home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- <text id=90TT1749>
- <title>
- July 02, 1990: The Hexing Of The President
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- July 02, 1990 Nelson Mandela:A Hero In America
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- GRAPEVINE, Page 13
- The Hexing of the President
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p>By Paul Gray/Reported by David E. Thigpen
- </p>
- <p> These are not the best of times for Argentina's President
- Carlos Menem. When his wife Zulema barricaded herself and their
- two children within the presidential residence, he prudently
- left the country for a European sojourn, though not before
- signing a decree giving himself sole authority over who is
- allowed inside. When he returned home, he ousted Zulema, who
- then made a melodramatic scene in front of TV cameras. But
- these troubles pale before a new problem confronting Menem.
- Legions of superstitious Argentines have become convinced he
- is cursed with a hex. The alleged evidence: several of his
- Cabinet ministers have died in office, and after Menem shook
- the hand of a driver before a powerboat race, the driver
- crashed and lost an arm. The clincher came when Menem showed
- up on the field with the Argentine soccer team the day before
- its World Cup match with Cameroon. The heavily favored South
- American team was then humiliated, 1-0. Menem has heard the
- talk that he brings bad luck and is said to be worried, since
- he is superstitious and regularly consults a fortune teller.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-