Last July 26, it was the 70th anniversary of the death of Eva Duarte de Perón, better known as Eva Peron. For this reason, the platform Star+ That same day, the series “Santa Evita” premiered, a production inspired by the book of the same name written by Tomás Eloy Martínez.
After the death of ‘Evita’ in 1952 due to cervical cancer, her then-husband, the Argentine president Juan Domingo PeronHe decided to embalm her. The reason? Build a monument in which the remains of the first lady would rest.
The fervor and symbolic importance of Eva Perón in the Argentine people were essential for the president to make this decision. The embalming was in charge of the Spanish anatomist Pedro Ara.
Ara’s task would take several months. Therefore, the body of Duarte de Perón was taken to the second floor of the headquarters of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT). In that place, the anatomist would carry out his work.
The delays in the construction of the monument devised by Perón caused Ara to remain in the care of the embalmed corpse of ‘Evita’, always in the CGT building.
However, in 1955, three years after the death of the former first lady, Perón was overthrown by a military coup and went into exile in Europe. After that, would come the events narrated in the series that has Salma Hayek as executive producer.
What happened to the body of Eva Perón?
The military group that overthrew Perón wanted to prevent the remains of the former first lady were used as a political trophy to remove them from power and vindicate Peronism in Argentina. The objective, then, was to disappear the body by burying it with a false identity.
Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, de facto president, entrusted this task to Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Moore Köening. The body of ‘Evita’ was taken to various points in Buenos Aires. In 1957, Moori was relieved of his position and the remains of Duarte de Perón were taken from them.
His replacement, Héctor Cabanillas, ordered the body to be transferred to Europe and given a Christian burial. Transferred to Italy by ship, the body was buried in Milan under the name of Maria Maggi de Magistris. Under that false tombstone, ‘Evita’ would remain for 14 years.
After this period, Argentina had a new leader: General Alejandro Lanusse. The president offered to return to Juan Domingo Perón the remains of his deceased wife, something that would materialize in Madrid in 1971.
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