Argentina's ex-president to wed Chile beauty queen
( 2001-05-22 09:23 ) ()

Former Argentine President Carlos Menem Former Argentine President Carlos Menem (R) and his Chilean fiancee, former Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco, hold hands in the door to her Santiago apartment in Santiago where they celebrated her 35th birthday, May 19, 2001. A spokesman for Menem, 70, confirmed that the couple will be married on May 26 in the northwestern Argentine province La Rioja. [Reuters]

Former Argentine President Carlos Menem, who has a penchant for private jets, fast cars and a headline-grabbing family life, is getting married again.

It's a match made in media heaven.

The flamboyant 70-year-old leader of the opposition Peronist party will marry a Chilean woman half his age, a beauty queen turned television hostess who sparked a controversy this month when she posed for a magazine cover with an Argentine flag draped around her scantily clad body.

Menem, who governed from 1989 to 1999, will marry Cecilia Bolocco, 36, at a ceremony on Saturday in northwestern La Rioja province, his spokesman told Reuters.

"There will be a civil ceremony," he said. Most arrangements for the wedding have been kept secret.

The marriage comes just two months before Menem is due to testify in court over allegations he authorized illegal arms deals to Ecuador and Croatia as president, a charge he denies.

The Peronist leader's family was frequently in the news during his presidency. His ex-wife, Zulema, was thrown out of the presidential palace in 1990 before television cameras during the couple's noisy separation.

Zulema later accused Menem of a cover-up surrounding the death of their son, Carlitos, who was killed when he crashed his helicopter in 1995.

She is also due to give evidence this week in the illegal arms case against Menem.