Carlos Saúl Menem (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaɾlos ˈmenen] ; 2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 2001 and again from 2001 to 2003), and his political approach became known as Menemism.
Born in Anillaco, La Rioja, to a Syrian family, Menem was raised as a Muslim, but later converted to Roman Catholicism to pursue a political career. Menem became a Peronist during a visit to Buenos Aires. He was elected governor of La Rioja in 1973, deposed and detained following the 1976 Argentine coup d'état, and re-elected in 1983. He defeated the Buenos Aires governor Antonio Cafiero in the primary elections for the 1989 presidential elections. Hyperinflation and riots forced outgoing president Raúl Alfonsín to resign early, shortening the presidential transition.
Menem's presidency supported the Washington Consensus and tackled inflation with the Convertibility plan in 1991. The plan was complemented by a series of privatizations and was initially a success. Argentina re-established diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, suspended since the 1982 Falklands War, and aligned itself with the United States. Under his administration, the country participated in the 1991 Gulf War and suffered two terrorist attacks: an attack on the Israeli embassy in 1992 and the 1994 AMIA bombing. The Peronist victory in the 1993 midterm elections allowed him to persuade Alfonsín, by then leader of the opposition party Radical Civic Union, to sign the Pact of Olivos for the 1994 amendment of the Argentine Constitution. This amendment allowed Menem to run for re-election in 1995, winning a second, four-year term. A new economic crisis began, and the opposing parties formed a political coalition, winning the 1997 midterm elections and the 1999 presidential election.
Menem was investigated on various criminal and corruption charges, including illegal arms trafficking (he was sentenced to seven years in prison), embezzlement of public funds (he was sentenced to 4+1⁄2 years to prison), extortion and bribery (he was declared innocent of both charges). His position as senator earned him immunity from incarceration.
Menem ran for the presidency again in 2003, but faced with a likely defeat in a ballotage against Néstor Kirchner, he chose to pull out, effectively handing the presidency to Kirchner. He was elected senator for La Rioja in 2005. By the time he died in 2021 at age 90, he was the oldest living former Argentine president. He is regarded as a polarizing figure in Argentina, mostly due to corruption and economic mismanagement throughout his presidency.
Διαβάστε περισσότερα...Το 2 Ιουλίου 1930 ήταν Τετάρτη κάτω από το σύμβολο του αστεριού του ♋. Ήταν η 182 ημέρα του χρόνου. Πρόεδρος των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών ήταν ο Herbert Hoover.
Εάν γεννηθήκατε αυτήν την ημέρα, είστε 95 ετών. Τα τελευταία σας γενέθλια ήταν στις Τετάρτη 2 Ιουλίου 2025, 126 ημέρες πριν. Τα επόμενα γενέθλιά σας είναι στις Πέμπτη 2 Ιουλίου 2026, σε 238 ημέρες. Έχετε ζήσει για 34.825 ημέρες ή περίπου 835.811 ώρες ή περίπου 50.148.688 λεπτά ή περίπου 3.008.921.280 δευτερόλεπτα.
Date: 02 July 1930
Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES
F Osorio says recent coup averted dummy rising by ex-Pres Siles and that he was exiled by Siles because of discovery of plot
Date: 02 July 1930
Date: 03 July 1930
Date: 02 July 1930
75 home folks arrive in N Y to welcome him back from England
Date: 03 July 1930
Date: 03 July 1930
Special to The New York Times
Pres Hoover in lr to Sen Moses refuses plea of 23 Sens who asked for postponement
Date: 02 July 1930
Special to The New York Times
Sessions on pub utilities, television, and P I independence
Date: 02 July 1930