Who was Carlos Menem?
Carlos Menem, born in La Rioja to Syrian immigrant parents, studied law in Cordoba and rose through Peronist politics as a provincial governor. He won the 1988 party primary and the 1989 presidential vote, taking office early during hyperinflation. His campaign sounded populist, yet in government he dismantled much of the state economy. He signed pardons for former military rulers, reformed the constitution in 1994 to win a second term in 1995 and lost his bid for a third in 1999. He died in 2021.
Political views
- Privatized more than 400 public companies, among them YPF, the telephone company Entel and Aerolineas Argentinas, and moved pension services into private hands.Source: cidob.org
- Launched the Convertibility Plan in 1991, which fixed the peso at parity with the dollar and barred issuing money not backed by reserves.Source: cidob.org
- Pardoned Videla, Viola, Galtieri and others in October 1989 and December 1990, the second time soon after a failed carapintada military revolt.Source: cidob.org
- Signed the Treaty of Asuncion creating Mercosur in 1991, and in 1998 Argentina became a major non-NATO ally of the United States.Source: cidob.org
- Agreed the Pact of Olivos with Raul Alfonsin, allowing one consecutive re-election, then saw a push for a third term rejected in the Chamber of Deputies in 1999.Source: cidob.org
- Liberalized labor law, which unions protested in 1996 as unemployment stood near its 1995 peak of 18.4 percent.Source: cidob.org
- Presided over market reforms that the IMF reviewed as an inflation fix: monthly inflation fell from about 27 percent in early 1991 to single digits by 1993.Source: imf.org
Legacy
Admirers credit Menem with ending hyperinflation and with growth of nearly 6 percent a year in 1991-98, according to the IMF. Critics say the sell-offs were careless, that unemployment and poverty climbed, and that the pardons of men responsible for the dictatorship's crimes shielded perpetrators of torture and disappearances. His family and circle faced money-laundering and arms-trafficking allegations. A Supreme Court ruling in 2001 found no basis for the arms charge.