Former Argentine President Carlos Saúl Menem is dead. The ex-president died on Sunday after having been hospitalized for months with respiratory and heart problems in a clinic in Buenos Aires, according to the Argentine press.

The Peronist, who remained in power for a decade, was riding popular support at a time when most Argentines were fascinated by the fixed exchange rate policy – US $ 1 equals 1 peso – adopted to end hyperinflation .

He was married to Fátima Zulema Yoma, with whom he had a daughter, Zulemita, and a son, Carlos Saúl Menem Facundo Yoma, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 1995.

(With input from agencies)