"With deep regret, I learned about the death of Carlos Saul Menem. Always democratically elected, he was the governor of La Rioja, the president of the nation and a national senator. The dictatorship persecuted and imprisoned him", Alberto Fernandez tweeted.
Menem died in hospital, where he was admitted for a urinary infection.
Up until his death, he held the senatorial seat in his home province of La Rioja. A son of Syrian immigrants, he began his long political career as the governor of La Rioja in 1973 and was imprisoned by the military after it took over in a US-backed coup three years later.
Menem won the presidential election in 1989 and stayed in power until 1999. He conducted a series of privatisations in a bid to rejuvenate the economy and reined in hyperinflation.
