Carlos Menem
Convertibility
Privatise everything, peg the peso.
Rooted FujimoristOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Fujimorist hall →- Role
- President
- Era
- 1930–2021
- Region
- Argentina
- Social band
- Rooted
- Placement
- +92 · +64 · −30
§ Where Carlos Menem stands
3 axesMenem's economics were radically pro-market. The 1989 State Reform Law authorised the sale of public companies, and his government privatised the telephone company ENTel and Aerolíneas Argentinas in 1990, followed by gas, electricity, water, railways and the oil company YPF. The 1991 Convertibility Law, designed by economy minister Domingo Cavallo, fixed one peso to one dollar, and a 1994 reform partly privatised pensions.
Menem governed through a dominant executive. He expanded the Supreme Court from five to nine justices in 1990, creating a reliable majority, issued an unprecedented number of decrees of necessity and urgency, and pardoned convicted junta leaders such as Jorge Videla. The 1994 constitutional reform, agreed in the 1993 Olivos Pact, allowed his re-election, and in the late 1990s he sought, unsuccessfully, a path to a third term.
Menem combined a flamboyant personal style with conservative Catholic positions. Raised in a Muslim family, he converted to Catholicism, and as president he opposed abortion and decreed in 1998 that 25 March be observed as the Day of the Unborn Child. He nonetheless ended compulsory military service in 1994 after the killing of a conscript, Omar Carrasco, provoked national outrage.
How close are you to Carlos Menem?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalCarlos Saúl Menem (1930–2021) was president of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Born in Anillaco, La Rioja, to Syrian immigrant parents, he trained as a lawyer, rose in the Peronist Justicialist Party and was elected governor of La Rioja in 1973, only to be removed and imprisoned by the military junta after the 1976 coup. Returning as governor in 1983, he won the Peronist nomination in 1988 and the presidency in May 1989 amid hyperinflation.
Elected as a traditional Peronist populist, Menem reversed course and imposed one of Latin America's most sweeping free-market programmes, privatising the state telephone company, the national airline and the oil company YPF, and in 1991 pegging the peso to the dollar under the Convertibility Law, which ended hyperinflation. He pardoned junta leaders and guerrilla chiefs in 1989–90, enlarged the Supreme Court and won re-election in 1995 after a constitutional reform. Recession and the collapse of convertibility in 2001–02, under his successors, tarnished his legacy.
Notable for
- 01Mass privatisation
- 02The Convertibility Plan
- 03Ruled by decree
Key works & moments
- 1976Removed as governor of La Rioja and imprisoned by the military junta after the coup.
- 1989Elected president amid hyperinflation; the State Reform Law opens the way to privatisation.
- 1990Pardons junta leaders including Jorge Videla; ENTel and Aerolíneas Argentinas are privatised.
- 1991The Convertibility Law pegs the peso one-to-one to the US dollar.
- 1994A constitutional reform agreed with Raúl Alfonsín allows presidential re-election.
- 1995Re-elected president for a four-year term.
In their own words
“Follow me, I will not let you down.”
§ Minds closest to Carlos Menem
All minds →
§ Also in the Fujimorist hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was Carlos Menem's political ideology?
Menem was a Peronist who governed as a neoliberal, combining free-market reform with a dominant presidency: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Rooted Fujimorist. Economically he sat close to the market extreme (+92), privatising state companies and pegging the peso to the dollar. On governance he leaned strongly toward executive power (+64), ruling by decree and enlarging the Supreme Court, and socially he was mildly traditional (−30), a Catholic opponent of abortion with a populist touch.
Was Carlos Menem left-wing or right-wing?
He came from the Peronist movement, traditionally associated with trade unions and state-led nationalism, but his economic programme was decidedly right-wing. Menem privatised most state enterprises, deregulated markets, aligned Argentina closely with the United States and pardoned the leaders of the military dictatorship. His populist style and Peronist base kept links with the working-class tradition, which is why his era is often described as Peronism turned neoliberal rather than as conventional conservatism.
What was Argentina's Convertibility Plan?
It was the currency regime introduced by Menem's government under the Convertibility Law of 1991, designed by economy minister Domingo Cavallo. The law fixed the peso at one to the US dollar and required the money supply to be backed by foreign reserves, working much like a currency board. It ended hyperinflation within a few years and attracted investment, but it left Argentina unable to adjust its exchange rate, and after a long recession it collapsed in the crisis of 2001–02.
Which minds are closest to Carlos Menem?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Carlos Menem are The Strongman Reformer (archetype) (95% alike), Boris Berezovsky (94% alike) and The Cabal (archetype) (94% alike). The furthest is Emma Goldman (0% alike).