Maria Belen Chapur Is Mark Sanford’s Argentine Mistress
25 June 2009, 9:08 AM. By Alex Alvarez
Maria Belen Chapur (reported in some places as Shapur) has been identified as the woman with whom South Carolina governor Mark Sanford has been conducting an affair. She is 43 years old and works as a commodities trader for Bunge y Born, a large agribusiness and grain trading corporation. It turns out Maria Chapur had run a marathon for the company, which now goes by the name of Bunge Limited, but has never been an employee.
It’s been revealed that the two met at a GOP junket in “either Hawaii or the Caribbean.” His staff had, apparently, known about the affair for some time.
In addition to Spanish, Ms. Chapur, who studied at St. Catherine’s College at Oxford, is also fluent in English, Portuguese, Chinese and Lurve. Her knowledge of Mandarin came in handy when she accompanied her now ex-husband on a business trip to Beijing.
She also graduated from the Catholic University of Argentina, where records show she majored in Political Science with a speciality in International Relations. A-wink.
She is divorced and lives in an upper middle class neighborhood with her two teenage sons. She is also said to be very physically fit, participating in marathons like the Nike 10K and Argentina’s Maratón Accenture.
The two have apparently known another for seven or eight years, although their relationship eventually took a turn towards the romantic, reportedly within the last year.
Jenny Sanford, Mark’s wife, said she had known his whereabouts when he left for Argentina to visit his mistress because she had thrown him out two weeks prior. The two had apparently been trying to work on their marriage before his trip.
Quién es la argentina que enamoró al gobernador Sanford de EEUU [Terra]
(9) 
Post Your Comment
Did you know you can now share a link, image or video?
Click to submit your own notas.
Maria is definitely a highly educated, linguistically talented and accomplished woman who has managed to be a single mother and successful professional. Stanford must have respected and admired her for her achievements and strength of character. Sounds like she married young if she has two teenage sons at 43, but that did not stop her from going to Oxford, learning many languages and pursuing a successful career.
Keep confusing his name with Stanford University….but it is Sanford without the “t”. :-)
As a studied linguist who used to live in Buenos Aires myself, I´m not sure you could call her linguistically talented. Many exaggerate their language skills, as I´m sure this article does. Ignoring “Lurve” ;-)… she speaks English, pretty common, and Portuguese, which for a Spanish speaker is relatively easy (and common for upper classes in the Southern Cone of S. Am. Having studied 7 years of Mandarin and living a year in China myself, and not seeing and life experience regarding Mandarin, I would guess she has some basic notions at most…
She also did not study at Oxford, but in Oxford, slight disambiguation. And before having her children. I would therefore call her neither highly educated no linguistically talented. Although Mark would perhaps be considering a “cunning linguist”… ;-)
“She also did not study at Oxford, but in Oxford, slight disambiguation.”
Actually, she apparently did study at Oxford (and in Oxford). I’m not sure what point you’re making there.
Photos of Maria:
http://newsbizarre.com/2009/06/maria-belen-chapur-photo-mark-stanford.html
According to the Charleston newspaper, Post and Courier Maria never worked for Bunge.
“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.’ ”
The New York Daily says she’s an international business woman.
Also at NYD “Sanford’s wife a former vice president in mergers and acquisitions at Lazard Frères on Wall Street, a millionaire heir to the Skil power tool fortune and a canny campaign manager for her husband.”
i object to her being fluent in lurve. seems more like fluent in homewrecking with a divorce and now this affair.
that is all.
She certainly does not seem to have a talent for holding onto and respecting marriages nor care and consideration for other people’s wives and young children who are unwillingly brought into this mess — especially the kids. Not sure having been good friends for 8 years is justification for crossing the line to a sexual relationship and hurting so many people in the process.
Maria Belen attended the St. Catherine’s College at Buenos Aires, which is a bilingual private high school. Her mother tongue is spanish.
Please acknowledge the information submitted.
Marin Lynch