Argentina’s Menem Cultivates Reporters, but He Often Confuses Them : South America: When the president says ‘not for now,’ he may well mean ‘soon.’

One of President Carlos Saul Menem’s most successful techniques in achieving political prominence is to carefully cultivate the press, more so than any other Argentine leader.

As a presidential candidate, he was on the front pages of major news magazines every day, as well as the newspapers.

Not all the coverage was flattering. Menem often was criticized for contradictory statements, and he bristles to this day when he is reminded that something he says now may contradict one of his ministers or even one of his own previous declarations.

Since becoming president, Menem, 61, has kept up his tradition of close contact with the press, even in difficult times such as recent weeks, when his popularity has declined while he confronted crises of inflation, Cabinet upheavals and accusations of government corruption.

After his inauguration on July 8, 1989, every week he scheduled two mealtime conversations with reporters, one at breakfast and one at lunch, according to Humberto Toledo, his press spokesman.

As late as last year, reporters were asked not to bring tape recorders to the meetings, but that restriction, always only loosely enforced, has since been waived.

The regular press breakfasts and luncheons do not usually lead to major news announcements, but they do give an insight into what Menem is thinking and how he operates.

United Press International has been invited to two breakfasts, both with mainly foreign reporters, served by waiters in white coats at a table that can seat 12 in the ornate downtown presidential palace Casa Rosada. The second breakfast, more formal than the first, was held March 5.

The president, inviting questions almost immediately after sitting down before a plate of croissants, wore a blue business suit and tapped the white tablecloth with both hands as he fielded one question after another.

A film crew from Cable News Network taped a few minutes of the questioning, then turned off the strobe lights.

Menem, the son of Syrian immigrants, was, as is his custom, evasive and circuitous in answering many of the questions. Other times he was blunt.

He instantly warmed to questions about the Persian Gulf War and a man whom Menem likes to call “ mi amigo , President Bush.”

Bush is well aware of Menem’s delight in citing the friendship, and when the U.S. President visited Argentina last December and addressed a joint session of Congress he made a point of describing his South American counterpart as “ mi amigo , Carlos Menem.”

Argentina was the only Latin American country that sent warships to support the allied military effort against Iraq, and Menem clearly relishes the role, although public opinion polls showed that most Argentines opposed military involvement.

“Time has crowned the policies of Bush,” Menem said in his breakfast conversation. “There was no political cost because it was a triumph.”

Menem predicted that his Justicialist Party would win congressional elections later this year--”not because we are so good but because the others are so bad.”

In case anybody doubted that he was on the winning team, he also predicted “victory for President Bush” in U.S. congressional elections.

To rub it in even more, Menem said the Vietnam syndrome--U.S. self-doubt over the war in Southeast Asia--was “devastating,” and “the presidency of (Jimmy) Carter was very bad for the United States.”

Then he turned to a reporter for a large and prestigious U.S. metropolitan newspaper and asked with a broad smile, “Are you a Republican or a Democrat?”

The reporter said nothing, nodded his head and smiled.

“Are you a Republican or a Democrat?” Menem asked again, leaning over the table, looking over to get a better view of the newsman while smiling even more broadly.

For the second time the American reporter said nothing, but smiled just as broadly as Menem and nodded his head.

For a moment, it appeared that Menem had met Menem.

The president sat back in his chair and remarked, “Don’t worry. A lot of Democrats are my friends. Sen. Ted Kennedy is my friend.”

The same reporter asked the president to discuss the pardons he gave last year and the year before to hundreds of military officers accused of rebellion and human rights crimes, as well as to former left-wing guerrillas.

Menem scarcely batted an eye. “The constitution of Argentina allows presidents to grant pardons,” he said. “As president I granted the pardons. I don’t see why I should say anything more about it.”

Seeing that his reply produced raised eyebrows, Menem decided to elaborate a bit. “The Constitution of the United States allows the president to also give an amnesty, but in Argentina the constitution is a little more restrictive and only allows a pardon.”

Asked about his meeting on March 4 with John Reed, president of Citicorp, Menem said the powerful U.S. banker had pledged to “accompany” Argentina in its plan to privatize more state companies, such as gas, water and electricity.

Just a few hours later Reed gave his own press conference, not directly contradicting Menem, but saying, “A lot of international banks are losing interest in Argentina with respect to privatizations.”

Those who have watched and heard him over a period of years find it easier as time goes by to decipher what he really means, which may be quite different from what he actually says on some subjects.

Many of Menem’s top aides have had trouble capturing the true meaning of statements from their chief, and 22 Cabinet ministers have been reshuffled or dismissed in less than two years.

At the March 5 breakfast, Menem said he does not plan to change Argentina’s traditional position of opposing a full-fledged human rights investigation into Cuba “for now.” But he said he was thinking about such a change, he said.

For those who know Menem, it came as no surprise that within a few hours after he spoke Argentina changed its position at the U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva and backed the United States in supporting an investigation into human rights violations in Cuba.

On other issues in the past, when Menem said “not for now,” what he really meant was “soon.”

Menem was obviously prepared at the breakfast for difficult and embarrassing questions about an investigation in Spain into alleged narcotics dealings of a brother-in-law. He called the reports a “smear campaign.”

Then he said the reports “don’t affect me personally” and told reporters to go check them out with his brother-in-law.

Asked about a speech to the nation being prepared by Domingo Cavallo, the economy minister, Menem said, “It was a didactic address about cutting the deficit.”

The next day, Cavallo announced raises of up to 40% for public employees, a strain on the already inflationary deficit, and two days later he gave a technical address on how he would pay for it.

The only flash of anger at the breakfast came when an Argentine reporter for a Spanish news organization asked him about road tolls: Why were they being abolished, as announced by the economy minister?

Menem said the tolls had only been suspended. When the reporter protested that the minister said the tolls would be abolished, the president flared, “Why do you ask me this question? Road tolls are not a question for a president. Ask me about the Gulf.”

When the newsman appeared demoralized by the reply, Menem tried to cheer him up. “Don’t take it to heart,” he said.

The questioning went on for an hour an a half, until there was a silence at the table. Huberto Toledo then announced that the breakfast was over but Menem would answer a couple of last-minute questions.

Then Menem turned to the still demoralized reporter for the Spanish organization.

“You still look worried,” he said, laughing. “Don’t worry.”

In the hallway of the Casa Rosada, Toledo was asked why the president didn’t talk about the railroad strike, which has paralyzed four of eight rail lines for the better part of a month.

“There is a saying among the Arabs,” Toledo said. “An Arab will talk for hours, but he won’t talk about his camel. This is because he lives with his camel every day.”

What is President Menem’s camel?

“That’s a good question,” Toledo said.