Mystery woman 'vigorous,' athletic
By Glenn Smith
As outrage swirled around Gov. Mark Sanford's affair with an Argentine mistress, new details emerged Thursday about the mystery woman he labored for months to keep under wraps.
Sanford acknowledged his tryst in a teary-eyed press conference Wednesday, but hasn't given up her name. Despite his best efforts, however, word leaked that his Latin lover is Maria Belen Chapur, a 43-year-old divorcee with two sons.
MCT
Journalists gathered Thursday outside the Buenos Aires, Argentina, residence of Maria Belen Chapur, the woman with whom Gov. Mark Sanford had an affair.
La Nacion newspaper in Buenos Aires was among the first to out Chapur, described as a "vigorous, well-preserved" woman who works for an agricultural business and lives in the fashionable and trendy district of Palermo. Other news outlets reported her last name as Shapur.
She is said to be an attractive, athletic and well-educated professional who speaks English, Portuguese and Chinese, the Clarin and Terra Noticias news services reported.
She lives in an upscale apartment building near a zoo, a large park and the U.S. Embassy. She is said to have attended St. Catherine's, a well-regarded private school.
Special section
See a special section on Gov. Mark Sanford from The Post and Courier.
The governor's office refused to confirm these reports.
After six days of speculation about his whereabouts, Sanford emerged Wednesday and confessed to having an affair with a woman he met in Argentina eight years ago. Sanford grew misty during the press conference, and he said he had spent the past week crying in Argentina and trying to get his "heart right."
On Thursday, celebrity gossip Web site TMZ quoted Buenos Aires bar owner Carlos Soto as saying he saw the governor and his mistress having a good time last week. The owner of Guido's Bar told TMZ that the two were "all over each over" in his establishment, "kissing, holding hands and drinking wine."
Media crews reportedly camped outside Chapur's apartment Thursday, but she did not speak with reporters.
Several media outlets reported that Chapur works for Bunge y Born, a multi-national agribusiness with deep roots in Argentina. Bunge y Borne is now known as Bunge Limited, based in White Plains, N.Y.
Stewart Lindsay, a spokesman for Bunge Limited, said Chapur has never worked for the company. He said the confusion may stem from published race results from a 2005 marathon in which Chapur ran alongside Bunge workers with whom she is friends.
"But she is not an employee and has never worked there," Lindsay said.
Sanford drew national attention after he drove off in a law enforcement vehicle last week and disappeared. His aides and his wife initially said they had no idea where he was, adding that the governor had pulled vanishing acts in the past when he needed time to clear his head.
Sanford's aides later said that he had merely taken time off to go hiking along the Appalachian Trail. They stuck to that story for two days until a reporter for The State newspaper in Columbia caught up with the governor Wednesday as he stepped off a plane at the Atlanta airport.
Sanford admitted that he had been in South America. At the press conference he offered a broader explanation, confessing that he had an extramarital affair and had misled his staff about the secret trip he took last week to be with the woman.
Sanford said he met his mistress eight years ago. They struck up a conversation, became friendly and decided to stay in contact via e-mail, he said.
"It started on a very casual basis — run things by each other," he said. He felt as if he had found a confidant. "We developed a remarkable friendship over those eight years. About a year ago, it sparked into something more than that."
Felipe Noguera, a political consultant in Argentina, said the affair has not attracted great attention in Buenos Aires, likely because many people are preoccupied by the upcoming mid-term legislative elections.
Affairs of the heart and other personal peccadillos also seem to attract less attention in Argentina than in the United States, where philandering has torpedoed so many political careers, Noguera said.
"That is more of an American phenomenon, like sitcoms or soap operas," he said
Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556 or gsmith@postandcourier.com.
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Comments
AnaLaura (anonymous) says...
See a picture of the home breaker, she had a habit, she has been sleeping around with a powerful (and mafia) man (alberto Fernandez) from the Argentinean government, I know, I live in the US but I was born in Argentina. Heck, many argentineans, including me, we speak 5 languages, but we do not sleep around and we do not break homes.
This woman also slept around with the local "Ted Turner" of Buenos Aires, Daniel Haddad hired her as an informal commentator even if she had no formal training. She broke his marriage too, he had 4 or 5 kids, and when their affair came to light she was sent by his news channel to cover AFGHANISTAN, maybe Haddad's wife ask him to do that, to get rid of this whore.
She is a jaded divorcee and a gold-digger, a climber. Sorry mr Sanford, she "loved" you as much as she loved other "strong" men, not afraid to get close to mafia, in Argentina...
Check it out (picture and video of her from ARG news):
http://www.urgente24.com/index.php?id...
June 26, 2009 at 1:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GAL2000 (anonymous) says...
"Quoted Post by AnaLaura"
Partial English Translation From the above post on the Internet Site.
http://www.urgente24.com/index.php?id=ve...
Affluent lady of 4 decades deserved, ex-woman of a soybean exporter, mother, lawyer in Political Sciences (Esp. in RRII), executive of Bung & Born, polÃ-glota, trotamundos, sportsman, but mainly, an incredible beauty. The woman whom she enamored to the governor with Carolina with the South, Mark Sanford, was not an Argentinean any.
You must know a lot about this woman! Politics...eh!
June 26, 2009 at 2:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eatmorecollards (anonymous) says...
Unless the P&C is going to reveal the way she holds herself and those two magnificent parts, I'm finished with this story.
June 26, 2009 at 5:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
moonpie (anonymous) says...
And the dipwad emailed her from state computers? He didn't think that was going to leak out at some point? Did you read some of those excerpts? He was flat in love! How could the first lady take him back now? This isn't like the President el Clinton getting his willie slicked in the oval office. He was just using and abusing, Gov Mark sounds like he was smitten! Hey Argentin are beautiful and all that but come on man. Buy a personal laptop or something.
June 26, 2009 at 6:43 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ColdBud (anonymous) says...
Thank you for the update on this "news" Post and Enquirer.
June 26, 2009 at 6:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
What a complete idiot. He should resign.
June 26, 2009 at 7:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
spengler (anonymous) says...
Maria, mi amor es para siempre-- Marco.
Hey, Argentina is not so bad a place. Looks like they got plenty of babes there. He should have hidden her out at a motel. What's bad is he left the job and went AWOL.
June 26, 2009 at 7:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justsaynotojoe (anonymous) says...
Glenn
Great job with cut and paste.
June 26, 2009 at 7:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
postman01 (anonymous) says...
Well, what Mark did is wrong and he has to pay a personal and political price.
But let's be honest here. Any guy would love, in his fantasies, to be in on an affair like this. I'm not excusing anything, just making an observation that any hetero man reading this knows to be true.
June 26, 2009 at 8:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
flinsc (anonymous) says...
He should have gone to brazil, $10 goes a long way. Our tax money could have kept him there for 20 years.
June 26, 2009 at 8:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mtrippe (anonymous) says...
What an embarrasment. Send him to Maury
June 26, 2009 at 9:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AMAZING (anonymous) says...
Video: Maria Belen Chapur
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/747/...
June 26, 2009 at 9:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JAS (anonymous) says...
Figures - The P&C is always the last to find out:
http://www.live5news.com/global/story...
June 26, 2009 at 9:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Name_Withheld (anonymous) says...
Mark was just trying to assist the Republican Party in tracking down the real Threat to the Institution of Marraige. He gets no credit for finding it is a women in Argentina, not their usual and promoted culprit.
June 26, 2009 at 10:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AMAZING (anonymous) says...
Another "Other" Woman For Sanford?
Is there another "other" woman?
To hear S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford tell it, the affair with the beautiful Argentinian woman that has him fighting for his political life is the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife.
At a tearful press conference earlier this week, Sanford stated definitively that his affair with Maria Belen Chapur was the only time he has strayed from his wife, but multiple sources in and around the state capital of Columbia, S.C. are telling FITS that this is not the case.
In fact, an attorney who is said to represent another woman allegedly involved in a romantic relationship with the governor was reportedly present at Sanford's dramatic press conference Wednesday.
FITS is working to confirm this information, which if true would obviously represent another major bombshell in this rapidly unfolding story.
http://www.fitsnews.com/2009/06/26/an...
June 26, 2009 at 10:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AMAZING (anonymous) says...
June 24, 2009: Governor Mark Sanford's Affair
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/ind...
June 26, 2009 at 11:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LutherVanderhorst (anonymous) says...
"personal peccadillos also seem to attract less attention in Argentina". Nonsense, utter nonsense.
June 26, 2009 at 11:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Nonsense (anonymous) says...
This is a classic case of midlife crisis; Sanford spent the first part of his life obviously marrying well, having a family, furthering his political career, and now he is wondering what in the heck did I miss along the way? And he thinks this Argentinian floozy is going to make him happy? Better think twice before you throw away a good life and then spend the rest of your own life regretting it. I think he's a spoiled rotten brat that wants his cake and eat it too - no pun intended.
June 26, 2009 at 12:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
palmettostate (anonymous) says...
Who is the mysterious "Deep Throat" in the SANFORDGATE??? Stay tuned....
June 26, 2009 at 3:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KidYendor (anonymous) says...
If I had been governor I would have settled for a close to home Gamecock cheerleader or beautiful professorette. It is a hassle going to Argentina, Five Points is much easier.
June 26, 2009 at 3:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jammanofdi (anonymous) says...
I was about to say kid - she must be "vigorous" and "athletic" if it was worth a trip to South America (plus his career, home, wife, houses...) for our governor to get his jollies. She must know something that American women don't!
June 26, 2009 at 4:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lillycollette (anonymous) says...
* (bookmark)
June 26, 2009 at 5:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
walleyedwoman1215 (anonymous) says...
Why Sanford Should Resign NOW:
He is too unstable to hold public office
He is a liar
He is stupid
He is selfish
He is corrupt
He is weak
He believes he is above the law
He is a terrible role model
He is an embarrassment to this state
He is a crybaby
and... drum roll... He threw away his life for a piece of tail.
June 26, 2009 at 9 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Sandy37 (anonymous) says...
I looked at some pictures last night and she is beautiful. I can see why the Govenor was smitten and completely confused about what next. Not to mention he was living with threats from his wife about his children. WOW who does that? Not long and they are all grown up, what then?
June 26, 2009 at 9:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
charles (anonymous) says...
When confronted by his wife five months ago, he was given a choice. How insulting and disloyal to choose the Argentine lover!
June 26, 2009 at 9:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
vuduchld (anonymous) says...
You pilgrims can't seem to get your guns in your britches.
June 26, 2009 at 11:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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