NPR's Tom Gjelten reports that in Argentina, President Carlos Menem (MEN-um) continues to confound his critics. Since taking office in 1989, his government has stopped hyperinflation and put the Argentine economy on a high-growth track, mainly by selling off money-losing state industries. Menem's policy surprised many Argentines ...he campaigned for president as a follower of Juan Peron (purr-OHN), who built up the big state sector as Argentina's president fifty years ago. Now in his second term, Carlos Menem is shaking the Peronist (PAIR-oh-nist) party again, this time by challenging labor unions, the traditional base of the Peronist movement. Menem's reforms raise the question of whether Peronism (PAIR-uh-nizm) is finished in Argentina.
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