She kept her promise and that’s why she was hated.  The promise to never forget where she came from and what she used to be.  The promise to never forget or neglect those who put Peron in power on that fateful day 17 October 1945.      "No one in my Nation denies that for better or worse I would not let the soul I brought from the street be torn away from me." (Evita, “In My Own Words.”)      When I consider the life of Eva Peron the one thing that always boggles my mind is her age.  When her beloved Peron was elected President of Argentina she was twenty-seven years old.  At twenty-seven years of age this illegitimate child of a wealthy landowner found herself in the middle of one of the most dangerous political circles on Earth.  Perhaps the most ironic thing about Evita’s life is the fact that it was so short it doesn’t seem fair to call it a “life” at all.  However for roughly six years between the ages of twenty-seven & thirty-three First Lady Eva Duarte de Peron lived a life so full & complex that most of us could live our lives ten times over & still not reach such pinnacles of prominence & achievement.

Book's, movies, Broadway plays & television shows.  Vengeful propaganda, hatred & virtual sainthood.  All of it based on the six-year life span of one woman.  During that six year period in the late 1940’s till her death in 1952 Evita sought to empower & bring respect to a class of people in Argentina she would call the descamisados.  It was they who literally put Peron & Evita in power.  Juan Peron was working his way up the military hierarchy & Evita’s presence & influence was greatly disturbing to the officer corps.  Many of who in their own ambition were looking for any reason to remove Peron so they themselves could succeed him.  The appointment of one of Evita’s friends into a high position finally upset enough of the Army that they forced Colonel Juan Peron to resign his government post & placed him under arrest.  Colonel Peron for years had been working to better relations between the government & the Unions, which basically consisted of the “descamisados.”  When word got out that the man who was fighting for them had been placed under arrest & forced to resign his government position the descamisados took to the streets.  It was October 17, 1945 & they began flooding into Buenos Aries.  Literally hundreds of thousands of them were filling the plaza in front of the

Casa Rosada.  (The governmental palace.)  It was a site that scared the ruling regime enough that they released Peron.  The crowd demanded to see Peron & eventually he made his appearance on the balcony of the Casa Rosada.  With such a massive display of spontaneous support the ruling regime knew their time was up & called for elections in early 1946.  Before the elections Juan Peron married Evita.  The two set off around Argentina campaigning & in May 1946 Juan Peron easily won the presidential elections.  And thus began the era of Peronism in Argentina.

It was during this time that Evita set out & orchestrated an unprecedented level of charity & social work.  Under the guise of her foundation, The Eva Peron Foundation, Evita was determined to fight for equality for her descamisados.  And what life didn’t provide for these people Evita did.  Sometimes handing out just the basic things such as pots, pans, sewing machines, clothing & shoes.  Other time’s entire houses supplied with food, furniture & cash.     In a series of what are now world famous speeches from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, Evita chastised the oligarchy of Buenos Aires & Argentina.

“My dear descamisados…The working people, the humble people of this nation, are those who, here & throughout the country, are on their feet ready to follow Peron, the Leader of the people and the Leader of humanity, because he has raised the banner of redemption & justice for the masses of laborers who will follow him to defy the oppression of traitors here & abroad; those who, like vipers in the dark of night, wish to leave their venom in Peron’s heart & soul, the heart & soul of the people of this country.  But they will not know such success, just as a toad cannot silence the songbird, nor vipers hinder the condors flight…”

“I beg God not to allow these lunatics to raise a hand against Peron, because woe be that day!  That day, my general I will go with the working people, I will go with the women of this country, I will go with the descamisados of our nation, dead or alive, to make sure that the only bricks left standing are Peronist.  Because we will never allow ourselves to be crushed by the boot of the oligarchical traitors who have exploited the working class; because we will never allow ourselves to be exploited by those who, having sold out for four cents, are slaves to their masters from foreign metropolises & and who would turn in their country’s people as calmly as they did their country & their consciences…” (Evita, Labor Day, May 1, 1952 to an assembled crowd at the Casa Rosada.)

“I have but one thing that counts, & it is in my heart; it burns in my soul, it aches in my flesh, & it ignites my nerves: that is my love for you the people & for Peron.  I never wanted nor do I now want anything for myself.  My glory is & always will be Peron’s shield & my people’s flag, & although I may leave tatters of my life along the road, I know that you will take up my name & wave it aloft like a victory flag…..”

“I ask you one single thing today, comrades, just one thing: that we swear, all of us, in public, to defend Peron  & to fight for him even unto death, & we will shout our pledge for an entire minute so our cries will reach the remotest corner of the world: My life for Peron!” (Evita, from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, October 17, 1951.)      “My General here today, as they were yesterday, are your vanguard descamisados.  The oligarchy, the mediocrity, the traitors of the country have not been overthrown yet, & from their lairs they are plotting against the people & the nation.”  (Evita, August 22, 1951.)      “Peron is everything.  He is the soul, the nerve, the hope, & the reality of the Argentine people.”  (Evita, November 1948.)

Needless to say Evita was far more vocal in her support for her people then Peron himself was.  Evita told the people equality would happen & Peron as President made it reality.  Evita eventually became known as the “Bridge of Love.”  A direct link between the descamisados and President Peron.  As the first term of the Peron Presidency came to a close & re-election time came near the people in the same fashion that they demanded Peron be released from prison now demanded that Evita be vice-president.  A crowd of at least two million gathered on the Avenida 9 de Julio.  Never in the history of the world had a female political figure garnered so much support.  The people demanded Evita run for vice-president.  This idea was entirely unthinkable & the Argentine military simply would not allow it.  Eventually Evita had to tell her people she could not run for vice-president.  Saying, ”I am renouncing the honor, but not the fight.”  And now in retrospect perhaps it was best she did not run for vice-president because eleven months after the furor over her possible vice-presidency Evita would be dead.      Uterine cancer was first detected in Evita on January 12th, 1950.  Evita was thirty years old.  She reduced her work schedule & over the course of the next few years the cancer took it’s toll on Eva.  Peron was re-elected President in 1952.  Evita at this time was so weak & weighed around seventy-seven pounds that in order to participate in the re-election celebrations a device of some sort, some say wooden some say wire, had to be fitted to her so she could stand.  She wore an over sized fur coat to disguise the fact that she was skeleton thin.  Finally on July 26th, 1952 at around 11 a.m. Evita slipped into a coma in her bedroom at the Presidential Residence.  Later that evening at 10:25 p.m. she died.  She was thirty-three years old.

The nation plunged into deep mourning.  Evita’s body was laid out in the Ministry of Labor building.  Originally the viewing period was to be only two days.  But seeing as over one million people were lined up to file past Evita’s coffin to pay their last respects the viewing went on for fifteen days.  The mourners literally stood in line day & night in rain & in cold to pay their respects.  Evita would then receive a full honor military/state style funeral.  Her funeral cortege wound its way through downtown Buenos Aires.  Mourners along the route fainted, cried uncontrollably, fell to their knees in prayer & showered the coffin with flowers.      In the book "Santa Evita," Tomas Eloy Martinez described the 1952 funeral:           "Evita died, and her body lay in state for 12 days ... Half a million people kissed the           coffin ...(The morning of the funeral) 17,000 soldiers were deployed to render her           military honors.            "A million and a half yellow roses, stocks from the Andes, white carnations, orchids            from the Amazon, sweet peas from Lake Naheul Huapi, and chrysanthemums sent            by the emperor of Japan ... were thrown from the balconies."      Of course the life of Eva Peron is far more complex then this little biography I have written here.  Evita’s story is nothing less than inspirational.  I sincerely encourage you to read more & discover Evita on your own with more in-depth reading from the sources listed on this sites bibliography page. Christopher Cannedy August 19, 2000 Los Angeles, California, USA © 2005 C.Cannedy

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