Evita Peron remembered 60 yrs after death
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Argentina’s iconic first lady Evita Peron was so loved or hated when she was alive that long after her death, passionate arguments about her character drowned out more serious efforts to examine her legacy.
Some historians say that only now, 60 years after Gen. Juan Domingo Peron’s firebrand wife succumbed to cancer at the age of 33, are many beginning to consider how much her actions shaped the society they live in today.
Setting aside the social-climber image fostered by the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and misogynistic biographers of years past, many now credit her activism and passion for things that are central to Argentine culture today, from widespread desires for social justice and equal rights to a shared assumption that society’s poorest need and deserve the government’s help.
“Evita now is a character accepted nationwide much more than 20 years ago. Many people who don’t think like Evita, admire her,” historian Felipe Pigna told The Associated Press.
“Even from parts of Argentine society you wouldn’t expect—I don’t know if they vindicate her, but they respect her,” said Pigna. “There has been a transformation in Argentine society.”
That transformation has been intensely promoted by the government of Cristina Fernandez, who traces her political activism directly to Evita and misses few opportunities to draw comparisons between their governments. Fernandez unveiled a new 100peso bill honoring Evita Wednesday night, and said she would mark Thursday’s anniversary by inaugurating a new public housing project. “She would have liked that,” Fernandez said of Evita.
Argentina broke with its past the day Evita asked to speak after Peron won his first presidential election in 1946—something presidential wives had never done, Pigna said. She took the microphone and launched a campaign for woman’s suffrage, saying “A woman cannot only be a spectator of political movements. She must take action; she must vote.”
Critics saw the young former dancer as a power-hungry tramp. Many were so furious at the way the foundation she created took from the rich and gave to the poor that they refused to mention her by name, calling her “that woman.”
As first lady, Evita swiftly took control of two pillars of her husband’s government: the relationship with unions and handing government aid to poor citizens, many of whom idolized her. While he focused on politics, she dominated the media with talk of improving living conditions for her “shirtless ones.”
“Evita gave form to today’s Argentina in terms of workingclass consciousness, respect for workers no matter their rank, awareness that workers have rights and that they must be respected. Before, workers lacked any rights and there was hardly any social legislation,” said Pigna, whose book “Evita, Shreds of her Life” was just published. “This re- ally set Argentina apart from the rest of Latin America.”
Eva Duarte Peron was born illegitimate, raised poor and was barely educated. She became an actress at a time when high society scorned the profession. Understanding how a woman with so many strikes against her managed to become such a transcendent historical figure is more relevant than ever now that Fernandez occupies the presidency, said Araceli Bellota, whose book “Eva and Cristina, the Reason of their Lives,” also was recently published.
“There’s a political continuity, because Cristina occupies a public space that Eva opened when she burst on the scene 55 years ago,” Bellota said. Peronism “made it possible for a woman whose parents were workers, like Cristina, to attend a university and prepare for a career. And that’s what enabled her to be president.”
As with Fernandez today, Evita was accused of abusing her access to official propaganda, trying to control the mass media, persecuting opponents and fostering a personality cult, being authoritarian and treating anti-Peronists mercilessly. Both have been targets of insults that could never be printed in newspapers. Fernandez takes pride in the comparisons with Evita’s story.