Page 32 - aruba-today-20190502

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 2 May 2019
Argentina's Evita remembered through toys for poor children

By DEBORA REY your father. You will have
Associated Press to study. The foundation will
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina give you a scholarship."
(AP) — A half-deflated Macyszyn said the acci-
leather football, a box of dent had left him isolated,
marbles, a ragged doll and because an amputated
a handful of windup cars arm was considered "mon-
and trains line the display strous" in those days. The
cabinets in the Evita Muse- train set he received from
um like ancient relics. These Evita served as a bridge
worn-out toys played a vital with other children.
role in the rise of Peronism in "Everyone in the neighbor-
Argentina, one of the most hood would come, so I had
influential movements in lots of friends. I had a hap-
Latin America. py childhood," he said.
Long before politicians The foundation continued
started using social media after Evita's death until the
to influence public opinion, coup toppled Perón.
the political movement of Critics of Peronism accuse
Juan Perón and his second the movement of engag-
wife also sought to touch ing in populism and patron-
voters on a personal level: age to win votes from the
handing out toys to 4 mil- poor rather than promot-
lion children from Argen- ing social mobility through
tina's poorest families. The enduring structural reforms.
practice was fundamental But away from political de-
to the popularity and at bates, Evita's persona has
times unconditional back- transcended time and bor-
ing showered by Argen- ders.
tines on Peronism, which Papers used to register the distribution of toys by the Eva Perón Foundation are displayed at an The worldwide fascination
persisted far beyond the began in the 1970s with
deaths of Perón and wife children's rights," Marcela er, he was overthrown and an accident left him with- Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Eva María Duarte, famously Genés, the museum's cu- forced into exile by a mili- out one arm and paralyzed musical "Evita." Then came
known as Evita and idolized rator, told The Associated tary coup. After 18 years, in the other arm and both Alan Parker's film starring
by her supporters as the Press. "She herself had a Perón returned and was legs. Madonna that was based
"champion of the poor." very impoverished child- elected president again Macyszyn chokes up when on the musical, followed
To mark the 100th anniver- hood and that stayed with in 1973. He served until his he recalls being visited in by Evita's dresses shown at
sary of her birth on May 7, her. Achieving justice for death in 1974 and was suc- the hospital by Evita after New York's Metropolitan
1919, the Evita Museum in children was a particular ceeded by his widow, Isa- undergoing a seventh sur- Museum of Art as part of
Buenos Aires has inaugu- focus for Eva." bel Perón, who herself was gery. a Christian Dior exhibit. The
rated an exhibition titled Juan Perón, an army gen- ousted by the military in "I saw many doctors and Evita Museum draws doz-
"Childhood and Peronism, eral, served as president for 1976. nurses coming toward me. ens of tourists every day.
the toys of the Eva Perón two different spans. He first Leaving behind humble Evita was in the middle of One recent visitor, Paola
Foundation." It displays took office in 1946 and won beginnings, Evita arrived in them. With all the flashes Jaque of Chile, looked at
several dozen of the toys re-election in 1951 with a Buenos Aires as a teenager. from the photographers' the toy exhibition in admi-
distributed by the party ev- landslide victory of 63.4% She worked as an actress cameras, it looked like she ration.
ery Christmas Day and the of the votes, still the highest until she met Perón at a fes- had fallen from heaven," "The variety of toys and the
Epiphany holiday between percentage ever in Argen- tival held to raise funds for he said. letters the children wrote
1948 and 1955. tina. The beginning of his the victims of Argentina's First, Evita greeted his par- to ask her for toys caught
"Children were always giv- second term, in 1952, was 1944 earthquake. Once ents. She then approached my eye," Jaque said. "She
en particular importance overshadowed by Evita's she had become first lady, his bedside and said: "Look, answered them personally,
in Eva's work, especially death at age 33 from uter- she created the Eva Perón little Saúl, you will not be which I don't believe hap-
all matters concerning ine cancer. Three years lat- Foundation after being able to be a worker like pens nowadays."q
prevented from heading
the Buenos Aires Charita-
ble Society, an organiza-
tion formed by upper-class
women who traditionally
appointed the first lady as
its honorary president.
Many children were deliv-
ered toys by Evita herself,
while others picked up their
gifts at post offices across
the country.
One item in the museum
exhibit is a tin train set.
Somewhat rusty, it has
People visit the "Childhood and Peronism, the toys of the Eva huge sentimental value for A toy baby carriage of the "Childhood and Peronism, the toys
Perón Foundation" exhibit at the Evita Museum in Buenos Aires, 80-year-old Saúl Macyszyn. of the Eva Perón Foundation" exhibit is displayed at the Evita
Argentina Wednesday, April 17, 2019. Seven decades ago, it Museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, April 17, 2019.
Associated Press helped him recover after Associated Press