Carlos Menem

Carlos Menem, born in 1930, president of Argentina (1989-1999). Carlos Sául Menem was born in Anillaco, Argentina, and educated at Córdoba University. The son of Syrian immigrants, he was raised as a Sunni Muslim. He converted to Roman Catholicism in his youth and became politically active while still a student. In 1955 he founded the Juventud Peronista, a Peronist youth group. He was briefly jailed the next year for his role in an attempt to restore the ousted dictator Juan Perón to power. In 1956 Menem became legal adviser to the Confederación General del Trabajo (General Confederation of Labor), a trade union group and a major Perón supporter. Menem ran for the seat of deputy of his native La Rioja Province in 1962, but a military coup aborted the election. He was elected provincial president of the Peronist Party in 1963.

In 1973, after Perón's return to power, Menem was elected governor of the La Rioja Province. Menem was jailed in 1976, after President Isabel de Perón, the dictator's widow and successor, was toppled in a military coup. Menem was not released until 1981. He was reelected governor of La Rioja Province in 1983 and 1987. In 1989 he was elected president of Argentina in the first transfer of power in Argentina from one constitutionally elected party to another since 1928. A flamboyant figure, Menem described his political philosophy, Peronism, as nationalist, populist, humanist, socialist, and Christian. He worked to reform the structure of the state, privatize business, achieve a free market, and restore connections with the United Kingdom. In 1992 Menem ordered that all secret files pertaining to Nazis in Argentina after World War II (1939-1945) be opened to the public. His success in bringing inflation and the economy of Argentina under control helped him win a second term as president in 1995. Menem was constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term in 1999, and was succeeded by Fernando de la Rúa.