Evita is revitalised Peronists’ heroine
For the first time in four years, the neon lights tracing the face of Eva Peron beamed across the Buenos Aires skyline.
‘‘Peronism has returned. Happiness has returned. How was she ever not going to return to us? . . . We have turned our Evita back on, dear comrades,’’ a union worker said as news reached the crowds that the Left-wing Peronist coalition, led by Alberto Fernandez and former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner had swept to victory.
The vast sculpture of ‘‘Evita’’, the former first lady who died in 1952, adorns the 93-metre-high health ministry building along the Argentine capital’s main thoroughfare.
Under Mauricio Macri, the conservative president who left office on December 10 to make way for Fernandez, the sculpture remained in darkness at night, ostensibly to save energy in a chronic economic crisis. Yet for many voters, it was seen as a political move by Macri’s Right-wing administration to conceal Evita’s face, because she continues to unite the Peronist movement that has ruled Argentina for all but six of the past 30 years.
After four years in power Macri had failed to reform the economy and convince voters of his argument that their financial hardship was mainly the fault of his predecessor.
Evita had made a comeback as a figure for a new generation of Argentinian voters, said Tatiana Depetris from the Evita Museum in Buenos Aires.
‘‘Evita would be a social media influencer today. And that is why many identify with her and with Peronism,’’ Depetris said.
Human rights groups have adopted the former first lady as a symbol of their campaigns, brandishing her face on flags, T-shirts and tattoos while fighting for abortion to be decriminalised in a country where the Catholic Church remains influential and machismo is embedded in the culture.
Evita has similarly become a cult figure among gay rights advocates.
‘‘She would be at the forefront of transgender rights if still alive, because as a collective, we have zero opportunities . . . we have never been included and are the most marginalised group in the country,’’ said Lara Maria Bertolini, 49, a transgender activist and law student at the University of Avellaneda in Buenos Aires.
Peronism as a mass political movement began with the presidency of Juan Domingo Peron, who took office after a landslide election victory in 1946. Encompassing extremes of both Left and Right, Peron was aided by his second wife, Eva, a charismatic first lady from a humble background who came to be adored by millions as a champion of the poor.
She died of cancer in 1952, at 33, cementing her legacy.
Her image in Argentina was directly linked, Bertolini said, to the defence of the ‘‘desclasados’’ or ‘‘descamisados’’ – the ‘‘shirtless ones’’.
During his rise to power, Peron skilfully managed relations with the country’s powerful unions and successfully mobilised working-class support. But he has since become an unattractive historical figure for modern-day Argentina – ‘‘a military man’’, ‘‘a fascist’’, ‘‘a classist philanderer’’ is how he is often described.
Evita – unlike her husband – is difficult to categorise, and that is part of her appeal. ‘‘She did not have a strict political ideology,’’ Depetris said.
Evita left her Catholic home at 15 to pursue an acting career, and was progressive.
She never declared herself a feminist, but her actions were. She became the country’s first female vice-president, opening schools and healthcare centres for women.
Lorena Mac Coll, an advocate for women’s rights, has been helping to promote a popular wristband that reads ‘‘Elegi Ser Evita’’, or ‘‘Choose to be Evita’’, to raise funds for disadvantaged students.
Mac Coll said Evita was ‘‘undoubtedly’’ the face of Peronism in Argentina. ‘‘She gave women the vote, and has transcended time as a figure for the working classes.’’ underprivileged