A curious photo circulated on social networks, the image is of one of the most powerful families linked to politics in recent decades: the Menems. In the image you can see Adrián, Zulemita, Martín, Eduardo “Lule”, Fernando, Sharif and sitting, the former senator Eduardo Menemthe current maximum patriarch of the clan. The history of the Menems in Argentine politics began long before the surname became one of the most influential brands of national power.
Descendants of Syrian immigrants from Yabrud, a town located north of Damascus, the family’s true Arabic surname is Menehem, which in the national registries were synthesized with the current name. At the beginning of the 20th century, Saúl Menem and Mohibe Akil They arrived in La Rioja as part of the Syrian-Lebanese migratory flow that expanded throughout the Argentine interior. There they developed commercial activities and formed a large family that would have a decisive influence on recent history.
From that family nucleus emerged Carlos Saúl and Eduardo, two figures who would mark the rise of the surname from provincial politics to the highest levels of the State. The national emergence of the Menems occurred with the political career of the eldest of the brothers, who was governor of La Rioja on three occasions and built a solid territorial structure within Peronism. After the democratic recovery of 1983, he became one of the main opposition figures to the government of Raul Alfonsin and, in 1989, he became President of the Nation in the midst of a deep economic crisis.
During his two consecutive terms, between 1989 and 1999, he promoted a program of economic reforms based on privatization, commercial opening and monetary convertibility that transformed the national economic structure, making him one of the most influential and controversial figures in the recent history of the country, although claimed in libertarian sectors today.
At the same time, his brother Eduardo developed an extensive parliamentary career. He was a national senator for more than two decades and held the provisional presidency of the Senate, becoming one of the most relevant figures of Menemism in Congress. From that place he built a network of political and technical ties that remained active, even after the electoral decline of Menemism, until today. For years, the former legislator was considered one of the main strategists of Justicialism and an obligatory reference for anti-Kirchnerist leaders within the party founded by Juan Domingo Perón.
After the death of Carlos Menem in 2021, far from disappearing from the public scene, the family experienced a new stage of political growth from its alliance with Javier Milei. The link began during the national construction of Freedom Advances and had as its main protagonist Martin Menem, son of Eduardo Menem and nephew of the former president. A businessman based in La Rioja, the current deputy was one of the first provincial leaders who opted for the libertarian project and became a key player for the territorial expansion of the space. After the presidential victory of La Libertad Avanza in 2023, the Riojan assumed the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies of the Nation, becoming one of the most important officials of the ruling party.
Together with him it acquired relevance Eduardo “Lule” MenemMartín’s cousin and nephew of the former president. With a historically low profile, he formed politically under the wing of his namesake in the Upper House, developing extensive experience in parliamentary work. With the arrival of milleism he became one of the most trusted men in Karina Milei and was incorporated into the structure of the General Secretariat of the Presidencyfrom where he intervenes in the political and electoral assembly of the ruling party. He is described as one of the main internal operators of the Government and a link between the Casa Rosada, Congress and the provinces.
Of course, family influence is not limited to those two figures. Various journalistic surveys identified at least 17 members of the Menem family with positions in national organizations, Congress, decentralized agencies and the Rioja public administration. Among them appear Federico Sharif Menemappointed in the administrative structure of the Chamber of Deputies; Nazarena Menem, linked to the General Auditor’s Office of the Nation; Lara Menem and Jorge Horacio Menem in organizations linked to the tax and customs administration; in addition to Amalia Menem and Carola Menem in different legislative functions. It also appears Beloved Omar Menem at the head of PAMI in La Rioja.
The presence of the surname also reaches sectors aligned with the Riojan governor Ricardo QuintelaMilei’s political adversary. In the province they hold leading positions such as Alfredo MenemMinister of Development, Equality and Social Integration; Yamil Menemhead of the Public Spaces and Events Agency; Roberto Carlos Menem in administrative areas; Marcelo Menem in Health; Jorge Omar Nicolás Menem in the Court of Accounts and Ana Carla Menem within the provincial Judicial Branch. This dispersion shows that family influence transcends party borders and maintains a presence in both libertarian and Peronist sectors.
More than three decades after the arrival of Carlos Menem to the Casa Rosada, the surname retains a rare capacity for influence in Argentine politics. What began with the descendants of a family of Syrian immigrants settled in La Rioja evolved into a structure with simultaneous presence in Congress, the national Executive Branch, decentralized organizations and provincial administrations.
The emergence of La Libertad Avanza gave a new centrality to the clan, which once again occupied strategic spaces of the State and regained prominence in national decision-making. Between the legacy of Menemism in the 1990s and the new libertarian experience, the Menems continue to be one of the families with the greatest specific weight within the Argentine political system.
by RN
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