The tombs of Carlos Menem (president between 1989 and 1999) and his son Carlos Jr were vandalised along with 100 other graves at the Buenos Aires Islamic Cemetery, the AAAI (Asociación Árabe Argentina Islámica) revealed on Thursday.
The Monday night attack was just before the third anniversary of Menem’s death (February 14, 2021).
"The criminals stole bronze fittings and the Argentine flag flying over the place of rest of the ex-president and his son Carlos Menem Jr., as well as destroying marble structures," detailed the association in a communiqué.
The AAAI pointed out that these were not the first aggressions suffered which "cannot be taken lightly as a place of such spiritual and symbolic importance."
AAAI president Adalberto Assad assured that the cemetery had been patrolled by the Border Guard for 20 years but then they were withdrawn against the protests of the community.
"We ask for security, we get it for a couple of days and then you don’t see them again," said Assad.
During his decade-long government, Menem applied liberal economic policies which antagonised traditional Peronism in whose name he governed. He established convertibility on the basis of dollar-peso parity and his most important minister was the liberal Domingo Cavallo.
Current President Javier Milei has declared his admiration for Menem as "the best president in history."
– TIMES/AFP
Comments