Abstract
The election of carlos menem in 1989 was supposed to usher in a new political era for Argentina. Although democracy had returned to the country with the election five years earlier of Menem's predecessor, Raul Alfonsin, Argentina was still plagued by spiraling violence, economic chaos, and political turmoil left behind by years of military rule.
Menem, whose Justicialist party was steeped in the working-class ethic of populist caudillo Juan Peron and his wife Evita, promised to change all that.
Soon after taking power, however, Menem disabused the public of any hopes it may have had that the past glories of Peron would return. A leader who exuded an odd mix of charm, populism, and pragmatism, Menem was an enigmatic figure. Despite his Peronist background and purported opposition to military rule, Menem pardoned military and civilian authorities accused of human rights abuses. He also pushed through a conservative economic agenda, slashed public spending, sold off government companies, and broke with a long-standing Peronist tradition of nonalignment by enthusiastically endorsing the foreign policies of then-U.S. President George Bush.
Menem did retain one aspect of Peronism—the extreme concentration of power. His tight grip on the reins led to accusations of corruption, especially after a series of scandals erupted involving family members and close associates. Still, Menem's flamboyant, playboy personality and success in turning around the economy boosted his popularity and helped him weather myriad political storms. The mainstream press's reluctance to cover allegations of corruption and Congress's refusal to hold him accountable also helped.
In early June, however, just as the 70-year-old Menem was preparing to go on a honeymoon with a new Chilean wife, Cecilia Bolocco, the 1987 Miss Universe, his political star abruptly fell. On June 7, Federal Judge Jorge Urso ordered Menem under house arrest based on allegations that he had headed an illicit arms smuggling organization that funneled weapons to Croatia and Ecuador between 1991 and 1995. On July 4, Menem was formally indicted and ordered to stand trial.
It was a stunning reversal of fortune for a man many credit with having transformed Argentina from a backward, military-controlled third world country to a leading political and economic player on the world stage.
May 26, 2001: Newlyweds Carlos Menem, the former president of Argentina, and Cecilia Bolocco, the 1987 Miss Universe.
The noose tightens
The seeds of Menem's downfall were planted in March 1995, when an arms-laden Argentine plane officially destined for Panama was diverted to Ecuador. The flight caught the attention of Ricardo Monner Sans, an attorney who had previously investigated allegations of corruption involving Menem. Because Argentina had served as one of the guarantors of the 1942 Rio de Janeiro Protocol, which brought an end to a border war between Peru and Ecuador, it was prohibited from selling arms to either of those countries. Monner Sans knew that if Argentine officials had diverted weapons to Ecuador as the flight suggested, the government had broken both national and international laws. His investigation, together with growing coverage by the press, eventually forced the reluctant federal prosecutor, Carlos Stornelli, to move forward with the case.
Although the investigation was slow to take root, several breakthroughs late in Menem's presidency placed it on firm ground. Evidence turned up connecting Luis Sarlenga, former head of a state-owned arms manufacturer, Fabricaciones Mil-itares, to the Ecuador arms deal. This was followed by the public release of reports from Argentina's embassy in Croatia that Argentine weapons had been discovered in that country, indicating that government officials had violated the U.N. arms embargo.
Suspicions soon arose that the Croatia and Ecuador arms deals were part of a larger illicit trafficking scheme. Although the evidence gathered by investigators implicated high-level officials and seemed to point toward presidential involvement, it wasn't until Menem finished his second term in 1999 that the noose began to tighten around his neck. Soon after Menem stepped down, several loyal congressmen tried to cripple the weapons investigation by initiating impeachment proceedings against Judge Urso. Many of Menem's close associates also tried to shield him from prosecution by refusing to speak about the allegations.
On April 6 of this year, the silence ended when Luis Sarlenga, under custody for his part in the arms deals, realized that his superiors were hanging him out to dry and decided to talk. Sarlenga's testimony led to the arrest of Emir Yoma, Menem's former brother-in-law. Yoma, who, like Menem, is the son of Syrian immigrants, was charged with helping divert weapons from the military and masterminding the creation of six secret decrees ordering the alleged sale of weapons to two unlikely buyers— Panama, which does not have an army, and Venezuela, a country with no history of purchasing weapons from Argentina. Later, it was discovered that Menem and several other officials had signed the decrees.
“They're so territorial.”
The weapons transfers—shipments of short-range missiles, cannons, land mines, and rifles to Croatia, and several thousand tons of rifles and munitions to Ecuador—netted an estimated $100 million, only $40 million of which showed up in official accounts. The missing money allegedly went into the pockets of—among others—Yoma, Menem, and Monzer Al Kassar, a Syrian native and long-time friend of the former president's family whose name has been mentioned in connection with various terrorist incidents, including the 1985 attack on the Italian cruise ship the Achille Lauro and the Lockerbie bombing.
Several other high-level officials were subsequently indicted, including former defense ministers Erman Gonzalez and Oscar Camilion, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Guido Di Telia, and Gen. Martin Balza, the former head of the army.
Sarlenga also implicated James Cheek, a former U.S. ambassador to Argentina. Sarlenga testified that he was ordered by Emir Yoma to take care of the arms sale to Croatia. Yoma also told him that the sale was being undertaken at the behest of the U.S. government. Former Sen. Eduar-do Vaca, now deceased, allegedly told Sarlenga that Ambassador Cheek had arranged for a plane from Fine Air airlines to land without interference at an airport outside Buenos Aires, where arms transfers were to take place.
Cheek denies any involvement in the affair, saying that the charges against him are “more than absurd; they're ridiculous.” But Argentine officials have also had a hard time getting information from the U.S. government regarding the case. According to one press report, U.S. officials have repeatedly refused requests from Argentine justice authorities to provide information about Daforel, a front company tied to the case, which has a bank account in the United States. Investigators believe Yoma is the company's true owner.
In late May, just after his marriage to Bolocco, Menem, who was scheduled to appear in court on July 13, asked Judge Urso for permission to leave the country for his honeymoon. Instead, Urso moved the hearing to mid-June. At that hearing, Urso stood up and faced Menem, saying, “Sir, according to our law, I have no other choice but to put you under custody.” According to observers, Menem's eyes immediately teared up. His attorney later said, “We are living a historical moment.”
Attorney Monner Sans is optimistic that Menem and the other officials involved in the case will be successfully prosecuted. This would give a huge lift to the Argentine judicial system, itself the focus of corruption allegations. Most Argentines, however, don't share Monner Sans's optimism. But as he told me, “Be careful my friend. If we lose hope, they win.”