[1] A man of strong democratic convictions, he stood up for the legitimate government in every attempted coup d'état throughout his senior career.

In 1991 he became Chief of Staff of the Argentine Army during the presidencies of Carlos Menem and Fernando De la Rua.

During this period Human Rights Watch mentions the following incident:[2] The military coup of 1976, he said, was a tragic miscalculation: "the armed forces, and among them the army, for which I have the responsibility of speaking, thought erroneously that society did not possess the necessary antibodies to confront the scourge [of violent left-wing subversion] and with the backing of many, took power."

Menendez also criticized Balza for not owning up to his role in the Dirty War and for portraying Argentine officers in his book Malvinas: Gesta e Incompetencia (Editorial Atlántida, 2003) as "idiots or pusillanimous.

"[4] On 5 April 2011 he came under severe criticism from Fundación Víctimas Visibles and Colombian army general Julio Eduardo Echarry Solano for denying the Marxist ERP and Peronist Montoneros guerrilla groups still remained a menace in the months previous to the coup in Argentina and for stating that Argentine victims of left-wing guerrilla groups in Argentina had no recourse to justice for their time to do so with the Statute of Limitations had expired.