It´s not easy being a Peron


Advertisement
Argentina's flag
South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires
September 20th 2006
Published: October 29th 2006
Edit Blog Post

The most action packed reburial everThe most action packed reburial everThe most action packed reburial ever

Say what you will about the ceremony, but at least it wasn´t boring
A week ago the body of General Juan Peron, was moved from the crowded and slightly rundown Charcarita Cemetery here in Buenos Aires to a mausoleum about thirty miles southwest of the city which was built in his honor by one of the powerful unions that Peron helped to create. The transferring of the body was originally intended to offer the Argentine people the chance to commemorate Peron’s greatness and perhaps even lay a hand on his casket. The current president, Nestor Kirchner, who is a member of the Peronist party was even going to show up and say a few words. Just your average reburial of a monumental historical figure, nothing too complicated, right?

However for some reason when it comes to the Peron’s, the Argentine people tend to get a little fired up. Even now, three decades after Juan died, and five decades after Evita’s death, they still have this uncanny ability to inspire a type of raw, visceral emotion in people that defies all logic.
So last Tuesday, when our landlord Marcello was fixing our television, it was interesting but not necessarily surprising to see images of violence breaking out during the burial ceremony. When I asked Marcello what was going on he responded that they were all just “ridiculous” people going “crazy.” Hoping for more information I asked him what groups were fighting one another and he replied that they were all union members and all members of the Peronist party. To which I replied, “right, then why are they fighting?” Marcello just shook his head.

This explanation left much to be desired but I learned the next day that during the reburial, two different unions, one made up of construction workers and the other of truckers, began jockeying for position in an attempt to ensure their members were able to get closer to the coffin. (I don’t know if I mentioned this before but waiting patiently in line is not one of the Argentine people’s strongsuits.) Tempers flared and over the next few hours members of these two unions punched away at each other, beat each other in the heads with clubs and sticks, threw rocks and bottles at one another, and one guy even decided that he was justified in firing off a couple rounds from his handgun at the members of the other union. Fortunately though he was a very bad shot
No harm no foulNo harm no foulNo harm no foul

This was the guy they recently let out of jail for lack of evidence
and managed to miss the hundred or so people that were standing directly across from. All in all around 50 people were sent to the hospital with various injuries. Eventually the police stepped in and dispersed the crowd with rubber bullets and tear gas, but you would be amazed at how much patience and understanding the riot police here are willing to show..

Immediately afterwards the union leaders, as well as President Kirchner, blamed the violence on conservative political movements who were trying to undermine the event and discredit it’s organizers. This is entirely possible, as people here are frequently paid to take part in one type of political rally or another. However there is no real evidence that the violence resulted from anything more than the Peron effect.

Oddly enough the man who opened fired on his fellow union members was the chauffeur for the powerful CGT Union (think AFL-CIO) President’s son, and despite the fact that the shots were caught on film and then played over and over again on TV to the point that everyone in the country has seen the clip at least a dozen times, the police eventually decided that they had to let him go due to a lack of evidence. Perhaps they considered his lawyer’s explanation that “he was just having a bad day” sufficient.

Sadly, this is just one more in a long line of bizarre events that have surrounded the corpses of Eva and Juan Peron. Juan Peron’s had previously been encased under 12 locks and roughly 400 pounds of bulletproof glass. Why all the security you say? Because several years ago someone thought it would be a good idea to chop off his hands. The reason for his handlessness has never been made entirely clear but there are two basic theories which have been offered up, the first being that the thieves wanted to use his fingerprints to open up his Swiss bank accounts. An explanation which I find strange considering that his body had been decomposing for several years. (It is possible though that this was not something that occurred to the tomb raiders, as tomb raiders in general are not known for their razor sharp intellects.) The other possibility though is that Peron’s hands were cut off because during his speeches he often raised both hands and used them to gesticulate his message and by cutting off his hands they were in essence stealing part of his political power.

While having your hands cut off and being reburied not just once, but twice, is more than your average corpse is forced to endure, it pails in comparison to what Peron’s wife Evita was forced to endure in her post mortem years. After dying of cancer Evita was originally going to be buried in a large tomb that was intended to be bigger than Statue of Liberty. But somewhere between being embalmed and being placed within her “Lenin ain’t got nothing on me” size tomb, Juan Peron was overthrown in a military coup in 1955. The military dictatorship seemed uncertain of what to do with Evita’s body; they were afraid that destroying the body might provoke a popular uprising, yet they were also afraid that the presence of the body in public might also provoke a popular uprising. Convinced that the corpse presented a threat to national security, they decided that best way to avoid those precarious public uprisings was to keep the body tucked away, shifting it around from one hiding spot to the next. Rumor has it that it was placed in a large piece of furniture owned by one of the generals for a short time, and that another general who had possession of the corpse for a while became infatuated with it and decided to put the moves on the well preserved former first lady. The body was eventually shipped to Milan, Italy, where it was buried under a false name until 1971, when leftist guerillas in Argentina decided they were going to get the little lady back at all costs.

These ambitious guerillas took it upon themselves to kidnap the leader of the coup which had toppled Peron, General Aramburu, and force him to reveal Evita’s location. When he refused to give them any information they executed him and then offered to swap bodies with the military in the classic “will trade you your ruthless dictator for the cadaver of our blonde political icon” swap. Before the switch could took place though Aramburu was discovered stuffed inside a car in Buenos Aires. Shortly afterwards though a staffer who Aramburu had confided in revealed the whereabouts of Evita’s body and the body was dug up and delivered to Juan Peron’s doorstep.

Peron who had remarried a young dancer and was living in exile in Madrid, had not been expecting the body and was somewhat perturbed by the whole situation. And really who can blame him, this had to be awkward on so many levels. I mean anytime your former wife shows up unexpected on your doorstep its going to be a little weird, the fact that she had been dead for the better part of two decades and was delivered in the back of a van is just going to make the conversation more strained. Then there is the matter of whether or not you have to sign for the body, how do you properly introduce your old wife to your new wife, and of course then you have to decide which room your going to stick her in. Personally I would have opted for the guest room as it would have kept her out of the way while still seeming more respectful then say the garage or the shed out back. Peron however decided that the dinning room table would do just fine. And supposedly after placing here on the table and opening up the casket his new wife, Isabel, immediately brushing her hair.

Poor Isabel. Following in Evita’s footsteps had to be hard enough without actually having Evita hanging out in your house serving as a constant reminder of everything that you had to live up to. To make matters worse one of Peron’s whacked out “Rasputin like” advisors thought it would be a good idea to have Isabel lay on top of the casket (some stories put her in the casket) in an attempt to absorb Evita’s powers.

Oddly enough though it was Isabel who eventually had Evita put to rest in the beautiful and exclusive Recoletta cemetery, which is where she currently remains. Peron eventually returned to Argentina in 1973, primed to retake the presidency with Isabel at his side as his Vice-President. Tragically, the day upon which he returned was not the blissful homecoming that the 3 million supporters who arrived at the airport to greet him hoped it would be. Instead the event turned into a massacre when right wing factions of the Peron party opened fire on his more leftist supporters. In all 13 people were killed and more than 300 were wounded. The event was not enough to stop Peron from coming back to power though and he was able to assume control of the country for a short time before dying of a heart attack in1974, at which point Isabel took the reigns. It is very important that Isabel receive credit for having Evita properly put to rest (yeah Isabel!) because this was quite possibly the only thing that Isabel was able to successfully accomplish during her presidency. Not more than two years after taking office Isabel, who people seemed to view as well intentioned but incompetent, was overtaken in a bloodless coup that marked the beginning of a ruthless seven year dictatorship.

Ironically Evita is now buried within a few hundred meters of many of the dictators, including General Aramburu, who were responsible for her travels in the after life. There is talk that one day Evita might be dug up again and reburied next to Peron in his new Masaleum. Frankly though I think it might be too dangerous.

Advertisement



29th October 2006

Fantastic! Made me laugh from start to finish. Trish
5th November 2006

i had a question
well no i probably had a comment. however by the time i reached the bottom of this extremely long essay i had plumb forgot whatever it was i wanted to say! ah well i guess the history lesson was good for me. hope you guys are enjoying the south. it is raining here and earl was on. lovelove
15th November 2006

Excellent history lesson
Glad to see a new blog entry. I especially love the picture of the shooter in the riots and the lack of evidence. That reminds me of what I saw on the news this morning. OJ Simpson has a book and movie coming out called "If I did it, this is how it happened". Great essay though. I definately enjoyed it.

Tot: 0.076s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 7; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0463s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb