Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the president of Argentina from 1989 to 1999, leading the country through The '90s. He became known for how ideologically, despite identifying himself as a Peronist, he supported economically liberal policies, as despite Peronism being known for its syncretism, economical liberalism was most definitely not one of them, a political approach that became known as Federal Peronism.
Born in northwestern La Rioja Province to a Syrian family, Menem was raised as a Muslim, but later converted to Roman Catholicism to pursue a political career.note As part of a visit to Buenos Aires in 1951 as a member of his university's basketball team, he met the president Juan Domingo Perón and his wife Eva Perón, which influenced Menem to become a Peronist and pursue a political career, eventually leading his home province's chapter of the Justicialist Party and was elected its governor in 1973. He was deposed and detained during the start of the National Reorganization Process, before being freed at the end of it and elected governor again in 1983. He would become the Justicialst Party candidate for the 1989 presidential elections and win, and hyperinflation and riots forced outgoing president Raúl Alfonsín to shorten the presidential transition by resigning early and handing power over to Menem.
Menem would tackle the inflation inherited from the previous government 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 Falklands War, and developed special relations with the United States. The Peronist victory in the 1993 midterm elections allowed him to persuade Alfonsín (by then leader of the opposition) 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, in exchange for moderating the powers of the presidency.note He won handily, but his second term was marked by a economic crisis caused by the combined effects of the Mexican peso crisis (known in the country as the "Tequila effect", and which his re-election campaign even had flippantly dismissed), the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 1998 Russian financial crisis. As a result, the opposing parties formed a political coalition that won the 1997 midterm elections and ultimately the 1999 presidential election, won by Fernando de la Rúa.
Perhaps Menem's most famous campaign ad was, ironically, not the ones done for the 1989 and 1995 elections (not to say they weren't catchy, though), but rather the one made at the end of his presidency, listing his presidential accomplishments. Initially described as being done just to avoid being considered a lame duck, it was seen as Menem's transparent attempt at launching a third consecutive presidential bid, but after the Supreme Court ruled that any attempt to do so was unconstitutional, it was retooled as leaving open the possibility of him running in the future. The ad would become known as "Menem lo hizo
" ("Menem did it"), and would undergo Memetic Mutation in Argentine media, especially given that some of the accompishments cited were either obscure to a national level or things that Menem may have had no actual hand in achieving.
After leaving the presidency, Menem would be 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 four and half years to prison), extortion and bribery (in both of which he was declared innocent). Despite the investigations, Menem ran for the presidency again in 2003, and even placed first in the first round of voting with 24% due to votes being split among numerous parties.note However, with polls predicting a likely defeat in a ballotage against Néstor Kirchner, he chose to pull out, effectively handing the presidency to Kirchner. He would be elected senator in 2005, which earned him immunity from further incarceration, and served on that seat until his death in 2021.
These appearances in media? Menem made them!
Live-Action TV- One of his many, many television interviews during his presidency was on Argentine program ShowMatch (during the time the show retooled itself from a sports magazine that happened to feature America's Funniest Home Videos-style funny clips, to a full-blown variety show). Towards the end of his presidency though, Menem became of the first among the many Argentine politicians the show would parody, in particular Menem's "Menem lo hizo" campaign.
- He is one of the Argentine presidents mentioned in Bersuit Vergarabat's "La argentinidad al palo", in the line "Menem y su primer inmundo" ("Menem and his first filthy one").note He also has the dubious distinction that besides himself, the song also cites various members of his government involved in scandals, such as "María Julia Alsogaray y su tapado de piel humana" ("María Julia Alsogaray and her human skin wrap")Explanation "Guido Di Tella con su tremendo sex appeal" ("Guido Di Tella with his tremendous sex appeal"),Explanation and "Y Vicco-Spadone y su leche adulterada" ("And Vicco-Spadone and their adulterated milk").Explanation
- Menem lo hizo is an interactive "choose your own adventure video game created in a "game jam" (a sort of hackathon destined to create a video game in a short period of time) made as a Take That! to Menem's neoliberal policies. Seriously. (Link in Spanish.)
- This stinger? Menem did it!
