Evita: Saint or Sinner?Sixty years after her death, Maria Eva Duarte de Perón is the most famous, and infamous, woman in the history of Latin America. Her legacy withstands any attempts at revision, re-examination or reproach. Perhaps it is because she is as much a part of Argentina in this bicentennial year as the Pampas or the Rio de la Plata. She is known best by one name: Evita.
Born in rural Argentina to Juana Ibarguren and her married lover Juan Duarte, Evita left home as a young girl to become an actress in Buenos Aires. Working as a model and radio actress, Evita climbed the city’s social ladder quickly and married Colonel Juan Perón in 1945. Although Evita had no formal education, Juan allowed her to sit in on even his most important meetings and political discussions with close advisors. She was elected president of Argentina’s performers union and started a radio program called, “Toward a Better Future.” Using single language to relate to the working class listeners, Evita broadcast propaganda about Juan’s accomplishments. Perón became so popular with the descamisados – the nation’s working poor – that officers of the Gobierno, Orden, Unidad (GOU – Government, Order, Unity) party arrested him so he could not steal power from then-President Pedro Pablo Ramírez. When news spread of his imprisonment, three hundred thousand protesters swarmed the Plaza de Mayo calling for his release. Their demands were met and Evita addressed the crowd on behalf of the Colonel from the balcony of the Casa Rosada. After he was freed, Juan campaigned for the presidency of Argentina and with strong support from Evita, he was elected in 1946. During this time, Argentina’s upper class was mainly European immigrants who did not approve of a woman of poor birth rising to the seat of First Lady. Under her influence, they argued, her husband’s politics favored the lower class. As she gained more power in the government, it was a social faux pas in some circles to use her name; instead she was referred to as, “that woman.” They saw her as vindictive, a tyrant whose only aspiration was to gain power for herself. She was seen as hypocritical for making speeches about helping the poor while wearing expensive jewelry and designer clothing. The poor of Argentina saw her in a completely different light. Evita embodied the hopes and dreams of the working class. She believed she was a woman born with the mission to help the exploited workers of her homeland. Evita lived in a culture where realistically, she should have lived the life of an nameless, voiceless, impoverished woman in a pueblo on the Pampas. With all the odds stacked against her, she managed to gain extreme power and wealth, rising well above those who had been born with money. With heavy campaigning from Evita, women were granted the right to vote in Argentina in 1947. Her next step was to found the Female Peronist Party, which greatly helped elect her husband to his second term as president in 1951. At the same time Juan was starting his second term, it was clear Evita’s health was worsening rapidly. Despite undergoing a hysterectomy, she died of cervical cancer at the age of 33 in 1952. The crowds were so dense at her funeral, eight people were crushed to death trying to get a glimpse of her casket. Her final resting place is in her father’s family tomb at Recoleta Cemetery, alongside Argentina’s most powerful and wealthiest countrymen. Even decades after Evita's death, millions of Argentina’s citizens are still infatuated with her. Some worship her as a saint and there is a museum cataloging her life and achievements as well as countless streets in Buenos Aires named in her honor. Tengo Una Remera Del Che
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The Language of Love: Tango in Buenos AiresToward the end of the 19th Century, Buenos Aires saw a major population boom as immigrants from Europe arrived on the shores of Argentina hoping to make their mark on the growing country. Most were young men from poor families trying to make enough money to bring their families to Argentina.
The heartache these men experienced as they longed for their loved ones and homelands can be felt through the genre of music and dance created to express their loss. In the 1890s, Tango was born in Corrales Viejos, Buenos Aires’ slaughterhouse district. It was in this neighborhood’s seedy establishments such as dance halls and brothels where Spanish, Italian and African young, working class men – known as compadritos – intermixed their cultures. A combination of African rhythms and Argentine milonga made for a unique sound while the dance combine consisted of a mixture of polka, waltz, habanera and mazurkas to keep up with the fast-pace. Due to tango’s blue collar roots, Buenos Aires’ elite initially considered it to be very low class. The dance didn’t become a mainstream trend in Argentina until the sons of the city’s wealthiest porteño brought it into high society from their nights slumming in the barrios. The risqué moves, sultry beat and sex appeal of wealthy Latin men made for the perfect grouping to turn tango into a worldwide craze as Argentina’s privileged youth circled the globe, giving Buenos Aires an international cultural identity. Although tango took a backseat to rock and roll for a few decades, the tourism industry gave its popularity a boost in recent years. National pride in tango is strong across all of Argentina and visitors to the country pay to watch performances and learn the dance steps themselves. Locals also take dance lessons to keep the tradition alive and tango singers such as Carlos Gardel remain national icons almost a century after his death. Hotel MonarcaWhen choosing a hotel in Buenos Aires, I have only a few requirements: I wanted to be in the middle of the city so I could walk to as many attractions as possible, I wanted a staff that spoke English and I wanted it to be cheap. I mean really cheap. After spending nearly a thousand dollars on my plane ticket from Washington, DC, I needed to save money on any aspect of the trip that I could.
I used STA Travel, a website for student travel to find a list of hotels in the area that offered student discounts. My local contact picked the best neighborhood for my needs and Hotel Monarca was recommended for both price and quality of service. I arranged for a driver with a private service to take me from the airport directly to the hotel. Hotel Monarca is located on 25 de Mayo, a steep, narrow street right off of Avenida Cordoba, one of the busiest streets in the city and an easy way to get to a lot of the important places I wanted to visit. The hotel staff was very friendly and although the desk clerk on duty when I arrived did not speak fluent English, we were able to communicate enough to check me in. The desk is manned 24 hours a day and the front door is always locked. My least favorite part of the hotel was the elevator. A black metal cage lurched to a halt at each floor in the five-story building and threatened not to release its passengers once they reached their destination. The first ride to my room on the top story was enough to convince me to take the stairs for the rest of my stay. Every morning, a wide range of breakfast foods are available in the basement lounge. I sampled some foods new to me if not unique to Argentina such as drinkable yogurt and dulce de leche spread. The entire hotel had a sleek, modern design, incorporating white, black and different shades of orange throughout. Each of the thirty-five guest rooms has its own bathroom and shower and individually controlled air conditioners to cancel out the heat and humidity of Argentina’s summer. For less than a weekend at a Best Western in the United States, I was able to book a clean, comfortable and safe hotel for more than a week in the heart of Buenos Aires. Homeless Youth of Buenos AiresOnly a few blocks from the posh tree-lined streets of Buenos Aires’ exclusive Palermo neighborhood, the “Paris of South America” takes an ugly turn. Here, piles of trash mark every street corner and filthy children beg in front of tacky neon storefronts and boarded shops.
The homeless population most visible to the tourist population in Buenos Aires is made up primarily of girls -- probably teenagers at the oldest -- with babies of their own. The girls show visible signs of drug abuse such as uncontrollable shaking and rocking, pale skin, glazed eyes. The drug of choice is called paco, a cheap, toxic byproduct of cocaine that is smoked in a pipe. Filthy babies and toddlers lie lifeless in their mothers’ laps or curled up next to cardboard signs that beg for spare change from passersby. They can be found all along Avenida Florida, a pedestrian street connecting Casa Rosada and San Martin Square, one of the city’s busiest areas for tourist traffic. Sociologists refer to these children as the "ni-ni" (neither-nor), a group made up of an estimated 756,000 youngsters – 73 percent of whom are girls or women - between the ages of 15 and 24. The problem can be traced back to the financial crisis Argentina experienced in 2001 that sent six in every ten Argentineans into poverty, forcing many out of their homes and onto the street. Traditional family structure suffered as fathers and mothers were unable to find work and provide for their families, often leaving their children to fend for themselves. Homeless teens find emotional and physical support by joining gangs called ranchadas. Most ranchadas are harmless besides petty theft and drugs. They share food and drugs with each other and usually sleep in the same place for protection. The Centro de Asistencia Integral a la Niñez y la Infancia (Center of Assistance Integral to the Childhood), or CAINA, is a partially government-funded organization that provides shelter, food, basic healthcare and education to street children. In addition to basic needs, CAINA attempts to reconnect families or find permanent homes for orphans. The government cannot afford to take street children into street custody, so kids cannot be brought in unless they are arrested for a crime. Teen pregnancy is a growing problem among Buenos Aires’ street population. CAINA’s files contain only a fraction of the homeless youth in the city but have seen a significant jump each year. How You Can Help: Donations can be sent by checks made out to Asociación Civil Los Chicos de la Calle, Av. Paseo Colón 1366, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. CAINA’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Sarmiento's Lasting Legacy, Education in ArgentinaThe summer home of Domingo Sarmiento is carefully preserved in a Plexiglas box on the Delta in Tigre, Argentina. Among his many accomplishments, Sarmiento, “The Teacher” of Latin American is credited with revolutionizing Argentina’s educational system. It was his belief that “the sovereign should be educated,” and his work granted the right to an education to children and women. Teacher’s Day is celebrated annually on September 11th in memory of his fatal heart attack in 1888.
Over a century since his death, Sarmiento’s homeland is working to maintain not only his house but also the educational philosophies he held and carried out for the citizens of Argentina. Argentina’s government sent Sarmiento to study the education plans in Europe. He encouraged educators to immigrate to Latin America where he built schools and public libraries in cities as well as rural areas. Argentina’s school enrollment doubled by the end of his presidential term. Following the University Reform of 1918, the school system became more independent from the powerful Catholic Church, only to temporarily remerge during Juan Perón’s presidency. Since Argentina returned to democratic rule in 1983, government spending increased steadily with the exception of the socio-economic crises in 1989 and 2002. Today, education in Argentina is free, including university. All children between the ages of six and fourteen are required by law to go to school, although attendance falls to just over fifty percent after students are 14 years old. Among Latin American countries, Argentina boasts the highest levels of education and the literacy rate holds steady at 95 percent. The country ranks second in the world for degrees in higher education, 3.2 percent of the population, only trailing France. In April, UNICEF hosted its fourth annual “Race for Education” in Buenos Aires’ Palermo Park. The race was set up in 2006 in support of Argentina’s National Education Law 26.206 to increase mandatory schooling from ten to thirteen years. Five thousand runners participated in this year’s race to call attention to the importance of continuing to strengthen their country’s educational program. The Passion of the People: Argentina FútbolIf you’re interested in a truly religious experience while in Argentina, don’t bother going to a church. Instead, head for a soccer stadium where the real passion of the people comes out.
Soccer (called fútbol in Argentina) was first introduced to Argentina in 1840 by English sailors who played the game next to the ports of Buenos Aires. Since then, the country has won two FIFA World Cup Championships, fourteen Copa América trophies and an Olympic gold medal. The most famous player in Argentina’s history is Diego Armando Maradona. The captain of the 1986 World Cup championship team, he scored both two of the most famous goals in the history of soccer in the quart final win over England. The first, dubbed “The Hand of God,” after the ball tapped his hand on its way to the net and the second called, “The Goal of the Century” when he dribbled past six English players over 60 meters to score. He made headlines off the field as well when he tested positive for cocaine and ephedrine during his career. Maradona is still a big part of fútbol culture and serves as head coach of Argentina’s national team in this summer’s World Cup. Buenos Aires has twenty-four professional soccer teams, more than any other city in the world. Teams represent the different neighborhoods; the two best-known teams are Boca Juniors and River Plate, bitter rivals who play twice a year in the “Superclásico.” Fans are fiercely loyal to their neighborhood team, generally inheriting a team from past generations. It is not uncommon for crowds at games to get out of hand. Alcohol is prohibited in the stadiums, but is consumed heavily before entering the arena. Each team has an assortment of songs and chants about the athletic prowess of the players and the greatness of the team’s history. Singing the songs and waving banners, fans create as much of an attraction for tourists as the games themselves. Attending a game is a great way for visitors to immerse themselves in Argentina’s local culture but necessary precautions should be taken. It is best not to bring valuables to games in case of pickpockets in the crowds. There will be a heavy police presence at any game but they act like riot police. The police do not have a good relationship with fans, so it’s best to stay out of their way. Avoid public transportation near stadiums as the fans can get wild and fights sometimes break out on buses. If possible, attend the game with a local who knows the easiest routes to and from the stadium. The easiest way to get tickets is through a tourist agency or through Ticetek’s website. |
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