Carlos Saul Menem

Carlos Saúl Menem , 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 that he led a conspiracy to smuggle arms to Croatia and Ecuador during his presidency, but the supreme court ruled that there was a lack of evidence for the charges. New charges relating to the arms sales, however, were brought against him in 2007. 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.

Menem, Carlos Saúl (b. 2 July 1935). President of Argentina 1989–99 Son of Syrian immigrants, he took a doctorate in law. He was Peronist governor of La Rioja province during the 1980s, and on 14 May 1989 he became the first leader of the opposition to win a democratic election in over 60 years. To placate the armed forces and stabilize the country's fragile political system, he proclaimed an amnesty in October 1989 and December 1990 for soldiers who had participated in illegal activities and human rights abuses during and after military rule. After stringent economic measures he led the country to economic recovery, so that the inflation rate declined from 4,923 per cent per annum in 1989 to 7 per cent per annum in 1993. The economy has shown one of the highest growth rates in Latin America in the 1990s. In 1994 he successfully introduced a new constitution, which allowed his re-election, but also weakened the power of the President against Parliament. He was re-elected in 1995. He stabilized the economy, but unemployment remained high at over 15 per cent, while his ministries continued to be plagued by corruption scandals.