Who is Mistress Maria Belen Chapur?

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to having an affair with a married woman that started a year ago. Wednesday at an emotional and rambling press conference he said, "I have developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina. It began very innocently as I expect many of these things do, just casual e-mail back and forth."

He also said that he spent the past five days in Buenos Aires, Argentina with the woman trying to decide what to do about the relationship. He said his wife and family, who were not with him, have been aware of the affair for the past five months.

The woman was identified as 'Maria' through emails obtained by The State newspaper of South Carolina.

Today South American media sites have identified the woman as 43-year-old Maria Belen Chapur. La Nacion , a newspaper in Bueno Aires named her and another newspaper, Le Clarin , identified her with an alternate spelling María Belén Shapur.

TMZ.com reported that they spoke with the owner of a bar in Buenos Aires where Sanford and Chapur were recently. Carlos Soto, the owner of Guido's Bar, said that the couple were "kissing, holding hands and drinking wine." He also said Chapur has green eyes and dirty blonde hair.

The Post and Courier reports that media crews are camped outside her apartment, but the woman has yet to speak with the press.

The State has posted a photo of the apartment where the woman lives in the city. The newspaper reports that a McClatchy special correspondent briefly spoke to the woman, though she declined after realizing the correspondent was a reporter.

The correspondent did speak with the doorman of the building and was told that the woman has two sons, though he did not recognize Sanford when shown a photo of him.