Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE PERON YEARS
Few eras of Argentina's history play into its
modern-day politics like the P erón era. In
1943, the militar y o verthrew Argentina 's
constitutional go vernment in a coup .
Perón was put in charge of the N ational
Labor Office, making him popular among
the wor king class. U nique among mem-
bers of the militar y, he had a flar e for
public relations, courting members of the
media as well as young stars. Even during
this period, he was r evealing what would
eventually be par t of his persona: H e is
often the only member of the militar
15
culture. Among the most impor tant Span-
ish artists who came during this period was
the playwright Federico García Lorca, who
lived in B uenos Air es briefly during 1933
and 1934, staying at the Castelar H otel on
Avenida de Mayo.
The 1930s w ere also a golden age for
Argentine radio and cinema. M any stars
came of age at this time, including Tita
Morello and Liber tad Lamar que. The
Argentine film industr y's only S outh
American rival was in Rio de Janeiro. Even
there, ho wever, stars such as Carmen
Miranda, long befor e H ollywood disco v-
ered her , emulated the style of B uenos
Aires movie stars who set the trends on the
continent. B y the 1930s, A venida Corri-
entes was also widened, many theaters
moved to this ne w location, and many
new ones opened.
Viewed from the edges, the city of Bue-
nos Aires glittered as the cultural capital of
Argentina, pulling many a young man and
woman in fr om the pr ovinces to seek
fame. In 1934, one teenage girl fr om the
city of J unín in the P rovince of B uenos
Aires would come to do just that, chang-
ing Argentine histor y for ever with her
determination bey ond the ob vious glam-
our of the stage and scr een. Though
accounts differ as to exactly ho w M aria
Eva D uarte came to B uenos Air es—
whether she was escor ted by members of
her family or b y her purpor ted lo ver,
Augustin M agaldi, one of the countr y's
top tango singers—she was in B uenos
Aires for her v ery first time at the tender
age of 15. With little but her looks, charm,
and persistence, Ms. D uarte mo ved
through a succession of jobs and men in
theater, radio, and film. Many claimed she
lacked talent, but with her connections,
she became a for ce to be r eckoned with.
Various bosses hir ed her kno wing only
who her current powerful boyfriends were.
Eventually, with success as an actr ess, she
would meet her most po werful boyfriend
of all.
y
smiling in photographs.
Perón's popularity was anchor ed by an
earthquake that occurr ed on J anuary 15,
1944, in San Juan, a city near Mendoza in
the shado ws of the Andes. Ten thousand
people died and nearly half the city was
left homeless. The tragic event became the
ultimate public r elations oppor tunity for
Perón, as he rallied support for the region.
Perón arranged a fundraiser for the victims
of the earthquake with a star-studded con-
cert in L una P ark, a stadium in B uenos
Aires. Legend has it that at this ev ent, he
met 24-year-old actress Eva Duarte, chang-
ing Argentina 's histor y for ever. (I n fact,
photographic evidence makes clear that
the two had met before, in Buenos Aires.)
Fearing his rise to po wer, the militar y
government arr ested P erón and impris-
oned him on J uan G arcía I sland in the
Tigre D elta. A near r evolt occurr ed in
Buenos Aires, and the government quickly
released him. O n October 17, 1945 (the
most important date in the Peronist calen-
dar), P erón spoke to a cr owd gather ed
from a balcony at the Casa R osada and
announced that elections would be for th-
coming. F eeling the need to legitimiz
2
e
their relationship with elections pending,
Eva and P erón married secr etly in Los
Toldos, the to wn of her bir th, using the
civil r egistry. They later married in a
Catholic ceremony in La Plata, the provin-
cial capital of B
uenos Air es P rovince.
