Former President Carlos Menem has died at 90 after several weeks of poor health, Argentine media reported on Sunday.

His death was confirmed by current President Alberto Fernandez.

Menem, who served two terms as president between 1989 and 1999, was serving as a senator at the time of his death.

Free-market model

Born in 1930 to Syrian immigrants, Menem, who was a lawyer, became the governor of northwestern La Rioja Province in 1973 as leader of the local branch of the Peronist Party. He went on to serve two further terms.

He won the Peronist Party nomination to run for president in the 1989 elections, held as the country was recording 5,000% annual inflation and resultant social chaos. Under his rule, Argentina's economy grew strongly and inflation plummeted again under a free-market model masterminded by Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo.

Among other things, Menem removed controls on prices and interest rates. He also sold off many state-owned companies and cut the power of labor unions. Although the economy benefited in many regards, Menem's time at the helm also coincided with growing unemployment, increasing inequality and rising foreign debt.

Closer ties with US

On the foreign affairs front, he promoted closer ties with the United States and renewed relations with Britain, which had been severed in 1982, with the Argentine dictatorship's invasion of the British-held Falkland Islands. The resulting 74-day war led to Argentina's defeat.

During his time in office, two deadly bombings were carried out, one against the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, and one against a Jewish center in 1994. Argentina accused Iran of being behind the attack, but this was denied by Tehran. Menem was later tried on allegations that he covered up those behind the attack on the Jewish center but was found not guilty at a 2019 trial.

He faced another trial after his presidency finished, accused of involvement in selling weapons to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s while international embargoes were in place. He was detained for several months in 2001 over the case, and was even sentenced to seven years in prison in 2013. However, having been elected senator of La Rioja Province in 2005, he enjoyed immunity and did not have to go to jail. The case was dropped in 2017.

Exuberant figure

Menem was also famed for his playboy lifestyle, often entertaining actors, models and pop music stars. "I don't know if I'm going to get the country out of its economic problems, but I'm sure going to make a more fun country," he once said. His antics included dancing the tango on TV and playing soccer.

He married twice and had three children in wedlock, with one son, Carlos Facundo, dying at just 26 in a helicopter crash. He also had another son, Carlos Nair Meza, from a relationship with the teacher and later Peronist deputy Martha Meza, but did not publicly recognize him as his child until his son was 25.

tj/mm (AP, Reuters)