Eva Perón

María Eva Duarte de Perón (lebih dikenal dengan nama Evita (7 Mei 1919 – 26 Juli 1952) adalah istri kedua Presiden Argentina Juan Domingo Perón (1895–1974) dan Ibu Negara Argentina sejak 1946 hingga wafatnya pada 1952. Meskipun ia tidak pernah secara resmi terpilih menjadi tokoh politik, sebagai Ibu Negara ia akhirnya memiliki lebih banyak kekuasaan dan pengaruh dalam pemerintahan daripada siapapun, kecuali suaminya. Di antara kaum miskin dan kelas pekerja Argentia, ia mempunyai kharisma yang tidak banyak tandingannya di luar monarkhi

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Pada "Wisata Pelangi"nya di Eropa 1947, Eva Perón menjadi satu-satunya Ibu Negara Amerika Selatan dalam sejarah - hingga sekarang - yang menghiasi sampul depan Majalah Time.

Evita membentuk Yayasan Eva Perón, yayasan amal yang membangun ribuan rumah dan sekolah untuk kaum perempuan dan kaum miskin dan untuk pertama kalinya dalam sejarah Argentina menjamin tidak ada ketimpangan dalam pemeliharaan kesehatan untuk warganya. [1]. Evita juga memimpin pembentukan Partai Peronis Perempuan, yang merupakan partai politik perempuan pertama di negaranya.

Pada 1951, ia mengadakan kampanye agar dimungkinkan mencalonkan diri menjadi Wakil Persiden Argentina. Hal ini ditentang oleh militer Argentina, kaum elit, dan akhirnya suaminya sendiri. Andaikan Evita terpilih, ia akan menjadi wakil presiden perempuan pertama di dunia. (Gelar ini akhirnya jatuh ke tangan istri ketiga Perón, Isabel Perón, yang ironisnya berusaha meniru Evita.) Pada 1952 Evita mendapat gelar resmi "Pemimpin Rohani Bangsa".

Evita juga tokoh yang sangat kontroversial pada masa hidupnya, bahkan sampai hari ini. Meskipun hanya enam tahun lebih ia berkiprah dalam politik Argentina, di masa itu ia menjadi pusat gosip dan kabar burung. Dalam bukunya "Evita: The Real Life of Eva Perón", Marysa Navarro dan Nicholas Fraser mengklaim bahwa mitos dan distorsi tentang Eva Perón adalah yang paling rumit dari tokoh politik modern manapun. [2].

Semasa hidupnya, Evita adalah perempuan paling berkuasa di negerinya. Kebanyakan sejarahwan setuju bahwa ia tetap yang paling berpengaruh dalam sejarah bangsanya dan di seluruh Amerika Selatan. Pada saat kematiannya, ia adalah perempuan paling berpengaruh di seluruh dunia.

Biografi Eva Perón

Masa kecil Eva

María Eva Duarte lahir di Los Toldos, kota kecil di Provinsi Buenos Aires. Ia adalah satu dari lima orang anak haram namun yang diakui dari seorang juru masak yang tak pernah menikah, Juana Ibarguren (1894-1971) dan pemilik ranch Juan Duarte (1872-1926). Waktu kecil, Eva Perón dibesarkan di Junín tak jauh dari Los Toldos.

Pindah ke Buenos Aires

Pada usia 15, Eva Duarte pergi ke Buenos Aires. Muncul kontroversi bagaimana ia pergi ke sana. Versi populer mengatakan ia dibawa ke kota besar itu oleh Agustín Magaldi (inilah versi yang muncul dalam musikal Andrew Lloyd Webber, "Evita"), sementara yang lain mengatakan ia dibantu oleh ibunya.

Setiba di sana, Eva Duarte menghadapi kesulitan untuk bertahan tanpa pendidikan formal dan tanpa koneksi. Setelah bertahun-tahun berjuang, akhirnya ia mendapatkan pekerjaan sebagai aktris radio dan film, dan main dalam melodrama murahan serta opera sabun Radio El Mundo. Akhirnya ia memiliki perusahaan radio itu dan dianggap sebagai aktris radio berbakat. Secara teratur ia muncul dalam program drama sejarah populer Perempuan Agung dalam Sejarah dan di situ ia memerankan Elizabeth I dari Britania, Sarah Bernhardt dan Tsarina Rusia terakhir. Film favorit pribadinya adalah epos 1938 Marie Antoinette, yang dibintangi Norma Shearer.

Hubungan dengan Juan Perón

Eva Duarte bertemu Kolonel Juan Perón pada acara amal pengumpulan dana untuk korban gempa bumi San Juan. Mereka menikah pada October 21 1945. Setelah menikah, semua film Eva dilarang di seluruh Argentina. Saat itu, orang Argentina tidak suka bila para politikus bergaul dengan para penghibur, apalagi mereka yang lahir di luar nikah dan bekerja di opera sabun.

Tak lama setelah menikah dengan Eva, Juan Perón ditangkap oleh lawan-lawannya di pemerintahan yang takut bahwa dengan dukungan kaum miskin (descamisados) dan kaum buruh, popularitas Perón dapat memudarkan popularitas presiden yang berkuasa.

Eva sering dipuji karena mengorganisasi pertemuan-pertemuan massa dengan ribuan orang hingga membebaskan Juan Perón dari penjara pada 17 Oktober 1945. Versi tentang peristiwa ini dipopulerkan dalam musikal Andrew Lloyd Webber, "Evita". Namun kebanyakan sejarahwan setuju bahwa hal ini tidak mungkin terjadi. Saat itu, Eva cuma aktris. Ia belum mempunyai pengaruh politik dengan berbagai serikat buruh yang mendukung Perón, dan ia tidak begitu disukai oleh lingkaran dekat Perón ataupun kebanyakan para pemilik perusahaan film dan radio. Ketika Juan Perón dipenjara, Eva Perón tiba-tiba kehilangan dukungan dari kebanyakan orang. (Surat-surat mereka saat Juan dipenjara menunjukkan bahwa keduanya sesungguhnya mempertimbangkan untuk meninggalkan Argentina setelah Juan dibebaskan, bila memang ia akan bebas. Keduanya takut bahwa Juan Perón malah mungkin akan dibunuh ketika di penjara.)

Nyatanya, demonstrasi besar yang membebaskan Perón dari penjara diorganisasi oleh berbagai serikat buruh, seperti Konfederasi Umum Buruh, atau yang belakangan dikenal sebagai CGT. Hingga sekarang, tanggal 17 Oktober dianggap sebagai hari libur untuk Partai Keadilan di Argentina (dirayakan sebagai Día de la Lealtad, "Hari Kesetiaan").

Kampanye presiden Juan Perón

Eva Perón berkampanye hebat untuk suaminya dalam usahanya menjadi presiden tahun 1946. Dengan acara radio mingguannya, ia menyampaikan pidato-pidato hebat dengan retorika populis yang kuat dan menganjurkan kaum miskin untuk bersatu dengan gerakan Perón. Meskipun ia kini cukup kaya dari acara radio dan modelnya, ia menyoroti masa kecilnya yang miskin sebagai cara untuk memperlihatkan solidaritasnya dengan kaum miskin.

Eva mengunjungi setiap sudut negaranya, menjadi perempuan pertama dalam sejarah Argentina untuk muncul secara umum dalam cara kampanye dengan suaminya. Penampilan Eva bersama suaminya seringkali membuat marah kaum kaya, militer, dan mereka di lingkungan politik. Namun ia sangat populer di masyarakat, yang mengenalnya dari radio dan film, dan karenanya merupakan alat yang efektif untuk mendapatkan perhatian dari kaum miskin dan pemberi suara kelas pekerja Argentina. Pada masa hidupnya itulah untuk pertama kalinya ia menganjurkan rakyat Argentina untuk memanggilnya bukan sebagai "Eva Perón" namun sekadar "Evita", yaitu bentuk diminutif (kesayangan) dalam bahasa Spanyol ("Eva Kecil").

Juan Perón terpilih presiden, Evita aktif dalam politik

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Eva dan Juan Perón dengan kerumunan pendukung (perhatikan foto-foto mereka di latar belakang).

Setelah Juan Perón pertama kali terpilih menjadi presiden pada 1946, Evita muali mengambil peranan politik yang menonjol dalam pemerintahan, dan akhirnya malah lebih populer daripada wakil presiden dalam segala bidang, kecuali urusan militer. Sering dikatakan bahwa ia menjadi lebih berkuasa daripada suaminya, tapi ini terlalub erlebihan. Hanya untuk sebentar saja, beberapa bulan terakhir hidupnya dan pada masa berkabung rakyat pada saat kematiannya, Evita menjadi lebih populer daripada suaminya.

Peranan utama Evita dalam pemerintahan Peronis adalah menciptakan pengkultusan pribadi terhadap suaminya, yang diagungkannya, hingga bahkan dibandingkan dengan Kristus. Evita mengatakan bahwa setiap Peronis harus siap mati untuk Perón. Inilah yang akhirnya merusak Perón dan merendahkan gerakan Peronis. Mengingat pujian Evita yang berlebihan untuk suaminya, sedikit saja kritik terhadap Juan Perón dengan mudah ditafsirkan sebagai tidak patriorik. Evita bahkan mengatakan secara tegas bahwa hanya kaum Peronislah orang Argentina sejati.

"Perón adalah hati, jiwa, darah, dan eralitas rakyat Argentina. Kita semua tahu bahwa hanya ada satu orang dalam gerakan kita yang memiliki sumber terangnya sendiri. Kita semua tergantung pada terang itu. Dan orang itu adalah Perón!" - pidato Eva Perón pada 1951.

Pada 1947, Evita mengadakan "Tur Pelangi" di Eropa yang banyak dipublikasikan. Ia bertemu dengan sejumlah kepala negara, termasuk Francisco Franco. Tujuannya adalah mengadakan kudeta hubungan masyarakat untuk rezim Perón yang setelah Perang Dunia II semakin dianggap fasis. Evita disambut di Spanyol; di sana ia mengunjungi makam monarkh absolutis Spanyol pertama, Ferdinand dan Isabella.

Spanyol di bawah Franco masih belum pulih dari Perang Saudara Spanyol; ekonomi otarkis dan embargo PBB berarti bahwa negara itu tidak dapat memberi makan kepada rakyatnya.

Dalam kunjungannya ke Spanyol itu, Evita membagikan uang kertas 100 peseta kepada setiap anak miskin yang dijumpainya dalam perjalanannya. Ia lalu bertemu dengan Paus di Roma, dah kemudian berkunjung ke Paris. Hanya di Spanyol Evita disambut dengan sangat positif. Di Prancis dan Italia, ia disambut dengan reaksi campuran.

Tur itu mulanya dirancang untuk mencakup kunjungan ke Inggris untuk mengunjungi keluarga kerajaan. Ketika diberitakan bahwa keluarga kerajaan tidak dapat menemui Evita pada waktu yang diingininya, dan bahwa kunjungan Evita tidak akan diperlakukan oleh keluarga kerajaan sama pentingnya dengan kunjungan resmi Ibu Negara Amerika Serikat, Eleanor Roosevelt, Evita membatalkannya, dengan alasan terlalu lelah.

Setelah kembali ke Argentina dari Eropa, penampilan Evita menjadi lebih sederhana. Ia tidak lagi muncul dengan gaya rambut ketika ia masih menjadi bintang film [3]. Sejak itu, rambutnya disisir ke belakang dengan gelung [4]. Pakaiannya pun menjadi lebih sederhana. Mungkin ia berusaha tampil sebagai tokoh politik yang lebih serius sehingga ia tampil di muka umum dengan mengenakan kombinasi pakaian bisnis yang sederhana.

Perubahan citra ini bertepatan dengan fokus pada karya amal, atau dalam istilah Evita, "bantuan sosial". Kemudian ia membentuk Yayasan Eva Perón, lembaga untuk membantu kaum miskin. Kegiatan ini sangat populer dan memberikan sumbangan yang berharga bagi masyarakat. Berbagai rumah sakit dan rumah yatim yang didirikan oleh Yayasan itu bertahan lama hingga jauh setelah kematian Evita yang terlalu dini. Yayasan itu pun meningkatkan kekuatan politiknya di Argentina dan tak lama kemudian ia membentuk cabang Partai Justicialis khusus untuk kaum perempuan. Pada 1949, Evita menjadi tokoh kedua paling berpengaruh di Argentina.

Eventually, Evita became the center of her own, vast personality cult, and her image and name soon appeared everywhere, with train stations, a city ("Ciudad Evita") [5], and even a star in the sky being named after her. Despite her dominance and political power, Evita was always careful to never undermine the important symbolic role of her husband. Evita was always careful to justify her actions by claiming they were "inspired" or "encouraged" by the wisdom and passion of Perón. And though she has often been interpreted as having been singularly ambitious in her own right, Navarro and Fraser claim (op. cit.) that everything Evita did was ultimately subordinate to the larger goals and aims of her husband's political agenda.

Though Evita was worshipped by her working-class followers, she was bitterly hated by a vast number of Argentina's middle class and also by the wealthy Anglophile elite. They detested her humble roots and lack of formal education. Many felt that as a woman she was far too active in politics. Evita herself referred to them disparagingly as "the Oligarchs". She was known to be vengeful as well, often expelling from the Peronist inner circle anyone who had shown the slightest indication of not being completely loyal to what the mandates Evita and her husband set forth. The slightest act of "disloyalty" was grounds for dismissal from the inner circle.

It has often been said that Evita blacklisted the artists Libertad Lamarque and Nini Marshall, but this is unlikely. Lamarque, who had starred in the movie "Cabalgata del Circo" ("The Circus Cavalcade") with Evita, moved to Mexico shortly after Juan Perón was elected president. It is more likely that, rather than moving because of a blacklisting, Lamarque moved to Mexico because the Mexican cinema was in better condition during this period than was the Argentine cinema. Additionally, Lamarque often returned to Argentina to visit her family during Perón's rule.

Evita seeks the vice-presidency

A crowd of an estimated two million gathers in front of the Casa Rosada in 1951 to show support for the Perón-Perón ticket.

In 1951, Evita set her sights on earning a place on the ballot as candidate for vice-president. This move angered many military leaders who despised Evita and her increasing powers within the government. In an attempt to convince Juan Perón that he should allow Evita to run for vice president, the unions organized a mass rally of two million people called "Cabildo Abierto" (significantly, the name of the assembly that had proclaimed the first local Argentine government of the May Revolution, in 1810). The Peróns addressed the crowd as they often had in the past, from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, the official government house of Argentina. It has been claimed that "Cabildo Abierto" was the largest public display of support in history for a female political figure.

At the mass rally, the crowd demanded that Evita publicly announce her official candidacy as vice president. Evita pleaded for more time to make her decision. The exchange between Evita and the crowd of two million became, for a time, a genuine and spontaneous dialogue, with the crowd chanting, "¡Evita, Vice-Presidente!". When Evita asked for more time so she could make up her mind, the crowd demanded, "Ahora, Evita, ahora!" ("Now, Evita, now!"). Eventually, they came to a compromise. Evita told the audience that she would announce her decision over the radio a few days later.

Eventually, Evita declined the invitation to run for vice-president, saying her only ambition was that in the large chapter of history that would be written about her husband, she hoped that in the footnotes there would be mention of a woman who brought the "hopes and dreams of the people to the president", who eventually turned those hopes and dreams into "glorious reality". In Peronist rhetoric, this event has come to be referred to as "The Renouncement", [6][7] portraying Evita as having been a selfless woman in line with the Hispanic myth of marianismo. Most biographers, however, now agree that Evita did not so much renounce her ambition but rather caved to pressure from her husband, the military, and the wealthy, who would not have liked her to run. (There is evidence that the military said they would overthrow the government if Evita were elected vice-president, as the thought of being under the command of a woman in light of the president's death would not be acceptable to them.) By this stage in her life it had also become evident that her health was rapidly worsening and a bid for the vice-presidency was not ultimately practical in light of her condition.

The Peróns take part in Buenos Aires parade to celebrate Juan Perón's second inauguration on June 4, 1952.

On June 4, 1952 Evita rode with Juan Perón in parade through Buenos Aires in celebration of his re-election as President of Argentina. (This was the first election Argentine women had been allowed to vote in. Evita had organized women voters into the first truly powerful female political party in the country's history.) Evita was by this point so ill that she was unable to stand without support. Underneath her oversized fur coat was a frame made of plaster and wire that allowed her stand. She had taken a triple dose of painkillers before the parade, and had to take a double dose when she returned home.

In an official ceremony a few days after Juan Perón's second inauguration, Evita was given the official title of "Spiritual Leader of the Nation".

Evita's death in 1952 at age 33

Dr. George T. Pack, a New York surgeon, performed a hysterectomy on Eva in November 1951 and found that the cancer had spread to adjacent pelvic organs. Consequently, her life could not be saved.

Like her husband's first wife, Eva Perón died of cervical cancer (although some sources claim it was leukemia), at the age of 33. Upon her death, the Argentine public was told that Evita was only 30. The discrepancy was meant to dovetail with Evita's earlier tampering with her birth certificate. After she became the first lady in 1946, Evita had her birth records altered to read that she had been born to parents that had been married. At the same time, she had her birth certificate altered to make her three years younger.

At the moment of Evita's death at 8:25 p.m. on July 26, 1952, all activity in Argentina stopped. Movies stopped playing, restaurants were closed and patrons were shown to the door. Argentina went into immediate mourning. (In point of fact, Evita had died at 8:23 p.m., but the time of her death was announced as 8:25 because it was felt that this time would be easier to remember.) A radio broadcast interrupted the broadcasting schedule, with the announcer reading, "It is my sad duty to inform you that at 8:25 p.m. Eva Perón, Spiritual Leader of the Nation, entered immortality".

The public procession of Evita's coffin through downtown Buenos Aires

The death of Evita was unquestionably the biggest event of the year, and the ornate lying in state and mass grief expressed by the people have come to be legendary images of Argentina. An estimated one million filed past Evita's coffin as it lay in state. She was eventually given an official burial, an honor usually reserved for formally elected government officials. Seventeen people were crushed to death in the throngs on the streets during the procession of Evita's coffin through the streets of Buenos Aires [8]. Thousands more were taken to city hospitals and treated for injuries. It was reported that while walking behind Evita's coffin through downtown Buenos Aires, Juan Perón was astonished by the extent of the grief of the public and was overheard to say, "I never knew they loved her so much".

Shortly after her death, a labor union would petition the Vatican to have Evita officially declared a saint.

The escapades of Evita's corpse

Evita's body was embalmed by Dr. Pedro Ara. It is uncertain whether Evita herself decided that she would like to be embalmed. But shortly after her death, plans were made to construct a monument in Evita's honor. The monument, which was to be a statue of a man representing the "Descamisados", was projected to be larger than the Statue of Liberty. Evita's body was to be stored in the base of the monument and, in the tradition of Lenin's corpse, to be displayed for the public.

Before the monument to Evita was completed, Juan Perón was overthrown in a military coup, the Revolución Libertadora, in 1955. Perón had only enough time to collect a few belongings before he fled the country. He therefore did not have time to secure Evita's body.

In Perón's absence, a military dictatorship took power in Argentina. Fearful that Evita's body would become a symbol of Peronism and inspire the population to revolution, the military hid Evita's body. Thus began what, by many accounts, is perhaps the most bizarre ordeal of any corpse in history. In 1995, Tomas Eloy Martínez published "Santa Evita" [9], which detailed many previously unknown facts about the escapades of Evita's corpse, such as the fact that many wax copies were made of the corpse, as well as other violations of the corpse. Martínez claimed that the corpse was battered with a hammer and that some men even committed necrophiliac acts on the corpse.

Eva Perón's tomb in La Recoleta Cemetery in the Buenos Aires district of Recoleta

From 1955 until 1971, the military dictatorship of Argentina issued a ban on Peronism. During this period, Peronism was outlawed. It became illegal not only to possess pictures of Juan and Eva Perón even in one's home, but to even speak their names.

After sixteen years, the military finally revealed the location of Evita's body. It had been buried in a crypt in Milan, Italy, under the name "María Maggi". In 1971, the body was exhumed and flown to Spain, where Juan Perón maintained the corpse in his home. In 1973, Juan Perón came out of exile and returned to Argentina, becoming president for the third time. Perón died in office in 1974. Isabel Perón, who had been elected vice-president, thus became the first female president in the world. It was Isabel who had Evita's body returned to Argentina and (briefly) displayed beside Juan Perón's. The body was later buried in the Duarte family tomb in La Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires.

Extra measures were taken by the government to secure Evita's tomb. There is a trapdoor in the tomb's marble floor, which leads to a compartment that contains two coffins. Under the first compartment is a second trapdoor and a second compartment. That is where Evita's coffin rests. The tomb is said to be secure enough to withstand a bomb attack, even a nuclear bomb attack. -->

Pranala luar

• Yayasan Sejarah Evita Peron
• The Woman Behind the Myth oleh Tomas Eloy Martinez
• The Evita Megasite
• First ladies.