A chance meeting
She came out of nowhere and became in a very short time the beloved of the Argentine people. María Eva Duarte was born on May 7, 1919 on her parents' farm near Junín, Argentina. The result of an illegitimate relationship, she suddenly found herself without a home or resources when her father died in 1926. She grew up with her mother and four siblings on the Argentine pampas. In 1935, at the age of 15, she dreamed of the stage and a life as an artist. With her mother's consent, she left her province of Junín to try her luck in Buenos Aires. Eva moved to a boarding house in the La Boca neighbourhood and dyed her hair blond. She dreams of becoming a movie star, but she starts her career as a model, but she will not manage to become an actress, accumulating only small roles. She quickly turns to the world of media and becomes known in particular on the radio. Close to the working classes and the most disadvantaged, she is involved in several charities. It is in this context that she went to a charity gala for the benefit of the victims of the earthquake in San Juan. There she met Colonel Juan Domingo Perón: it was love at first sight! She will marry him one year later in 1945. She then became Maria Eva Duarte de Perón and, as a true political adviser, she immediately became involved in the electoral campaign of her husband who came to power in 1946.
The Evita phenomenon
She began as a simple first lady with no official function, but gradually made her way into the affairs of state: she found the role of her life and became fervently involved in the various spheres of the country's social policy. In addition to owning the socialist newspaper Democracia, she supervised several ministries (notably those of health and labour). Even though gender equality was not on the agenda at the time, Evita is a figurehead in the promotion of women's rights in Argentina. Together with the government, she campaigned for women's right to vote and in 1947, the Universal Suffrage Act, which gave women the right to vote, was passed despite opposition from the country's conservative forces. As she gained influence and notoriety, she founded and led the Peronist Women's Party to promote the political emancipation of women: only women were allowed to be members. In addition to her discourse in favour of equality between men and women, she also abandoned her priority hobbyhorse, her descamisados("Shirtless"), in other words the underprivileged Argentine workers, Perón's main supporters. She created the Eva Perón Charity Foundation to fight against poverty. She spared no effort and succeeded in providing basic necessities, building homes for workers, hospitals, old people's homes, schools and student housing. It also established the first summer camps and the awarding of scholarships. Although her sympathy capital won the hearts of Argentine citizens, her influence was often viewed negatively by politicians who tried to keep her away from President Perón on several occasions. Nothing will stop her popularity for all that: in 1952, the Argentine Congress awarded Eva the title of Spiritual Chief of the Nation, a consecration. Evita went on to tour Europe, wrote two books, met the Pope in the Vatican and finally presented her candidacy for the vice-president of the nation, alongside her husband. Adulated by the people and having a significant power of influence within the regime, she quickly became a myth. To discover her history, from her early years to her political peak, visit the Museo Evita in Buenos Aires, in the Palermo district. The museum offers an unparalleled immersion in the life of the Madonna: through her personal objects and a series of exhibitions, it is a key cultural stop for tourists visiting the Argentinean capital.
A traumatic disappearance
The military exerted some pressure on the political classes and the people to prevent Eva Perón's accession to the vice-presidency of the country. But it was illness that was ultimately the determining factor in her decision to withdraw from the campaign: on August 31, 1951, Eva Perón, suffering from cervical cancer, saw her health deteriorate and decided to withdraw from the campaign. The whole of Argentina held its breath: the media closely monitored her health, hundreds of masses were organized in her honor throughout the country and American teams of cancer experts were summoned to her bedside at the Avellaneda Hospital in Buenos Aires. She appeared for the last time on June 4, 1952 on the balcony of Casa Rosada, from where she used to address the crowd. On July 26th, it was over. The people mourned her protégée and the ceremonies in her memory were grandiose. The government decreed a 30-day national mourning period and the funeral lasted two weeks. However, during the coup d'état that overthrew Perón in 1955, the remains disappeared: secretly delivered to the Vatican, they were moved several times and buried under a false name before being returned sixteen years later, in 1971, in Madrid. Today,
the modest mausoleum of Evita, located at Cementerio de la Recoleta, attracts thousands of tourists every day. She is still the only president's wife to have her portrait hanging in the Casa Rosada. Her autobiography
The Reason for My Life was imposed as a compulsory reading book in schools, her effigy can be found on Argentine currency or is displayed in giant form on the building of the Ministries of Social Development and Health above Avenida 9 de Julio, and every year, to mark the anniversary of her death, thousands of Argentines continue to pay tribute to the woman who embodied the hope for social justice. Nearly seventy years after her death, the myth is still as powerful as ever: Evita will always embody this historical character with an incomparable romantic figure.
