Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
president again in 1973; however, after an 18-year exile, there was no substance to his
rule. Chronically ill, Perón died in mid-1974, leaving a fragmented country to his ill-
qualified third wife, Isabel.
EVITA, LADY OF HOPE
'I will come again, and I will be millions.'
Eva Perón, 1952
From her humble origins in the pampas to her rise to power beside President
Juan Perón, María Eva Duarte de Perón is one of the most revered political figures
on the planet. Known affectionately to all as Evita, she is Argentina's beloved First
Lady, in some ways even eclipsing the legacy of her husband, who governed Argen-
tina from 1946 to 1955.
At the age of 15 Eva Duarte left her hometown of Junín for Buenos Aires. She was
looking for work as an actor, but eventually landed a job in radio. Her big chance
came in 1944, when she attended a benefit at Buenos Aires' Luna Park. Here
Duarte met Colonel Juan Perón, who fell in love with her; they were married in
1945.
Shortly after Perón won the presidency in 1946, Evita went to work in the office
of the Department of Labor and Welfare. During Perón's two terms, Evita em-
powered her husband both through her charisma and by reaching out to the na-
tion's poor, who came to love her dearly. She built housing for the poor, created
programs for children, and distributed clothing and food items to needy families.
She campaigned for the aged, offered health services to the poor and advocated
for a law extending suffrage to women.
Perón won his second term in 1952, but that same year Evita - at age 33 and at
the height of her popularity - died of cancer. It was a blow to Argentina and her
husband's presidency.
Although remembered for extending social justice to those she called the coun-
try's descamisados(shirtless ones), Evita and her husband ruled with an iron fist.
They jailed opposition leaders and newspapers, and banned Timemagazine when
it referred to her as an 'illegitimate child.' However, there is no denying the extent to
which she empowered women at all levels of Argentine society and helped the
country's poor.
Today Evita enjoys near-saint status. Get to know her at Museo Evita, or visit her
tomb in the Recoleta cemetery; both are in Buenos Aires. You can also read her
ghostwritten autobiography La razón de mi vida(My Mission in Life, 1951).
