Thursday, April 2, 2015

OMG Eva Peron!

The BBC article describes what happened to the body of Eva Peron, wife of Argentinian militaristic "President" Juan Peron in 1940s.  She was wildly popular among her people, campaigning and earning support for her husband. Despite this, there were still grounds of anti-Peronist military officers seeking the downfall of the Peron. When she died in 1952 from cancer, two million supporters attended her funeral with candles and flowers. Her body, however, was soon taken far away from Argentina by anti-Peronists.

Interestingly enough, she was buried in Milan under a false name. Back at home, Argentina was in a state of economic and political turmoil. Once the Peronist Party was legalized, they returned her body to Juan who lived in Spain. Juan and his new wife Isabel took meticulous care of her body, which had marks of being seriously hit and even signs of her body being stuffed in a coffin too small. The internal embalming held its place still. Isabel was dedicated to restoring and displaying Eva's body (which is awkward because wife to ex-wife relation...) Eva Peron's body is now deeply buried in a foil-proof, air-tight crypt in Buenos Aires so that her body would never be disturbed again.