Evita Peròn
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
María Eva Duarte de Perón, born Eva María Ibarguren was an actress, politician, trade unionist. Second wife of President Juan Domingo Perón and First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952 from cancer at the age of 33. She is usually referred to as Eva Perón, or with the affectionate diminutive in Spanish Evita.
Meeting between Eva and Peròn
Eva met Perón in 1944, in Buenos Aires, during a charity event. The two married the following year. In 1946 Juan Perón was elected President of Argentina, proposing Peronism, to which Eva contributed.
Over the next six years, Eva Perón became powerful within the Peronist unions, supporting the cause of the rights of workers and the poorest.
The role of Evita in peronism
In 1948 the Fundación Eva Perón was established. The Foundation's activity consisted in distributing huge quantities of sewing machines every year (to encourage female employment), in supporting the most needy families, in finding and creating accommodation for the elderly and women, in hosting many school houses children, in building hospitals (21 across the country).
When her husband won the election, Eva Perón, despite the illness that was beginning to manifest, participated in the election campaign and the parade of victory. She died of cancer at the age of 33. The news was given on Argentine radio with a statement in which "the people of the Republic" were informed of the disappearance of what was called the "spiritual leader of the nation". National mourning was proclaimed for a month and the woman's body was exposed in a glass coffin.
Eva Perón became an almost mythical figure, and even today in Argentina her memory is kept with great devotion: she became the symbol of social commitment, of those who stood by the people and who represented their authentic spirit.
Vision of detractors against Eva Peròn
Detractors believed that Eva had gained fame and power thanks to her marriage to Juan Domingo Peròn, president of the country: "They could not forgive a young woman for being successful," she said in an interview.
After the death of Evita Peròn
Many people attended her funeral and her embalmed body was exposed until 1955, until a new military coup dismissed the president and made the body disappear, which was found nineteen years later. The complicated events of Evita's body, now buried in the chapel of the Duarte family in the Recoleta cemetery, in Buenos Aires, were told by Tomás Eloy Martínez in the book Santa Evita. In Argentina, the 60th anniversary of her death was celebrated with the printing of 20 million copies of a 100 pesos banknote with her image.