BUENOS AIRES, July 19 (UPI) -- Ex-president of Argentina Carlos Menem, who is currently living in Chile, has promised that he will return to his country to face justice.
Menem, in an interview with the program "la Cornisa" of the Television America channel, said: "I am going to go back to testify. I have to go back to Argentina. ... I´m not a fugitive from justice; it is within my rights to be in Chile."
But the former president who now leads an offshoot of the Justicialista Party, said he won't submit to any gag. "I will not remain quiet, and certainly not in the political life of the Argentina Republic. ... I have more than enough force, more than enough energy, and physically and mentally I am doing very well."
Menem said he was concerned and worried about the course of political opinion in Argentina and the violent acts that have occurred there recently. "The course has been lost, there is no order, the law is not enforced and we are on the edge of anarchy," he said.
The two-time Argentine president spoke from Chile, where he currently lives with his wife, the Chilean ex-Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco, and their son, Máximo Saúl. He has twice avoided attempts to exradite him to Argentina to face questioning on vaarious corruption charges.
Menem has been accused of profiting from illegal arms dealing, corruption and fraud.
