EVA PERON

                                                                        1919 - 1952
                                                              http://www.evitaperon.org/
Eva Peron was widely loved by the ordinary people of Argentina. She campaigned tirelessly for both the poor and for the extension of women's rights. She died aged only 32 in 1952.

Eva Maria Duarte de Peron (7th May 1919 - 26th July 1952) was the wife of Argentine President Juan Peron (1985 - 1974) and First lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is usually referred to as Eva Peron or Evita .
(All information is from Wikipedia)



Eva was born into poverty in the rural village of Los Toldos, in the Pampas, and was the youngest of five children. At 15 in 1934, she moved to the nation's capitol of Buenos Aires to pursue a career as a stage, radio and film actress.

Eva met Colonel Juan Peron there on 22nd January 1944 during a charity event at the Luna Park Stadium to benefit the victims of an earthquake in San Juan, Argentina. The two were married the following year. Juan Peron was elected President of Argentina in 1946, and during the next 6 years, Eva became powerful within the pro-Peronist trade unions, primarily for speaking on behalf of labour rights. She also ran the Ministries of Labour and Health, founded and ran the charitable Eva Peron Foundation, championed women's suffrage in Argentina, and founded and ran the nation's first large-scale female political party, the Female Peronist Party.

In 1952, shortly before her death from cancer at 33, Eva Peron was given the title of "Spiritual Leader of the Nations" by the Argentine Congress. Eva was given a state funeral upon her death, a prerogative generally reserved for heads of state.