Get To Know Your Dictator: Juan Peron
20 July 2009, 6:05 PM. By Jack Tomas
Don’t cry for me Argentina! I am a total asshole! I killed lots of people, and was a Fascist…then I had a musical starring Madonna…
Juan Peron was one confused little dictator, who never could figure out on what side of the ideological spectrum he belonged. Was he a fascist, a commie, a populist, a liberal, a conservative, and elitist? Yes, he was all of these and more. He was also brutally repressive, making his enemies disappear in the night with little warning. Along with his two famous wives Evita (whore) and Isabel (psycho) he left his mark on Argentina forever.
Peron started out in the military, (surprise) and as a young man he was sent by the Argentine army to be a military observer to Germany, Spain, and Italy during the rise of Fascism. Unlike a sane person, Peron liked what he saw and had a total bromance with Benito Mussolini who he adored with all the fervor of a 12 year old girl looking at a Jonas Brothers poster. Upon returning to Argentina he helped out in the Argentine tradition called the coup d’etango when he helped military chief General Rawson take power.
While he was second in command he met a mediocre actress and professional gold digging slut, Eva Duarte. She saw that Peron was a man with ambition and, as she had so many times before, she used her feminine wiles (vagina) to lure her way into Peron’s heart. Do not let Andrew Lloyd Webber fool you, Eva Peron was a brutally cunning woman and social climber who cared a hell of a lot more about her diamonds and fur coats then about the common Argentine worker.
In 1945 Peron saw his chance, and ran for election as a populist candidate and set out on a massive campaign to get Argentina’s large working class on his side. He befriended the unions and promised massive agrarian reforms, wage increases, and improved working standards. He stood up to the powerful elites that had long held power in Argentina and made many enemies among the conservatives. Sounds kinda left-wing for a fascist, eh?
He was elected and set about nationalizing many of Argentina’s industries including the banks and the railroads (just like Benito!) Then, it seems, money started disappearing. The Perons were living large, while the workers that had been promised so much, didn’t see much of that money. Though conditions did improve for workers in Argentina, they were still not being given a fair shake by any means. Peron stole millions that he stashed away in Swiss bank accounts, (the dictator retirement plan), knowing that one day he might have to flee the country.
Where did all this money come from? Well, besides the millions he stole in “charitable” donations from the poor of Argentina, and the vast sums that came in from nationalizing the industries, there were the millions paid to him in blood money by Nazi war criminals seeking asylum in Argentina. Peron’s Argentina was the number one travel destination for Nazis, and they paid handsomely for Peron’s hospitality. Peron was a massive Anti-Semite and racist, and he saw these guys as heroes. Many Jewish rights organizations are still lobbying for millions of dollars of Nazi gold, (some of it in Peron’s vaults), to be paid to Holocaust survivors.
In 1952, Evita died of cervical cancer, [Ed: Which we now know is an STD. We're just saying.], and Peron rode the sympathy vote into a second term. This lasted about a week before the people again got fed up with him. Peron unleashed violent reprisals on both the left and the right to anyone who dared question him. People weren’t singing “Don’t Cry For Me” as they ran from his tanks and death squads, because Peron wasn’t about to cry for anyone. In 1955 a coup, ironically, overthrew Peron and he fled to the waiting arms of his buddy and fellow fascist asshole, Francisco Franco.
This would be the end of our story, but old Juan wasn’t done yet. In the years he was gone from power, a series of inept governments, run by Argentina’s elite, led to a steady decline in the country’s fortunes. People, as people are apt to do, began to yearn for the days of Peronista rule. Hey, he made the trains run on time, didn’t he?
So in 1973, Peron returned from exile with new wife Isabel Peron. It didn’t take long for pay back to begin, as he unleashed a series of death squads to hunt down and kill all his opponents. This was the begining of Argentina’s “Dirty War” that would claim the lives of 30, 000 Argentines, known as “Los Desaparecidos.” Nine months after taking office, Juan died and left his wife Isabel as president. Isabel was a crazy psycho who revved up the death squads and began the so called “Annhilation Decrees” that called for the massacre of thousands of leftist opponents. This was continued by her successor Jorge Videla.
Peron was a modern dictator, with a command of spin, who manipulated the people into believing he stood for the same things they stood for, even if that meant contradicting himself to different groups. If it all sounds confusing, it is even more confusing that many in Argentina still love this son of a bitch. It is confusing that that chancre sore on American musical theater, Andrew Lloyd Webber, would have such success with a musical about a couple of Latin American thieves and gangster-dictators. 35 years after his death we still don’t know who Juan Peron is…other than an asshole.
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A fascist? Sounds like Obama. That bastard wants complete government control!
It’s funny how you find people that love Peron confusing, yet, YOU love Castro.
That’s not true. Everyone knows the love of his life is Raul…
Really. Soon we will see “Fidel” the musical on Broadway.
Peron had plenty of problems, but I don’t think you can go so far as to blame him for the Dirty War, especially since he was dead during it. The military was against Peron when he came back and there were killlings on the right and the left. Once the military was firmly in power, they had parties and used Evita’s embalmed body as a centerpiece.
Esnickers, I’m not blaming him for the dirty war…but he was there at the start of it and he helped usher in the culture of violence that ended up in a bloodbath on the scale of The Dirty War. Thanks for the comment!
Hey “guest”,
Why don’t you stop being such a pussy and post as yourself and not anonymously.
PS: Sorry I insulted a fellow fascist.
PS 2: Bite me.
If you cannot handle criticism, why bother writing for a blog?
There is criticism and then there is just bullshit. If you can’t post intelligent criticism then don’t post anything at all.
Wow! Sensitive blogger! I was trying to help, not aggravate you.
About what you just wrote, many out there think your writing is unintellegent. So… should you stop writing?
Hey Jack, can’t YOU see who I am?
Jack,
I don’t really take issue with your description of Perón (even if it is extremely crass, and you leave out many important aspects of contemporary _Peronismo_, including the _descamisados_, etc.), but you really should read more about Eva before you dismiss her as nothing more than a social climbing whore and talk about STD’s (by the way, she wasn’t the only one of Peron’s wives to die of cervical cancer, which means she got it from her _husband_).
The symbol of a woman with power and agency that she was (and still is to a certain extent) for many Argentine women is significant and makes her an important and admirable figure. That symbolism transcends even the worst of her actions. She is still loved by many of the working class, especially the women, and of course is still hated by the wealthy.
You should read _Eva Perón: La biografía_, by Alicia Dujovne Ortíz. The English version was translated by Shawn Fields in case you don’t read Spanish. It is the definitive biography and the author is a close friend of my family’s and a respected author.
It was actually me who added the STD part, which cervical cancer is, so that’s a point of fact. Interpret it as you will.
Yes, it is an STD, and Eva’s amorous history was a long one–all I’m saying is that Perón’s first wife died of the same thing and it’s common knowledge that they both got it from him.
One last thing:
I know that Guanabee likes to push the stylistic envelope, and that’s one of the things I love about it, but I think that (at least in this article) Jack pushes it a little too far. The coverage of Perón’s history and especially the coverage of contemporary Peronismo is superficial and dismissive. Don’t let the standards slip in the name of envelope pushing. I am a HUGE(!!!) Guanabee fan and I will continue to read the blog no matter what, but I expect more from you guys.
wow people get very defensive about Peron..interesting
Geez, looks like I pushed a button, eh?
O.k. people. Not ALL cervical cancer is caused by a std. There are very many forms of cervical cancer that have nothing to do with std’s.
Stick to the facts. None of you know for sure she was a ” slut” or a “whore”. Unless you were in the bedroom at the time! And if she did contract a std from her husband what does that make him? A killer is a killer in the bedroom or as head of a nation.
YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH ON IGNORANTS. PERON AND EVITA WEREN’T PERFECT!!!! BUT THEY DID A LOT MORE THAN ANY OTHER GOVERMENT IN ARGENTINA. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW MANY OF YOU ARE IN FACT ARGENTINEAN, IT IT OBVIOUS TO MY THAT YOUR HISTORY TEACHERS MIGHT HAVE BEEN SUFFERING FROM CRS WHEN THEY WERE TEACHING YOU.
As a yank would say “Well I’ll be damned!” the only article to truly capture the reality of peron and his brothel has to come from a latino blog from the us of a.
You nailed jack, but then, why is so weird to hear something openly negative about peron and evita? why so many people defend them?
Why, there are still neonazis, and many more who still defend hitler and the (original) nazis, but there are millions of their victim’ descendants to keep the memory of their crimes alive, preventing any wide acceptance by society that the holocaust and WWII could be forgiven.
Problem is, there’s no such thing in argentina, so the jerk-circle that is peronism will continue for as long as this POS country keeps from sinking for the last time.