Actress and politician known as the legendary First Lady of Argentina: Who is Eva Peron?

María Eva Duarte de Peron was born on May 7, 1919, in Los Tolodos, Argentina. Peron, loved by the Argentine people, was known by the nickname Evita, which means "Little Eva" in Spanish. She was born as the youngest of 5 children to Juan Duarte and Juana Ibarguren. Her father, Juan Duarte, was a descendant of French Basque immigrants. Her mother, Juana Ibarguren, was a descendant of Spanish Basque immigrants. Evita spent her childhood in Junin, Buenos Aires province. Juan Duarte, a wealthy rancher from nearby Chivilcoy, already had a wife and family there. In rural Argentina at the time, it was not uncommon for a wealthy man to have more than one family.

When Evita was one year old, Duarte returned to her legal family permanently, leaving Juana Ibarguren and their children in dire poverty. Ibarguren and her children had to move to the poorest part of Junin. Ibarguren earned money by sewing clothes for her neighbors to support herself and her children.

She lost her father when she was seven and went to Buenos Aires at 14 to become an actress. She started working in radio after being unemployed and broke for a while in Buenos Aires. Continuing her life by performing shows on the radio and playing small roles in the theater, Evita met Colonel Juan Domingo Peron in 1944 at a charity premiere. The two became lovers soon after they met. Juan Domingo Peron, with the title of Colonel, entered politics by playing a role in the military coup in 1943. He took part in government as Minister of Labor and became known as his 'father of labour'.

Evita gave great support to Juan Peron's effort to become prime minister, making him popular with the public. Juan Domingo Peron, who worked to improve the situation of low income workers, was arrested after the 1944 coup. He was released as a result of the strikes of 300,000 people initiated by Evita's efforts and her friends taking the workers with them.

On October 21, 1945, one day after his release, Peron secretly married Evita in an official ceremony in Junin. On December 9, 1945, a church wedding was held in La Plata. After Juan Peron was elected prime minister in 1946, Evita's support for her husband continued to increase in the political arena.

Evita, who later became Minister of Labor, kept her promises to the poor Argentine people, working on increasing wages and better social standards. She provided food, money and medicine to the poor people, and organized charity campaigns for children. One of Evita's greatest achievements in politics was giving women the right to vote and be elected. After the law passed in 1947 and paving the way for women in politics, by 1950, no country in the Americas had as many women in the congress as in the Argentine congress.

In addition to her success in politics, Eva Peron also accomplished many works in social life. Thanks to the EvaPeron Foundation, which she founded in 1948, hospitals, shelters for the elderly and widowed women, and schools were built.

By 1951, Evita began considering her candidacy to become vice president. This disturbed many military leaders who despised her. According to the Argentine Constitution, the vice-president took her place in the event of the president's death, and such a situation would not be acceptable to the military. Despite this, Evita received great support from workers, unions and women.

Evita, whose health started to deteriorate in 1951, underwent an operation. It was portrayed as a simple operation to the public, but her illness was serious. Evita, who had uterine cancer, had to cope with extreme weakness and fatigue. Surgery to cure her advanced disease was not helpful. After a while, Evita became unable to stand without support.

After Juan Peron was elected president for a second time, Evita was named "the spiritual leader of the nation" in a state ceremony. She received chemotherapy in America for her treatment. But after fruitless efforts, she died on July 26, 1952 at the age of 33. After her death, widespread mourning was declared in Argentina.

With the military coup that took place after her death, Juan Peron's power was overthrown. Evita's funeral, prepared for display, disappeared for 16 years. The military government imposed bans on all documents related to the Peron couple. Evita's body was exhumed from her burial place and kept for 16 years. In 1973, military rule ended, and after Juan Peron was elected president for the third time, her body was buried first next to her husband and then in the family cemetery.

Evita, about which many films have been made and books have been written, has always maintained its place as a legend in Argentina's history. The musical Evita, which tells about her life, was staged years later. Madonna later starred in the big screen adaptation of this musical. The most important part of the piece is "Don't Cry for me Argentina!" (Don't Cry For Me Argentina!).