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/ Wednesday, August 3, 2022
A woman holds a photo of Argentina’s late first lady Maria Eva Duarte de Peron, better known as Evita, as she waits her turn to visit Evita’s tomb in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Argentines commemorated the 70th anniversary of the death of their most famous first lady, who died of cancer on July 26, 1952 at the age of 33. >AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko
Argentines yearn for Evita, 70 years after her death movies, TV shows and even a Broadway musical but for some of her oldest, most ardent followers the connection with the actress turned political leader is much more personal. Juana Marta Barro was one of dozens of people who lined up last week to leave flowers and pay her respects at Evita’s tomb, located in the Daniel Politi – The Associated Press Recoleta neighborhood in Argentina’s capital. She died on July 26, 1952. UENOS AIRES (AP) – María Eva With tears in her eyes, the 84-year-old Barro, Noble says she is carrying out daughter of a housekeeper, recalled how her life in the legacy of her namesake as northern Tucumán province improved after Evita she labors in a soup kitchen in a came on the political scene, and she suddenly working class neighborhood of received better shoes and school uniform. Buenos Aires. “It was thanks to her that I had my first She was backpack,” said Barro, who still named after iconic Argentine recalls the excitement of seeing former first lady María Eva Duarte Evita pass by her town on a train. de Perón, better known as Eva “She is a torch that shines in my Perón, or Evita, who died 70 years heart.” ago. The soup kitchen where Evita was born in a modest Her followers Noble does volunteer duty in the home in Los Toldos, a small believe her image Flores district gives daily lunches rural town some 300 kilometers as a champion of to about 200 people and is run by (186 miles) from Buenos Aires, the poor is more an organization that also carries where she moved to when she relevant than ever the name of the late leader. was 15 to pursue her dream of at a time when Though not related to Eva becoming an actress. A decade inequality and Perón, Noble says, “I carry Evita later, she met Juan Domingo poverty are rising… in my DNA.” And she is hardly the Perón, a military officer who was only one who feels this way. a government official. Seven decades after her Evita was by his side when death, Evita continues to awaken Perón won the 1946 presidential passions in Argentina as her election and went on to take followers believe her image as a champion of the an unprecedented role as a powerful first lady, poor is more relevant than ever at a time when putting herself at the forefront of women’s rights inequality and poverty are rising as the economy causes, including suffrage that was approved a remains stagnated amid galloping inflation. year later and setting up a foundation to help Evita has been the subject of countless books, workers and the poor.
The former First Lady continues to awaken passions in Argentina
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“This woman proposed a society with greater mobility, which is exactly what Argentina does not have right now”. Alejandro Maci, director “Santa Evita”
As much as Evita was loved, she was equally hated by many of the country’s wealthy and powerful who were wary of her growing popularity and influence. Her time in the spotlight was intense but brief as she died of cervical cancer at age 33, which led to an outpouring of grief in the streets as the South American country went into mourning. “Young people in particular see a rebel in Evita, a figure who didn’t bow her head or give up” and ended up dying “young and beautiful,” which contributed to the construction of a “pop icon,” said Felipe Pigna, a historian who has written extensively about the former first lady. Alejandro Maci, director of new series “Santa Evita” that premieres Tuesday on Disney’s streaming services, sees Evita as “interesting metaphor” to think about what kind of country Argentines want at a time of growing poverty and inequality. “This woman proposed a society with greater mobility, which is exactly what Argentina does not have right now. It lacks any kind of social mobility, and if it has any, it’s downward,” he said.
