Eva Perón Will Never Be Forgotten

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Eva was born in a humble low-income house on May 7, 1919, in Los Toldos, Buenos Aires province. At the age of 16 – in 1935 – as a teenager, she took her suitcase to the Argentine capital and began to realize her dream of being a film, radio, and theater actress. There she began to see that poverty also lived in thousands of homes in her country's capital.

Fate had specific plans for Eva Duarte. She met Colonel Juan Domingo Perón in 1944 at a charity event, and a year later, they were married. Love and politics began to beat in unison in the heart of this warrior Argentine woman.

Once her husband assumed the presidency in 1946, she began her great struggles in favor of women and the most vulnerable.

Loves and hates

Undoubtedly, like so many other great characters in history, Evita's life, her actions, her words, and her speeches, generate love and hate, opinions against and in favor. She never went unnoticed and she knew it, but she always talked about being in the shadow of a great man, Juan Domingo Perón, whom she compared to a condor while she was just a sparrow. These are words from her fist and her handwriting that she left for history in the pages of the book The reason for my life:

• (…) Neither my life nor my heart belongs to me; nothing of everything I am or have is mine. Everything I am, everything I have, everything I think, and everything I feel belongs to Perón. But I do not forget nor will I ever forget that I was a sparrow nor that I still am. If I fly higher it's because of him. If I walk between the peaks, it is because of him. If sometimes I almost touch the sky with my wings, it's because of him. If I see what my people are, love them, and feel their affection caressing my name, it is only because of them.

And, aware of the criticism of many who disqualified her, wrote:

• It is not chance that has brought me to this place that I occupy, to this life that I lead. Of course, all this would be absurd, as is a chance, if what my super critics affirm were true when they say that right off the bat I, "a superficial woman, unprepared, vulgar, oblivious to the interests of my country, strange to the pains of my people, indifferent to social justice and with nothing serious on my mind, I suddenly became a fanatic in the fight for the cause of the people and making that cause my own I decided to live a life of incomprehensible sacrifice”.

Everything for Argentine women

The echo of the voice of Eva Perón in favor of Argentine women became visible when the female vote was approved in 1947 through a law promoted by her, who has been called the "eternal first lady" reaching power that by the middle of the 20th century It seems impossible for a woman.

Her fight for women and the most vulnerable never ceased until she died of cancer at the age of 33. The vulnerability of women became less in the shadow of Eva Perón, who was responsible for greater female participation in politics through the creation of the Women's Peronist Party, whose action was decisive for Juan Domingo Perón to be elected president for the second time. As a result of Evita's work, women's associations and civic centers were created in Argentina that lasted long after the death of their leader.

She also promoted social programs through the Eva Perón Foundation, which supported the creation of schools for children and youth, hospitals, and the well-remembered School of Nurses, in which many Argentine women were trained.

Male voices describe her

Most Argentine women thank Evita for her efforts in favor of gender. But what do a couple of men who are over 70 years old today and who knew his political actions think? In response to this question from THE WOMAN POST magazine, Miguel Escurra, from the province of Córdoba, comments: “I was very young, very young, but I remember Eva Perón as a woman who did a lot for the workers and the poor. Although I am not a Peronist, I recognize that she was a great leader who did good things for the people, and in our country, we need people like that, who do positive things for the people".

For her part, Roberto Blanch replied: “Eva Perón was a questioned woman but she was considered the standard bearer of the humble because she claimed to people that she had nothing. Boys who did not have a present at Christmas received toys and women who did not have a job received sewing and knitting machines. Many criticized her for the brand of clothes she wore and the jewelry she wore, which contrasted with the low level of income that most Argentines had, who did not have access to luxuries like the ones she gave herself".

Just Avoid

Eva Perón recounted in her book that the men in government, political leaders, and ambassadors called her "ma'am", "excellent lady" or "madam president" but she loved being called Evita because that was, according to her words, the name that was given to her. gave his people:

• (…) if they asked me what I prefer, my answer would not take long to come out of me: I like my town name better. When a kid calls me "Evita" I feel like the mother of all the kids and all the weak and humble of my land. When a worker calls me "Evita" I feel like a "companion" to all the men who work in my country and even in the whole world. When a woman from my homeland calls me "Evita" I imagine I am her sister and of all the women of humanity.

Warrior? Leader? Politics by intuition and not by training? Whatever the perception of those who know her through the privileged page that she will always have in the book of outstanding names in the history of Latin America, she cannot deny that, above all things, Eva Perón was a great woman and will never be forgotten.