Depicted statue of Eva Duarte Perón, the key part of monument devoted to this popular president' wife, is located in a small square bearig her name in Recoleta district of Buenos Aires.
The monument, work of Argentinian artist Ricardo Giannetti was ceremonially unveiled by president Carlos Menem on December 3rd, 1999. There was an earlier draft for the Evita monument, adopted in 1952, which was never completed due to the overthrow of the Peronist government in September 1955.
Monument is formed by a granite pedestal and bronze statue of Eve in an attitude of progress. At the base of the structure are inscriptions "To Maria Eva Duarte de Peron", "Legacy of light, flagpole and flag" and "Anthem of honor and exaltation."
The surrounding pavement, designed in a Latin cross, has another inscriptions on its perimeter: "She knew how to dignify women, give protection to children and the old people, renouncing the honors", "She wanted to be just Evita for ever, eternal in the soul of our people, to improve the human condition and humble workers, fighting for social justice".
María Eva Duarte de Perón (7 May 1919 – 26 July 1952) was the second wife of Argentine President Juan Perón (1895–1974) and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is usually referred to as Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita. She was born in the rural village of Los Toldos, in the Pampas, as the youngest of five children. At 15 in 1934, she moved to the nation's capital of Buenos Aires to pursue a career as a stage, radio, and film actress. She met Colonel Juan Perón there on 22 January 1944 during a charity event at the Luna Park Stadium to benefit the victims of an earthquake in San Juan, Argentina. The two were married the following year. Juan Perón was elected President of Argentina in 1946; during the next 6 years, Eva Perón became powerful within the pro-Peronist trade unions, primarily for speaking on behalf of labor rights. She also ran the Ministries of Labor and Health, founded and ran the charitable Eva Perón Foundation, championed women's suffrage in Argentina, and founded and ran the nation's first large-scale female political party, the Female Peronist Party.
In 1951, Eva Perón announced her candidacy for the Peronist nomination for the office of Vice President of Argentina, receiving great support from the Peronist political base, low-income and working-class Argentines who were referred to as descamisados or "shirtless ones". However, opposition from the nation's military and bourgeoisie, coupled with her declining health, ultimately forced her to withdraw her candidacy. In 1952, shortly before her death from cancer at 33, Eva Perón was given the title of "Spiritual Leader of the Nation" by the Argentine Congress. Eva Perón was given a state funeral upon her death, a prerogative generally reserved for heads of state.
Eva Perón has become a part of international popular culture, page needed] most famously as the subject of the musical Evita (1976). Cristina Álvarez Rodríguez, Evita's great-niece, claims that Evita has never left the collective consciousness of Argentines. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the first elected female President of Argentina, claims that women of her generation owe a debt to Eva for "her example of passion and combativeness". [wiki]