Juan & Eva Peron
Residing as the eight largest country in the world, Argentina takes up a vast majority of South America. When the colonies of Spain declared their independence, the countries known as Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay were formed, and the left over land called itself Argentina. While still strong in Spanish heritage, the new county’s culture became heavily influenced by a large population of immigrants from Europe who migrated to the county after 1860. Until around the mid 1900’s, the country was in a fluctuation between civilian and military control (“The World Factbook, 2014). The most earthshaking of these events began in 1930, when the military overthrew an elected official, Hipólito Yrigoyen, whose policies empowered the middle class for the first time. This began 13 years of major political corruption and unrest in the public. It was not until June 4th, 1943 that this changed, and the second coup d’état of the century reshaped Argentina. This coup was engineered by a group of junior military officers who called themselves the Groupo de Oficiales Unidos and was heavily influenced by none other than the Lieutenant Colonel Juan Domingo Perón (Hedges, 2011, p. 81).
Having already used his political and military abilities to rise in the ranks of the military, Perón used this opportunity to further advance his public career. Due to his support during the revolution, he was made Secretary of War, and later Secretary of Labor. During this time, he made several reforms which empowered the working class again, and as a result, gained their support. Later, he was promoted to vice president, but his policies bestowed on him an unfavorable view amongst the military, and they attempted to put him in jail. However, massive protests of the working people restored him to his position in office, and these protests were made possible by none other than his new wife, Evita (Minster, n.d., p.7).
Eva “Evita” Duarte was Juan Perón’s wife as of October, 1945....