Although it may seem surprising to most mortals who bear common and ordinary surnames, to Martin Menem Things never came too easy for him. Eduardo’s middle son, He was almost 15 years old when his uncle assumed his first presidency. Adolescence and entry into adulthood were spent under the permanent scrutiny that means belonging to the family of power. And a very special one, in which his word was far from being the one that had the most weight. It was a reality that the then young man suffered.
By mid-2019, this peculiar distribution of power within the clan continued to exist. And Martín knew it: he spent long weeks trying to convince Zulemita to accept his proposal. At that time, Carlos Saúl spent the last years of his life in a comfortable apartment in the Belgrano neighborhood, and it was his daughter who had a total monopoly on the former president’s agenda. His cousin insisted on half an hour of that time, but there was no point. It took him months to finalize the meeting, until Zulemita finally relented.
Martín wanted to introduce his uncle to a long-haired economist on television. In the end, the meeting lasted three hours. And he closed with a prediction. “Javier, you don’t have to let up. You can be President of this country. And I tell you one thing: you are going to be a better president than me. You are my heir,” Carlos Saúl Menem told Javier Milei. Despite being 88 years old, time proved that the political nose of the “Turk” was still intact.
Ascent. Several things have changed since that meeting. The libertarian is now president of the Nation, and the organizer of the rally is in charge of the Chamber of Deputies, the center of the storm in the days of debate over the omnibus law. The path between one moment and another was not that long, but it was winding. Especially for Menem.
In 2021 fHe was the only official ally that Milei had outside the Federal Capital. For Menem to be the candidate for Provincial Legislator in La Rioja of La Libertad Avanza needed a certain wrist: there the Libertarian Party, the initial gene of the Milei project, was already putting together its own proposal. The current president ordered them to go down on time, a preview of what he would do later in 2022 throughout the country, to replace famous surnames of what the economist himself would call “the caste.”
After provincial elections in which he obtained 13%, Menem had his first position. And it was also his first experience in politics. Despite having graduated as a lawyer from the University of Belgrano and having a legacy in his blood, Martín spent his entire life away from this world. ANDIn 1998 one of the teachers at the gym he went to recommended a protein. He started using it until he realized that it was difficult to get in Argentina, which was the kickstart for his company “Gentech”, which today sells all over the world. He also shares the companies Golf Management SA and Mimada SA – surveillance – with his brother Fernando Nicolás.
Thread. But the bravest stop came at the end of last year. Menem wanted to be in charge of the Chamber, a coveted position for several groups. One of those who I pretended it was Oscar Zago, a founding member of LLA to whom, they say in that space, Milei had promised the position. Today he is the head of the ruling bloc.
Mauricio Macri was also looking at this position. Those who know the former president and the current president swear that Milei’s decision not to appoint Cristian Ritondo in that place was a watershed in that relationship.
That is why today Menem has to stop penalties on all fronts. The opponents complain about his lack of experience, that he does not know the regulations and that he does not have “the nerve” to lead this Chamber, which is very divided and in which the ruling party has a large minority. Some of their own are still licking their wounds, while the PRO does not give up searching for the place.
Menem also has another serious drawback. It is a headache that Guillermo Francos, the Minister of the Interior, also shares: Milei himself. It is that the ethos of these roles, which by definition are those that must seek agreements and intermediate points with the rest of politics, are what the President hates most. And that way of seeing Milei’s life is something that, although he will never say it, Menem has been suffering.
The libertarian had a hard time accepting modifications to the law, insulted a large part of Congress – even the collaborationist opposition – and finally sent Santiago Caputo to act as an intermediary with the other blocks. The presence of the star advisor It was read as a disavowal, also pushed because it was finally Caputo who had the direct link with Milei to see what she agreed to change and what not. The situation escalated to the point that the libertarian began to retweet posts in favor of Menem on his account – identical to what happened with Francos after the meeting with the governors, in which he seemed to have been disavowed – and sent his sister , prior to the start of the session, so that they can be seen together and thus show a boost.
Martín Menem walks on thin ice. And the Government has just begun.
