In 1943
the separation between the real country and the government
dominated by the oligarchy was a flagrant one. The climate became
more tense as the time for elections drew near. With the increased
tension came the foreboding that the regimen would put its
fraudulent seal on these elections just as it had on previous
ones. On June 4, 1943, a military coup ousted President Ramón
Castillo.
When
General Pedro P. Ramirez assumed the Presidency, Colonel Juan Perón,
unknown to the citizenry but prestigious among his military
colleagues, took over the National Department of Labor. One month
later the Department was transformed into the Secretariat of Labor
and Social Welfare. Here Perón laid the political groundwork
which would affect the next decade of Argentine history.
A real
national tragedy would now join two people who up to this moment
had been ignorant of each other's existence.
On
January 15, 1944, an earthquake destroyed 90% of the Andean city
of San Juan. Seven thousand people died and 12,000 were left
injured. From the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare, Perón
organized a national relief effort and invited the most popular
stars of the day to participate. Eva Duarte was among them and
helped take up collections for the needy.
On
January 22, a great festival was held at Luna Park Stadium with
all benefits destined for the victims of the earthquake. Eva
Duarte and Colonel Perón began a relationship which would be
socially confirmed at a gala held at the Colón Opera House on
July 9 to celebrate Argentina's Independence Day.
Two days
before, General Farrell (who assumed the Presidency on March 11
when Ramirez resigned) had designated Perón as Vice President.
Perón retained his first position in charge of the Secretariat of
Labor and Social Welfare as well as a second position which he had
recently assumed as Minister of War.
Eva, for
her part, had three programs on Radio Belgrano: at 10:30 A.M. she
starred in "Towards a Better Future" which exalted the
goals of the 1943 Revolution; at 6:00 P.M. she was in charge of
the cast of the drama, "Tempest," and at 10:30 P.M. she
starred in "Queen of Kings.
On May 6,
1944, she was chosen President of the Agrupación Radial
Argentina, a union entity which she had founded in 1943.
Perón
had become the key figure in the new military government-and the
most irritating as far as the opposition was concerned. Eva's
presence and the place Perón accorded her presented another
target; this time his own colleagues would take aim at it. If Perón
was atypical, the woman at his side was even more so: she had
decided to stand at the side of her man, not behind him. And Perón
had accepted that which was unacceptable at the time.
On
October 13, 1945, one sector of the government was successful in
obtaining Perón's resignation from all his positions. He was
detained and sent to Martin Garcia, an island off the coast of
Buenos Aires. By this time the workers had realized that Perón's
disappearance would mean the disappearance of his labor policy and
all the conquests they had made. At dawn on October 17 they began
to abandon their workplaces and head towards Plaza de Mayo: they
demanded the appearance of their Colonel. Perón's withdrawal had
produced a vacuum of power which only he could fill.
That
night Perón appeared on the balcony of the Casa Rosada and
announced that elections would be held soon. The Plaza became a
witness to a new political force in Argentina. For the cheering
occupants of the overflowing Plaza de Mayo, Perón was now not
only their leader but also their candidate.
As far as
Eva's role in the crisis of October 17, at this stage of our
investigative research, we have only the testimony of witnesses.
Some have her fighting elbow to elbow with the workers (Alberto
Mello), weaving together the threads of the movement, bringing the
people to the Plaza and on the 17th placing herself at the
vanguard of the movement (Perón), playing no part at all in the
mobilization of the workers (Cipriano Reyes), or totally absent
from all the events (Luis Monzalvo).
In the
light of what we know about Eva's personality at the time and from
what she showed herself to be in later years, it is difficult to
validate the opinion of those who sustain that she did not
participate at all in the events. At the same time, the position
she occupied at Perón's side, with the knowledge of what
mechanisms it was necessary to activate but not yet with the power
and influence to activate them makes it difficult to sustain that
she was the pivot of these foundational events of the Peronista
Movement. Perhaps Eva was situated between the two extremes: she
could seek a habeas corpus, open contact with those she knew she
could count on and who would be able to mobilize people, and
participate in the events to the extent her resources would
permit.
Eva never
claimed for herself the role of leader on that 17th of October:
Perón was won back by the people.
"That
week of October, 1945, is a week of many shadows and of many
lights. It would be better if we did not come too close.., we
should look at it again from farther away. However, this does not
impede me from saying, with absolute frankness and in anticipation
of what I will someday write in more detail, that the light came
only from the people" (Eva Perón, op.cit., p.39).
October
17th confirmed for Eva that the events of the past few days did
not portend an end (as some had wished) but a new beginning in
Argentine history. This new beginning would have as its foundation
the relationship between a man, Perón, and the bases of his
support, the workers - the descamisados (the shirtless ones). This
relationship withstood all attempts to destroy it and lasted until
Perón's death in 1974. It brought him to the Presidency of
Argentina in 1946, in 1952, and in 1973, after eighteen years in
exile.
Perón
wrote two letters to Eva from his prison on the island of Martin
Garcia. In one of them he said, "Today I have written to
Farrell, asking him to accelerate my retirement: as soon as I get
out of here we'll get married and we'll go someplace where we can
live in peace.
Their
civil marriage took place on October 22 and the religious ceremony
on December 10, the time when they could go somewhere and live in
peace never came.
The Labor
Party chose Perón as its presidential candidate and Quijano as
vice president. The opposition, united under the name of
Democratic Union, chose Tamborini and Mosca as its candidates.
Elections would be held in February of 1946.
The
campaign was giddy, violent, aggressive-as are so many in
Argentina-in word and in deed (it was marred by sabotage).
"Dairy
farm [tambo], urine, and flies ["mosca" means fly in
Spanish]... the formula for manure," said one side.
"Greasy
blacks without any conscience, dirty feet," countered the
other.
By the
end of December the political campaigns were ready to hit the
interior of the country. "El Descamisado," the Labor
Party's campaign train, came and went along the tracks. For the
first time in history, a candidate's wife accompanied him. At each
campaign stop, she handed out buttons and greeted the people
personally.
We begin
to see the profile of another woman: Eva has definitely entered
into the political arena. On February 8 she took another step
forward: a convocation of working women met at Luna Park to show
their adhesion to the Labor Party ticket. The presidential
candidate was ill and could not go. Eva went in his place. It was
her debut as a speaker- but they wouldn't let her speak. Every
time she tried, the women shouted, "We want Perón!"
A few
months later she would be acclaimed. She would have become another
person. She would be EVITA.
