. Carlos Saul Menem was born in the northwestern Argentina town of Anillaco.

One of four sons of immigrants from Syria , Menem was raised in a Sunni Muslim family by his parents, Saul and Mohiba Menem. Saul Menem had worked his way up from being a simple street vendor to owning his own retail store and was proud that all of his children eventually finished college. Carlos Menem entered Córdoba University, located in Argentina's second-largest city, and earned a law degree in 1958. While a student, Menem already demonstrated an active interest in politics. In 1955 he created a chapter of the Juventud Perónista, a youth group for supporters of then-president Juan Perón. Although Perón was overthrown in a military coup that same year and ousted from the country, his party remained a significant force in Argentine politics. Menem continued to support the party and ran as a Perónist candidate in his first bid for elective office as a provincial deputy in 1962. The elections were called off, however, during another one of Argentina's frequent military coups.

Longtime Perónist Menem set up a law practice in La Rioja, a major city located not far from his birthplace of Anillaco, after his graduation; yet politics were never far from his mind. He worked as a legal advisor for a Perónist trade union group, the Confederación General del Trabajo, and after his first aborted bid for elected office ran again for the provincial leadership position of the Partido Justicialista (PJ) in 1963. As the party of the Perónists, the PJ continued to articulate its founder's platform of nationalism, massive government spending on public programs, and significant subsidies to businesses. Menem would follow these Perónist programs once he finally won elective office as governor of La Rioja province in 1973. At a Glance . . . B orn Carlos Saul Menem on July 2, 1930, in Anillaco, Argentina; married Zulema Fatimah Yoma in 1966; two children. Education: Completed law degree at Córdoba University, 1958. Religion: Roman Catholic.

Politics: Justicialist Party Career: Private law practice, 1958; Justicialist Party provincial head, 1963; Governor, La Rioja province, 1973-89; President of Argentina, 1989-99; head of Justicialist Party, 1999-. Address: Political party— Partido Justicialista, Matheu 130 1082 Buenos Aires , Argentina. Menem met Zulema Fatimah Yoma on a trip to Damascus , Syria, in 1964. Menen had long since previously converted to Roman Catholicism, yet the couple was married in a Muslim religious ceremony in 1966. The Menems had two children, yet the marriage was often the focus of unwelcome attention during the couple's many public spats. Menem deliberately cultivated the image of the successful playboy—typically wearing white suits and keeping his hair (later on, carefully positioned hair pieces) immaculately groomed—and regularly appeared with young models and actresses on his arm. Such antics may have endeared the politician to the Argentine public, but his wife routinely complained about her husband's behavior.

The couple separated twice but decided to reconcile both times. Served as Governor After gaining the governor's seat for the province of La Rioja in 1973, Menem immediately implemented a Perónist agenda. He doubled the number of employees on the public payroll, even though the action meant that the province had to circulate state bonds in place of currency after the government ran out of money for its payroll. Menem added so many employees to the public sector that it soon became the largest employer in the province, even outnumbering the total number of private sector employees in La Rioja. By lowering the unemployment rate to just three percent, however, Menem's popularity surged. He also claimed to have brought several new employers into the province by promoting tax abatement and investment credit schemes. Although the policies reduced the amount of funds coming into government coffers, they also showed Menem to be a man of action in contrast to the typical Argentine politician. With Juan Perón's return to Argentina from his exile in Spain in 1973, it appeared that the Perónists would once again dominate the country's political arena. Perón's rule turned out to be brief, however, for he died in July of 1974.

His wife and successor, Isabel Perón, was subsequently thrown out of office in a military coup in March of 1976, and another era of rule by various military regimes followed. For Menem, the cost of the political upheavals was high: jailed in 1976 for his Perónist association, he spent five years as a political prisoner before being released in 1981. Known as the "Dirty War," the period from 1976 to 1982 was one of the darkest in Argentina's history. In addition to political prisoners such as Menem, approximately 9,000 desaparecidos (or "the disappeared ones") were taken into custody by the military government on the pretext of representing a subversive threat. Many were tortured and some were drugged and thrown off of airplanes into the sea. For all the repression, however, Argentina's military rulers could not dampen the unrest brought on by deteriorating economic conditions.

After the government hastily entered and lost a war with Great Britain over possession of the Falkland (or Malvinas) Islands in 1982, the junta declared that it would step aside in the face of enormous public opposition and turn power over to a civilian government. Before the transfer of power, however, the military government passed a law that absolved all participants in the deeds of the Dirty War. Ran for President After his release from jail, Menem returned to office as governor of La Rioja in 1983. That same year, the first elected government in ten years took power when Raul Alfonsín was elected president. Alfonsín repealed the amnesty law enacted in the last months of military rule and began to investigate and prosecute some of the most serious crimes. Alfonsín's greatest challenge, however, was to bring the Argentine economy back to stability. In 1985 inflation hit more than 1,000% percent annually; as unreal as that figure seemed, it climbed even higher, with reports of 3,000 percent at one time.

Against this backdrop of social and economic unrest, Menem announced his candidacy for the presidential elections scheduled for May of 1989. Riding a wave of popularity, Menem had been reelected as La Rioja's governor in 1987, and he now pointed to his past record as evidence that he could solve the nation's problems. On May 14, 1989, Menem was duly elected—the first time in over sixty years that one elected government had been succeeded by another in Argentina—and the PJ gained control of both houses of Congress. At the time of Menem's election, monthly inflation stood at almost seventy-nine percent, a rate that neared two-hundred percent by July. With strikes and riots breaking out all over the country, Alfonsín abruptly resigned from office in July of 1989 and Menem's administration took over a few months early. While it was expected that the new president would fill his cabinet with Perónists, he startled many by appointing free-market reformer Domingo Cavallo as his finance minister. Under Cavallo's insistence, the government began to sell off state-owned enterprises and limited inflation by linking the Argentine peso to the American dollar.

Menem also attempted to impose spending limits on the government, although this strategy was much more difficult to implement. The most controversial move of Menem's first term, however, came with his decision in October of 1989 to pardon almost three hundred of those convicted or suspected of human rights violations during the Dirty War. Menem was also criticized for allowing corruption to continue during his administration and for failing to rein in government spending, which doubled during his terms in office. With the peso tied to the dollar, the government resorted to borrowing to pay its way, and foreign debt ballooned to over $142 billion under Menem's rule. Menem remained popular enough, however, to win reelection to a second term in 1994. During his second and last consecutive term, Menem continued to increase government spending and privatize certain state-owned enterprises. During Menem's last year in office, cracks began to appear in the Argentine economy that showed how little his reforms had reshaped the country's economy. With the peso pegged at an artificially high rate, exports of Argentine products were stifled and labor costs remained high.

Menem's feeble attempts to impose austerity measures also meant that the government maintained a large foreign debt, an enormous liability once the global economy slowed down in the late 1990s. As Menem left office, Argentina's gross domestic product growth rate plunged into negative territory and unemployment climbed to over fourteen percent. By 2000 an estimated forty percent of Argentine' people lived below the official poverty line. Continued Controversies After leaving the presidency, Menem remained the head of the PJ, which ruled as the official opposition party in Congress after political rival Fernando de la Rúa came into office in 1999. Unfortunately, a period of economic chaos that rivaled the worst extremes of the 1980s unfolded during de la Rúa's term, and he was ousted from office in favor of a series of short-lived presidents at the end of 2001 and first months of 2002. Given the political and economic upheavals, Menem once again put himself forward as the only person capable of bringing stability back to Argentina. In preparing his political comeback, however, Menem refused to answer questions about two major scandals that unfolded during his two terms in office.

In one corruption and drug-trafficking probe, Menen was even placed under house arrest by a court order; however, he was subsequently freed and had maintained his innocence. In a more far-reaching probe, however, accusations surfaced that Menem had accepted a bribe of ten million dollars to cover up a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed eight-five people. The investigation centered around the testimony of a former Iranian spy who presented evidence to Swiss authorities that Menem's administration had ties to both Muslim extremist groups and to international organized crime syndicates as well. With the investigation taking place in Switzerland—far out of Menem's sphere of political influence—it appeared that the former president's bid for a third term in office would be put on hold. Sources Books Castañeda, Jorge G., Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War , Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. Crassweller, Robert, Perón and the Enigmas of Argentina, W.W. Norton & Company, 1987. France , Miranda, Bad Times in Buenos Aires: A Writer's Adventures in Argentina, Ecco Press, 1998.

Guillermoprieto, Alma, Looking for History: Dispatches from Latin America , Pantheon Books, 2001. Rock, David, Argentina 1516-1987: From Spanish Colonization to Alfonsín, University of California Press, 1987. Periodicals COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. Carlos Sául Menem Carlos Sául Menem (born 1930) was the first Peronist president to come to power in Argentina after the overthrow of Isabel Perón by the military in 1976 and the first legally elected civilian president to succeed another civilian government since 1928. He was also one of the few to serve two terms in succession. Born on July 2, 1930, Carlos Sául Menem was the son of Syrian immigrants who settled in the interior province of La Rioja, Argentina, and eventually built up a prosperous wine business. After receiving a degree in law in 1955, he practiced law in his native province and became a popular Peronist politician, heading the party's provincial council.

He ran for office several times during the 1960s and in 1973 easily won the election for governor. However, his term was curtailed by the military's overthrow of Isabel Perón in 1976, and he was arrested along with the other Peronist leaders. He spent the next five years in prison or in internal exile. In the elections of 1983, which witnessed the triumph of Rául Alfonsín and the Radical Party, Menem was again elected governor of La Rioja province. He was reelected for a third term in 1987 and served until July 1989 when, as the result of his victory in the presidential election, he took over the presidency of Argentina. He would then win each election through 1996. The last was only allowed though constitutional reforms allowing him to run for re-election. Menem had been one of the leaders of the Renovator, or social democratic wing, of the Peronist Party which emerged with a new national plan in 1985.

He was above all, however, a pragmatic politician who, because of his political ambitions, had converted from the Sunni Muslim faith to Roman Catholicism, since in Argentina only Roman Catholics are constitutionally eligible to hold public office. He was, therefore, willing to compromise in his pursuit of the presidency. In the party's first ever presidential primary, held in mid-1988, he sought the support of various Peronist politicians, including a number of the old-line party bosses who were opposed by the Renovators. Promising to represent the workers and the neglected people of the interior, Menem won the primary in July, defeating his main rival and the front-running candidate, Antonio Cafiero, a long-time Peronist politician and governor of Buenos Aires province. In the presidential campaign Menem promised a production revolution to solve Argentina's economic crisis. He also called for wage increases and jobs for the workers, as well as a corporatist social pact among business, labor, and the state on the economy. In the area of foreign policy he favored a five-year moratorium on Argentina's international debt and implied that he would attempt to regain militarily the British-ruled Malvinas (or Falkland) Islands.

He did not, however, promise the armed forces the amnesty which they had been seeking for the violation of human rights in the so-called Dirty War under the military regime, in which thousands of Argentines were tortured, murdered, and/or disappeared—by varying estimates, anywhere from about 10,000 to 30,000 people. The principal issue in the presidential campaign was the economic performance of the government of President Rául Alfonsín, which failed to provide continued economic stability or halt Argentina's rapidly accelerating inflation despite a series of anti-inflation austerity plans. Vying with the economy as a major issue was the personality of Menem, who cultivated a playboy image and was well known to enjoy racing sports cars, playing soccer, and spending time with glamorous show people. Menem won a decisive victory in the election held on May 14, 1989, sweeping the Peronists back into power for the first time since 1976 when Isabel Perón was ousted by the military.

Winning 47.3 percent of the vote, he clearly defeated his seven opponents, including Eduardo Angeloz, the candidate of the governing Radical Party, who ran second with 37 percent of the votes. Besides winning the presidency, the Peronists gained control of both houses of Congress and most of the provincial legislatures. The election, which left the Radical Party the strongest party in the opposition, was the first time since 1928 in which one democratically elected civilian president succeeded another. According to the constitution Alfonsín was to hand over the presidency to Menem on December 1, 1989, six months after the election. But public confidence in Alfonsín had sunk to such a low level, primarily because of the failure of his economic plan, he finally decided to give in to the general demand he depart early in order to give Menem a head start with his program to restore Argentina's economy. On July 8, 1989, some five months ahead of schedule, Alfonsín turned over the presidency to Menem. The Peronist victory occurred at the time when Argentina was facing one of its most serious economic crises.

Economically, the primary task of the new Menem government was to solve the problem of Argentina's hyperinflation, which was running at an annual rate of 6000 percent and devastating the economy. In conjunction with his plan of economic restructuring, Menem initiated a program to trim payrolls of the public sector, eliminate government subsidies for the private sector, privatize a number of state-run companies, and increase tax revenues. Although his austerity measures faced substantial resistance from the opposition parties, the business community, and organized labor, by the early part of 1990 Argentina's rampant inflation had subsided considerably and there were signs that the economy was improving. By pardoning a number of military officers found guilty of human rights violations in the 1970s and by supporting the military high command, Menem managed to ease civil-military relations, which had plagued the administration of Alfonsín. President Menem also exonerated the officers responsible for the Malvinas Islands war and the military personnel involved in the barracks revolts during the last two years of the Alfonsín regime.

In addition to pardoning several military men awaiting trial for crimes during the dirty war, he pardoned some of the guerrilla leaders accused of leftist terrorist activities during the 1970s. On the question of the Malvinas Islands, Menem temporarily put aside the issue of sovereignty and, in what amounted to a major foreign policy coup, renewed full diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. Regarding the problem of Argentina's international debt, Menem was quick to visit the United States and the various European capitals in order to assure Argentina's creditors that his government was eager to negotiate a solution to Argentina's indebtedness. Menem suggested negotiating debt relief measures, including a grace period on interest payments to Argentina's creditors. To deal with the international drug traffic, Menem advocated a multilateral approach and created a drug secretariat which represented Argentina in various regional and international organizations. Favoring Latin American economic integration, in August 1989 the government of Menem signed a series of economic cooperation protocols with Argentina's traditional South American rival, Brazil. But the violence continued. Two terrorist attacks in Buenos Aires, one on the Israeli embassy in 1992, a second on a Jewish centre in 1994, were not solved.

The bombing of the embassy killed between 32 and 40 people, and at least 86 died in the community-centre bombing. Yet, though alleged accomplices were arrested, no one was charged or even credibly named as directly responsible for the bombings. This was just one of many examples of mishandled Argentine criminal investigations. In July 1996, Menem tried to help the situation by firing his justice minister, who was revealed to have belonged, as a youth, to a Nazileaning group. Menem made fresh efforts to track down known ex-Nazis and stolen Jewish assets, but with little success. Menem was married to Zulema Fatima Yoma, who was highly visible throughout the presidential campaigns. Menem's brother Eduardo was a senator and one of his chief advisers, while another brother, Munir, was ambassador to Syria. Further Reading For autobiographical information and a summary of Menem's ideas see in Spanish his Menem (1986); Yo Carlos Menem (1989); Renovacíon a fondo (1986); and Argentina, ahoca o nunca (1988).

Additional information on Menem and the program of the Renovators is provided in Alfredo Leuco and José Antonio Díaz, El heredor del Peron (1989), and Antonio Francisco Cafiero, Hablan los renovadores (1986). For an excellent discussion of the Peronist movement since the fall of Isabel Perón in 1976 see Donald C. Hodges, in English, Argentina 1943-1987; The National Revolution and Resistance. Revised and Enlarged Edition (1988). See also the Economist, (April 26, 1997) and Los Angeles Times, (October 25, 1996). □ Cite this article The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright The Columbia University Press Carlos Saúl Menem (kär´lōs säōōl´ mā´nĕm), 1930–, president of Argentina (1989–99). A Peronist (see Juan Domingo Perón ), he served as governor of La Rioja (1973–76, 1983–89).

Imprisoned during the 1976 coup, he was released in 1981. He won the 1989 presidential elections by appealing to the deep-rooted sentiment for Perón among the poor and the working class. In office, however, he addressed Argentina's economic crisis by reducing subsidies for the poor, controlling hyperinflation, privatizing state-owned companies, and reducing government regulation of businesses. He also reversed the policies of his predecessor, Raúl Alfonsín , pardoning military officers convicted of human-rights violations, and improved relations with Great Britain and the United States. Menem was reelected in 1995. By the end of his last term he was increasingly perceived as too flamboyant and tolerant of official corruption. In 2001, Menem was indicted on charges, later dismissed, of conspiring to smuggle arms to Croatia and Ecuador during his presidency. New charges relating to the arms sales were brought in 2007; he was acquitted in 2011, but the acquittal was overturned in 2013.

Menem ran for a third term in 2003, but after winning the first round with 24% of the vote, he withdrew from the runoff when he appeared likely to lose by a landslide. He spent most of 2004 in Chile to avoid an Argentine government corruption investigation into his presidency. Elected one of La Rioja's three senators in 2005, he ran for governor of the province in 2007 but lost. Cite this article Articles about Carlos Menem - latimes Former President Is Back in Argentina December 23, 2004 | From Associated Press Former President Carlos Menem was greeted by hundreds of cheering supporters Wednesday as he returned to Argentina after months spent abroad to avoid arrest. Menem announced that he would run again for the presidency after an Argentine judge last week dismissed a warrant against him. Well-wishers shouted "Viva, Carlos!" as the 74-year-old politician arrived in La Rioja, about 600 miles northwest of Buenos Aires. "Many of you thought I'd never be back!" he said. Advertisement NEWS Argentine President Wins 2nd Term : Latin America: Incumbent Carlos Menem avoids a runoff.

His success in inflation fight is credited. May 15, 1995 | WILLIAM R. LONG, TIMES STAFF WRITER Argentine President Carlos Menem, drawing electoral support from the success of his battle against inflation, turned back challengers Sunday to win a second term in office, according to official returns. "I stay in power," Menem, 64, told a news conference. "It's 4 1/2 years more that you will have to put up with me." The flamboyant leader of the Peronist Party is the first incumbent president to win reelection in Argentina since 1952, when voters gave a second term to party founder Gen. Juan D. WORLD Menem Drops the Curtain on His Candidacy May 15, 2003 | Hector Tobar, Times Staff Writer Nestor Kirchner, a little-known governor from Argentina's sparsely populated south, became this country's president-elect Wednesday after his rival in the presidential runoff withdrew. Carlos Menem, the two-time president who finished first in a crowded first round of voting last month but trailed badly in the polls for the runoff, officially ended his campaign with a letter signed in his home province, La Rioja.

NEWS The World June 12, 1989 President-elect Carlos Menem will assume power several months ahead of schedule in an agreement being worked out with Argentina's lame-duck leader, Raul Alfonsin, officials said. The arrangement will allow Menem to begin tackling the nation's crippling economic problems sometime this summer, rather than wait until December, when he is scheduled to take over from Alfonsin. With the economy in chaos and in the wake of food riots that have left 14 dead, Alfonsin has been under pressure to step aside before his term ends. NEWS President to Seek a Barred 3rd Term July 17, 1998 | From Times Wire Reports Carlos Menem has come clean about wanting a third consecutive term as president, creating a constitutional battle that is splitting his Peronist Party and infuriating the opposition.

The twice-elected president, blocked by the constitution from running again, said he will ask party members at a congress today "what I have to do to be a candidate, to not be proscribed so that I can compete in 1999's elections." NEWS BUENOS AIRES : Menem Feels Poll Heat May 9, 1995 Argentine President Carlos Menem, whose party changed the country's constitution last year so he could seek reelection, faces the possibility of a runoff after Sunday's first round of voting. A surprising poll result shows Menem, first elected in 1989, leading with 41.6% of the vote while main rival Jose Bordon, a former member of Menem's Peronist Party, holds 34.7%. Bordon, a senator, has been gaining ground at Menem's expense in the major cities. NEWS SPECIAL EDITION: CRISIS IN THE KREMLIM : Around World, Coup Draws Condemnation and Demonstrations : Here's how news of the ouster of Soviet President Mikhail S.

Gorbachev was received worldwide as reported by Times correspondents, researchers and wire services: : Latin America Frets August 20, 1991 | WILLIAM R. LONG Presidents Fernando Collor de Mello of Brazil and Carlos Menem of Argentina, who were meeting in Brasilia, issued a joint statement expressing "deep concern over the recent events in the Soviet Union." "The two presidents trust that the values of democracy, peace and justice--characteristic of our era--will not be compromised," the statement said, concluding with "the firm hope that the tendency in favor of peace and international security will be maintained." Dante Caputo, a former Argentine foreign minister, said that with Gorbachev's downfall, "the hypothesis of Cold War returns to the world." NEWS New Argentine Chief Agrees to Take Over Early June 13, 1989 | From Reuters President-elect Carlos Menem reversed himself today and said he is prepared to take office June 30, the day President Raul Alfonsin has said he will resign, averting a transition muddle. "We are totally prepared to assume the leadership of the republic on this date," Menem told a press conference in his home province of La Rioja.

Only Monday night, Menem had said he could not take office so soon. Alfonsin announced late Monday that he will resign June 30. His term does not expire until Dec. 10, but he has been under pressure to step down in the face of Argentina's economic collapse. WORLD Menem May Bow Out of Political Drama May 14, 2003 | Hector Tobar, Times Staff Writer Carlos Menem, the scandal-ridden former president of Argentina, was contemplating dropping out of his reelection campaign Tuesday and conceding the race to his opponent, a turnabout that would come less than three weeks after he won the first round of voting and five days before a scheduled runoff. If confirmed, the move would ensure that Nestor Kirchner, the governor of the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, is sworn in as this troubled country's next president on May 25.

WORLD Divisive Figure in the Politics of Argentina April 29, 2003 | Hector Tobar, Times Staff Writer The 72-year-old former president stood on the balcony of the fashionable Hotel Presidente a blond starlet on his arm and an election victory in his pocket, just like the man whose name still dominates politics here, the late Juan Domingo Peron. For a few minutes just after midnight Monday, Carlos Menem lived a moment of political glory, staged with all the theatricality and panache for which Argentines are famous. WORLD Menem Gets Vote of Confidence in Argentina April 28, 2003 | Hector Tobar, Times Staff Writer Argentine voters Sunday resurrected the political career of Carlos Menem, the former president incarcerated amid corruption allegations just 16 months ago, giving him first place in balloting to choose a new leader for this troubled South American country. Menem, 72, will face a Patagonian governor, Nestor Kirchner, in a second round of balloting May 18.

NEWS Recession Shrinks Use of Therapists December 30, 2001 | KEVIN GRAY, ASSOCIATED PRESS The people of Buenos Aires have long considered this the Latin capital of neurotics, a city where weekly sessions on the shrink's couch were as much a part of middle-class life as summer vacations at the beach or weekend homes on the Pampas. But now, with Argentina teetering on financial collapse, many people can no longer afford therapy--just when they need it most, some psychiatrists say. NEWS Ex-Argentine President Arrested on Trafficking Charges June 8, 2001 | SEBASTIAN ROTELLA, TIMES STAFF WRITER Former Argentine President Carlos Menem, a flamboyant political boss who presided over a decade of economic transformation and scandals, was arrested Thursday on charges of masterminding an international arms-trafficking scheme while in office. Authorities took Menem into custody shortly after he entered a courthouse Thursday morning to testify about his role in the alleged smuggling of 6,500 tons of arms and ammunition to Croatia and Ecuador from 1991 to 1995.

NEWS President Won't Seek Third Term July 22, 1998 | From Times Wire Reports Ending months of speculation, President Carlos Menem renounced his intention to seek a third straight term in next year's presidential race. The question of whether Menem would seek another term has dominated Argentine politics for most of the year, creating friction in his Peronist party and stalling important legislation. A third term would have required a constitutional amendment or a special Supreme Court ruling. His term ends Dec.

Question: Carlos Menem was the president of which country from 8 July 1989 to 10 December 1999?
Answer: Argentina