Mariana Iglesias
02/14/2021 16:04
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 02/14/2021 16:10
-Menem is getting married in La Rioja, I would like you to go.
-Is nobody in politics?
-Yes, Amato goes. He does the politics, you do the color. Go see Julio who he will explain to you.
It started in May 2001. I was 29 years old, and I had been writing in the General Information section of
Clarín
for three years
.
José Alemán was my first boss, and the one who that day asked me to travel to cover the wedding of one of the most important figures in politics at that time.
Alberto Amato was a fellow politician.
Julio Blanck, the head of that section.
I went to see him.
-You saw Menem get married, well, Amato does the politics, you do the color. Stay calm, you will do very well.
Carlos Menem, who died this Sunday at the age of 90, had been president of Argentina for ten years: between 1989 and 1999. He tried to get a third consecutive term, but the Constitution did not allow it.
Then he would return to be a candidate for the Justicialista Party in the following elections, after the failed government of Fernando de la Rúa with the Alliance.
Some time after leaving the presidency, Menem had become a boyfriend with Cecilia Bolocco, a 36-year-old Chilean journalist who had become famous at 22 when she was elected
Miss Universe.
They had met in an interview she did with him at the Casa Rosada.
Menem was twice her age: the Rioja was about to turn 72.
Relentless, the gossip programs of the time made jokes about the "uneven couple" and slipped that the Chilean wanted to be "first lady" of Argentina.
Bolocco had a couple of marriages under his belt.
Menem had been married to Zulema Yoma for more than 30 years, with whom he had had two children: Junior (killed in a suspected helicopter accident) and Zulemita.
Later it would be known that he had had a third child, extramarital, Carlos Nair, with Marta Meza, who ended up committing suicide.
In journalism, "making color" is going to a place, seeing and describing.
More literary resources can be used than in common notes, but always within the framework of reality, it is not fiction.
"Make color" can also be understood as writing everything that surrounds the main note, loaded with hard information.
To "make color" is to add other nuances and details.
In any kind of journalism, one would say that it is trying to ensure that whoever reads can feel that they are there.
The newlyweds Cecilia Bolocco and Carlos Manem, upon leaving the Civil Registry of La Rioja.
Photo: Clarín Archive
That's what I was about.
I had my doubts then.
How
much color could there be
in a more political event than anything else?
We traveled with Amato and Fabián Urquiza, the photographer.
We stay in the inevitable "plaza hotel" in any city
.
This one too, of course, was located in front of the central square.
The capital of La Rioja seemed like a city taken over, full of Argentine and Chilean journalists.
Shortly after arriving we found out that
the wedding would not be in Anillaco
as announced, but in the municipal sports center of the capital, baptized Carlos Saúl Menem.
Menem was born in Anillaco on July 2, 1930. At that time the town had a handful of inhabitants.
In 2001 the residents were just over 1,300.
We arrived with Fabian in a rented car an hour and a half after doing the 92 kilometers from the capital.
It was a town in mourning
.
The streets were empty.
The neighbors locked up, between angry and sad.
Months ago the news of the wedding had reached them and that the great party would be in the hometown of the "president", so they kept calling him.
The joy of having the prodigal son back, marrying a foreign Miss, seemed like
a fairy tale
and was the perfect excuse to decorate the town.
The wedding, in addition, would arrive accompanied by faithful, curious, journalists and tourists.
They got to work.
The curbs of the sidewalks were painted white, the lanterns had lights again, the dark areas were illuminated.
The dirt roads were paved.
When we arrived, workers with machines were still visible on the main avenue, Coronel Barros.
The sadness seemed to weigh even more on the regional premises.
The vendors, somewhat disconcerted, showed us the products they had prepared for the occasion: plates, mates, candle holders, jugs.
They all wore the faces of Menem and Bolocco
.
Also allusive phrases: "She landed in Buenos Aires very flirtatious and tidy. She remembers that the president struck her with his gaze", "Geez with the Turk, who knows with what verse, he conquered the most beautiful girl in the universe.
In front of the main square, the San Antonio, the
Carlos Saúl Menem wineries
, located on
Carlos Saúl Menem street
and one block from the
Carlos Saúl Menem kindergarten
, were seen, exulting
.
It was clear that in addition to olives and wines, Menem was on the podium of Anillaco's pride.
I hesitated because of the "bad luck" attributed to the former president, but finally I made up my mind and bought some bottles of "Around the corner", a liter and a half of Cabernet Sauvignon that cost 12 pesos each, 12 dollars then.
It seemed to me that family and friends would celebrate the souvenir.
The bottles were tempting: on the front of the label, Menem's face, on the back, the details of "some of the achievements of his administration": "He achieved international respect for Argentina", "He ended hyperinflation" , "It guaranteed stability", "It made Puerto Madero", "It finished the National Library".
I remember on my return the jokes of family and friends when receiving the bottles.
I don't remember if we liked the wine.
The Rings.
One of the postcards of the wedding between Menem and Bolocco.
Photo: Clarín Archive
We went to see the house of the "president".
"La Rosadita" measured 600 square meters, had a horseshoe shape, and was, as its name implies, painted pink.
The contrast with the rest of the houses, so small and soaked in whitewash, was brutal.
Anillaco ruled out, the wedding was divided into two:
the "package" part at the house of the then provincial governor
, Angel Maza, and
the "popular" part at the Sports Center
.
Thus, on Saturday morning, May 26, 200 guests overflowed the armed tent in the gardens of the government residence.
Menem had lived in that house when he was governor of the province: between 1973 and 1976;
and between 1983 and 1989. That fact earned him some criticism, some neighbors did not see with good eyes that he married another woman in the residence where he had lived for so many years with his wife and children.
The first time Bolocco entered the residence it was to get married.
The couple said "yes, I want" in turn with music by Luis Miguel in the background
.
Then they approached for a moment the swarm of journalists who stood guard behind bars.
Some colleagues were there since 5 in the morning.
The couple shook hands with a smile.
But the photographers wanted more.
They were crying out for some passion from those two who had just joined the law.
"Piquito!
Piquito! ”They shouted
.
The Chilean and the Argentine smiled uncomfortably.
The request was in crescendo.
"Piquito!
Piquito! ”.
The scene was so untenable that the couple, swift, turned around.
The journalists, almost 200 between Argentines and Chileans, snorted after the rudeness after nine hours of waiting.
There was no kiss photo
.
All a frustration.
Some politicians of the moment swarmed in the VIP tent, just a handful: Alberto Kohan, Daniel Scioli, Claudia Bello, Armando Gostanián.
They say that there was a fleeting beak there
.
I did not see it.
After eating caviar and petit fours, the couple went to the gigantic Carlos Saúl Menem Sports Center.
About two thousand people were waiting for them in the gym steps.
The entrance to the Sports Center was free.
Entire families were waiting.
Some had put on their best clothes.
Others were in sportswear, according to the place.
The truth is that
the heat was oppressive under the sheet metal shed
.
It would be 40 degrees in there.
Nearby, but not scrambled (a fence separated one from the other), a thousand special guests.
They were accommodated at tables arranged on the gymnasium court, which served as basketball, volleyball, or whatever it took.
As the brand new couple made their entrance, popular and special guests alike received them standing up and with a standing ovation.
She was wearing a classic white dress.
The olive suit and yellow shirt.
The menu was crazy. For everyone
.
The difference was in its presentation.
Those who were seated at the decorated tables received their casserole.
The families scattered around the stands were given their portion in transparent plastic food.
The heat was so oppressive that very few dared more than a couple of spoonfuls.
The pots were practically intact.
Meats a little less but also.
The menu made you perspire.
Bolocco approached the fence and threw the bridal bouquet of natural roses towards the people.
There were nervous shouts and celebrations from the lucky woman who had sought to keep the flowers and succeeded.
It was a young woman in jeans and sneakers who had traveled far and away and
could not kiss the bride because the bars prevented it
.
Menem went in search of his incipient wife and they danced "Voces de Primavera", by Johann Strauss, on the painted court.
The former president moved as if he were a tango.
The bride's brothers rescued her.
Then, folk dances by students from provincial institutes.
A group of girls danced a traditional Easter Island dance in homage to the Chilean one.
They wore flowery bodices, fringed skirts and wore crowns on their heads.
In the end, the traditional cutting of the gigantic wedding cake.
It had seven floors, weighed 400 kilos, and took up five tables
.
Shortly after three in the afternoon the couple left.
The cake ribbons were left intact.
The bride and groom ignored the ritual of the ring.
Little by little the special guests also left.
The others were left dancing.
Even today I can remember the boys running through
the boiling stands covered in overturned locro
, the trampled plastic food and the shattered disposable forks.
I remember the laughter and joy of those children who ran around after witnessing a unique act until then for them.
I took notes and felt like I was in
a movie, which could be dramatic, comedy, or science fiction
.
While I was writing I finished understanding that of “you make the color”.
Look also
Carlos Menem died: the volcanic marriage with Zulema and the chapter with Cecilia Bolocco
Carlos Menem died, the president who united politics with entertainment and sports: Charly, the Stones, Xuxa, Madonna and Maradona
