sanford_mistress
Argentine Woman Confirms Sanford Affair
Maria Belen Chapur, 41, Blasts Hacker Who Leaked Private E-Mails; Described As "Soft-Spoken, Elegant"
-
In this undated video frame grab, taken from a C5N TV Channel from Argentina report sometime during the Sept.11, 2001 twin towers attacks in New York, Argentine Maria Belen Chapur speaks during a stand up. (AP Photo/C5N TV)
After evading hordes of local and foreign journalists who besieged her apartment building for five days amid rumors it was her, Chapur issued a brief statement Sunday confirming a relationship with Gov. Mark Sanford - although she didn't use the word "affair."
In fact, the 41-year-old mother of two children didn't directly mention the governor in the statement sent to C5n, a local all-news cable television channel. She mainly criticized the leaking of e-mail correspondence taken without permission from her Hotmail account that described the relationship with Sanford.
Chapur made clear the statement was her final comment and she has no intention of talking about her private life.
That likely will disappoint people who have been enthralled by the story, both those appalled by Sanford's infidelity and those enchanted by his obvious love for her - a woman that one of Sanford's e-mails says he was drawn to because she has "the ability to love unconditionally. The rarest of all commodities in this world of love."
The only image of Chapur seen these days is a brief video of a news dispatch she filed from New York for an Argentine channel shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack on the U.S.
At that time, she traveled frequently between Argentina and the United States, according to local media. It was around that time - eight years ago, the governor said in his tearful confession Wednesday - that they met, at an "open air dance spot" in the Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este, according to one of the leaked e-mails.
After the news of the relationship broke, her apartment building was staked out by dozens of reporters, cameramen and photographers, locals and Americans, unsuccessfully trying to grab a glimpse and some words from her.
Heber Alvarez, a doorman at the building, described Chapur as "well mannered, soft spoken, elegant." But he refused to go in detail, saying he didn't want to risk his job.
He did say she is an avid sports fan who works out at a gym and jogs frequently near the building, which is across the street from the city zoo in the upper-class Palermo neighborhood. She is listed among participants in several 10-kilometer races in recent years.
Carlos Sosto, a restaurant owner who said he knows Chapur as a neighborhood resident, refused to confirm reports that she dined at his place last week with Sanford. Without naming anyone, he suggested she has influential friends who asked him not to talk with reporters.
Neighbors who know Chapur say she lives with her 15- and 19-year-old sons. She is no longer with her husband, a soy exporter, the neighbors said, but it isn't clear if she is separated or divorced.
Chapur spent her elementary and high school years at St. Catherine's, an expensive private school in Buenos Aires' posh Belgrano district. She then earned a degree in social politics at the Catholic University of Argentina, according to the university's Web site.
Besides working as a TV reporter, she is known to have worked as an English interpreter for a time. She also was employed as a market researcher, she told an Associated Press reporter who interviewed her for a 2005 story on Argentines taking a Chinese language course.
She said she took the course in preparation for accompanying her husband on a business trip to Beijing and Shanghai. It isn't clear what level of Chinese she reached, but she said that having traveled to many parts of the world, China was the most difficult place for her to communicate.
She said at the time she was fluent in English and French in addition to Spanish, and had a good command of Portuguese. Rodrigo Franca, a Brazilian who lives in her apartment building, described her Portuguese now as good.
Chapur's 400-word statement Sunday added no details about her as a person. Its purpose was to address news reports on some of the e-mails showing her relationship with Sanford that were leaked late last year to the South Carolina newspaper The State.
"I have decided to send this statement to clear up certain incorrect things that are being reported and put an end to a matter that, as you imagine, is very painful to me, my two children, my entire family and close friends," she said.
She said someone accessed her Hotmail account without permission and sent the e-mail correspondence to the newspaper.
Chapur denied that the person was a friend - as reported by some news outlets - saying he was as much a victim of the media frenzy as she.
"I have a strong suspicion of who is responsible for this evil act that was directed at me, but also destroyed the lives of so many others," she said. "But without sufficient proof, and for legal reasons, I am obligated to not reveal the name."
"It is not for me to judge anyone. I leave it all in the hands of God," she said.
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More From Politics
Add a Comment See all 12 Comments
- Family Values for Republicans need to be updated a little bit to include Mistresses or Prostitutes.
- Reply to this comment
- *yawn*
Lifetime tv here she comes. - Reply to this comment
- All these politicians are so sad and sorry - when they get caught!
- Reply to this comment
- The above commend is only slightly off the mark of saying that women are the source of evil/temptation and that's why men sin - that men are so weak they just can't be responsible for the choice THEY make.
Gov. Mark Sanford has been bouncing around between North and South America, ruining lives/destroying families, all to express his immature notion of what love is.
Maria Belen Chapur is a victim as much as Mrs. Sanford. Both were lied to and used by a powerful man who did not stop to think about the pain he caused. And now you want to blame the women...they should have stopped him, they made him 'sin', etc.
The above judgement is not only unkind, it also makes a victim of those already injured. Put the blame where it belongs - on any person who uses the power they hold to play with the lives of other people and then walk away saying: Not my fault, the victims made me do it - judge them, NOT ME!
It is so ease to label, far harder to accept mature responsibility. - Reply to this comment
- Chapur denied that the person was a friend - as reported by some news outlets - saying he was as much a victim of the media frenzy as she.
"I have a strong suspicion of who is responsible for this evil act that was directed at me, but also destroyed the lives of so many others," she said. "But without sufficient proof, and for legal reasons, I am obligated to not reveal the name."
"It is not for me to judge anyone. I leave it all in the hands of God," she said.
________________________________________________________________________
Scruwing around and playing the God card?
Jessie and Al would be so proud that their system had become popular. - Reply to this comment
- If Chapur 41 was his mistress, the Sanford should be outta office and in jail for his poor taste in women-talk about bobbing for french fries. Yuk!
- Reply to this comment
- This is an incredible woman as well as his wife is. But this is about love; and love crosses all boundaries. I wish those who are in need of love would recognize it instead of attempting to make it look like something evil to justify their own sense of loss. Love, my friends, and you will be loved back. Whether this man deserves to be in office is one thing, but that he is in love, that is for certain. That is no fault. That is a blessing.
- Reply to this comment
- Described As "Soft-Spoken, Elegant"
Rather unusual traits for a hooker. - Reply to this comment
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
