EVITA by W. A. Harbinson

Author:W. A. Harbinson [Harbinson, W. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. A. Harbinson
Published: 2012-06-03T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The Perón’s method of consolidating their power was simply to take care of everyone who supported them, irrespective of the future cost. Perón spent lavishly on the army and allowed, or didn’t dare stop, Evita’s own extravagant spending. The basic modus operandi was to offer a public spectacle of generosity, keep everyone happy, strengthen their popularity with the workers, and let the future take care of itself. Because of this, by early 1948 Perón had not only spent the whole of Argentina’s war profits, but had also, with his grandiose expansionist schemes, run the country £500 million into debt.

Evita’s personal contribution to this immediately beneficial and ultimately disastrous form of government was to shower pesos like pennies from heaven on the eternally grateful descamisados. When the Railway Union asked for a 40% rise, Evita generously gave them 50%. When the telephone operators planned to get half of 70%, Evita nobly gave them the lot. Already, in her offices in the Ministry of Labor and Welfare, she was handing out money indiscriminately – or, at least, as she herself saw fit. Not only was she signing checks by the dozen, but the sight of a pleading face before her would encourage her to pull a wad of pesos from her desk drawer and shove them into the hand of the astonished recipient. Evita was also starting to ignore the need for records of such transactions. Where the money came from might be something that interested her; what clearly did not concern her was where it might come from in the future.

Determined to fix the ‘old hags’ of the Oligarchy for good, Evita, on June 23, 1947, brought the portentiously entitled Maria Eva Duarte de Perón Social Aid Foundation into being. Aware of the power that such a charity could bring her, she first removed every competitor in private welfare and crushed their hated bones beneath the weight of her own ambitions. The Maria Eva Duarte de Perón Social Aid Foundation reportedly started with a modest amount of Evita’s own money, began its life in the General Post Office building, moved on to the larger Secretariat of Labor and Welfare, and then, about eighteen months later, was moved into an extraordinary Grecian-styled building, seven storeys high, fronted by marble columns topped with a number of statues. The whole building filled an entire city block.

The initial modest sum of money, reportedly Evita’s own money, was dramatically increased by the expropriation of huge sums of money from the various trade unions, the reluctant businessmen, and finally from the workers as well. Few of these contributors were volunteers.

On Labor Day, May 1, 1951, by order of the General Confederation of Labor (virtually controlled by Evita), every worker in the country was required to hand over a full day’s earnings to the Foundation. Shortly after, the civil servants were ‘encouraged’ to hand over 10% of their combined annual salaries to the Foundation and did so, with a fat check, at a public demonstration in the Colon Theater in Buenos Aires.

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