Editing Eva Perón (section)

==Death and aftermath==

===Declining health===
On 9 January 1950, Perón fainted in public and underwent surgery three days later. Although it was reported that she had undergone an [[appendectomy]], she was actually found to have advanced [[cervical cancer]].<ref>[http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/445142 Famous Patients, Famous Operations, 2002 – Part 6: The Case of the Politician's Wife] Medscape Today, 5 December 2002. Retrieved 8 July 2010.</ref> Fainting episodes continued through 1951 (including the evening after the "''Cabildo abierto''"), with extreme weakness and severe vaginal bleeding. By 1951, it had become evident that her health was rapidly deteriorating. Although she withheld her diagnosis from Juan Perón,<ref name="Fraser 148">{{harvp|Fraser|Navarro|1996|p=148}}.</ref> he knew she was not well, and a bid for the vice-presidency was not practical. A few months after "the Renunciation", Perón secretly underwent a radical [[hysterectomy]], performed by the American surgeon [[George T. Pack]]<ref name=ajr>{{cite journal |first = Irving M. |last = Ariel |title = George T. Pack, M.D., 1898–1969, a tribute |journal = American Journal of Roentgenology, Radium Therapy, and Nuclear Medicine |date = October 1969 |volume = 107 |issue = 2 |pages = 443–446 |pmid = 4898694 |doi = 10.2214/ajr.107.2.443 }}</ref> 
at the [[Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center|Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center]], in an attempt to remove the cervical tumor.<ref name="Lerner">{{harvp|Lerner|2000}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2015}} In 2011, a [[Yale University|Yale]] neurosurgeon, Daniel E. Nijensohn, studied Evita's skull X-rays and photographic evidence and said that Perón may have been given a prefrontal [[lobotomy]] in the last months of her life "to relieve the pain, agitation and anxiety she suffered in the final months of her illness".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1 = Nijensohn |first1 = Daniel E. |last2 = Savastano |first2 = Luis E. |last3 = Kaplan |first3 = Alberto D. |last4 = Laws |first4 = Edward R. |date = 1 March 2012 |title = New Evidence of Prefrontal Lobotomy in the Last Months of the Illness of Eva Perón |journal = World Neurosurgery |language = en |volume = 77 |issue = 3 |pages = 583–590 |doi = 10.1016/j.wneu.2011.02.036 |issn = 1878-8750 |pmid = 22079825 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last = Nijensohn |first = Daniel E. |date = July 2015 |title = Prefrontal lobotomy on Evita was done for behavior/personality modification, not just for pain control |journal = Neurosurgical Focus |volume = 39 |issue = 1 |page = E12 |doi = 10.3171/2015.3.FOCUS14843 |issn = 1092-0684 |pmid = 26126398 |doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1 = Nijensohn |first1 = Daniel E. |last2 = Goodrich |first2 = Isaac |date = September 2014 |title = Psychosurgery: past, present, and future, including prefrontal lobotomy and Connecticut's contribution |journal = Connecticut Medicine |volume = 78 |issue = 8 |pages = 453–463 |issn = 0010-6178 |pmid = 25314884 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1 = Young |first1 = Grace J. |last2 = Bi |first2 = Wenya Linda |last3 = Smith |first3 = Timothy R. |last4 = Brewster |first4 = Ryan |last5 = Gormley |first5 = William B. |last6 = Dunn |first6 = Ian F. |last7 = Laws |first7 = Edward R. |last8 = Nijensohn |first8 = Daniel E. |date = December 2015 |title = Evita's lobotomy |journal = Journal of Clinical Neuroscience |volume = 22 |issue = 12 |pages = 1883–1888 |doi = 10.1016/j.jocn.2015.07.005 |issn = 1532-2653 |pmid = 26463273 |s2cid = 24600802 }}</ref>

Péron's cervical cancer had metastasized and returned rapidly, despite the hysterectomy.<ref name="Lerner"/>{{page needed|date=October 2015}} She was the first Argentine to undergo [[chemotherapy]]{{snd}}a novel treatment at that time. She became [[Emaciation|emaciated]], weighing only {{convert|36|kg|lb stlb|abbr=on}} by June 1952.<ref name=Robson20150710>{{cite news |last1 = Robson |first1 = David |title = The gruesome, untold story of Eva Peron's lobotomy |url = https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150710-the-gruesome-untold-story-of-eva-perons-lobotomy |work = BBC News |date = 10 July 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Nijensohn |first1 = DE |title = Prefrontal lobotomy on Evita was done for behavior/personality modification, not just for pain control. |journal = Neurosurgical Focus |date = July 2015 |volume = 39 |issue = 1 |page = E12 |doi = 10.3171/2015.3.FOCUS14843 |pmid = 26126398 |doi-access = free }}</ref>

===Death===
Evita died at 8:25&nbsp;p.m. on Saturday, 26 July 1952 at the [[Unzué Palace|Unzue Palace]]. Radio broadcasts throughout the country were interrupted with the announcement that "the Press Secretary's Office of the Presidency of the Nation fulfills its very sad duty to inform the people of the Republic that at 20:25 hours, Mrs. Eva Perón, Spiritual Leader of the Nation, died."<ref name="Ortiz">Ortiz.</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2015}}

===Mourning===
[[File:CGT Funerales Evita.JPG|thumb|right|Perón's elaborately adorned funeral]]
Immediately after Perón's death, the government suspended all official activities for several days and ordered that all flags be flown at [[half-mast]] for 10 days. Business across the country was put to a halt,  as movies were stopped and patrons were asked to leave restaurants.<ref name=Robson20150710/> Popular grief was overwhelming. The crowd outside of the presidential residence, where Perón died, grew dense, congesting the streets for ten blocks in each direction.

[[File:Funeral de Evita.jpg|thumb|right|Nearly 3 million people attended Evita's funeral in the streets of [[Buenos Aires]].]]

The morning after her death, while Perón's body was being moved to the Ministry of Labor Building, eight people were crushed to death in the throngs. In the following 24 hours, over 2,000 people were treated in city hospitals for injuries sustained in the rush to be near Perón as her body was being transported, and thousands more were treated on the spot.<ref name="Barnes"/>{{page needed|date=October 2015}} For the following two weeks, lines of people stretched for several city blocks, with mourners waiting hours to see Perón's body at the Ministry of Labor.

The streets of Buenos Aires were filled with flowers. Within a day of Perón's death, all flower shops in Buenos Aires had run out of stock. Flowers were flown in from all over the country, and as far away as Chile.<ref name="Barnes"/>{{page needed|date=October 2015}} Despite the fact that Perón never held a political office, she was eventually given a [[state funeral]], usually reserved for a head of state,<ref name="Fraser 164-6">{{harvp|Fraser|Navarro|1996|pp=164–166}}.</ref> along with a full Catholic [[Requiem|Requiem Mass]]. A memorial was held in Helsinki for the [[Argentina at the 1952 Summer Olympics|Argentine]] team to attend during the [[1952 Summer Olympics]] due to Perón's death happening during those games.<ref>{{cite book |url = http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1952/OR1952.pdf |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080411091045/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1952/OR1952.pdf |archive-date = 11 April 2008 |title = 1952 Summer Olympics official report |page = 91 |access-date = 1 August 2010 }}</ref>

On Saturday, 9 August, the body was transferred to the Congress Building for an additional day of public viewing, and a memorial service was attended by the entire Argentine legislative body. The next day, after a final Mass, the coffin was laid on a [[Limbers and caissons|gun carriage]] pulled by CGT officials. It was followed by [[Juan Peron|Juan Perón]], his cabinet, Eva Perón's family and friends, and the delegates and representatives of the [[Female Peronist Party]]—then workers, nurses and students of the [[Eva Peron Foundation]]. Flowers were thrown from balconies and windows.

There were different interpretations of the popular mourning of Perón's death. Some reporters viewed the mourning as authentic, while others saw a public succumbing to another of the "passion plays" of the Peronist regime. ''Time'' reported that the Peronist government enforced the observance of a daily period of five minutes of mourning following a daily radio announcement.<ref>{{cite news |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,857294,00.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930064035/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,857294,00.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = 30 September 2007 |magazine = Time |title = In Mourning |date = 11 August 1952 |access-date = 9 November 2006 }}</ref>

Upon her death, the Argentine public was told that Perón was only 30. The discrepancy was meant to dovetail with Perón's earlier tampering with her birth certificate. After becoming the first lady in 1946, Evita had her birth records altered to read that she had been born to married parents, and placed her birth date three years later, making herself younger.<ref name="Fraser" />{{page needed|date=October 2015}}

During Perón's time, children born to unmarried parents did not have the same legal rights as those born to married parents. Biographer Julie M. Taylor, professor of [[anthropology]] at [[Rice University]],<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~anth/people/faculty/people-taylor.htm |title = Rice University: Julie M. Taylor |publisher = Ruf.rice.edu |access-date = 27 January 2011 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090620014534/http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~anth/people/faculty/people-taylor.htm |archive-date = 20 June 2009 }}</ref> has said that Perón was aware of the pain of being born "illegitimate". Taylor speculates that Perón's awareness of this may have influenced her decision to have the law changed so that "illegitimate" children would henceforth be referred to as "natural" children.<ref>{{cite book |title = Eva Perón: Intimate Portrait |publisher = [[Lifetime Television]]. |isbn=157523677X |chapter = Interview with Julie M. Taylor }}</ref> 

===Memorial===

[[File:Eva Perón - Cadáver momificado con Dr Pedro Ara- 1953-55.jpg|thumb|left|Pedro Ara inspecting Eva Perón's embalmed corpse]]

Shortly after Perón's death, Pedro Ara, who was well known for his embalming skill, was approached to [[embalming|embalm]] the body. It is doubtful that Perón ever expressed a wish to be embalmed, which suggests that it was most likely Juan Perón's decision. Ara replaced the subject's blood with [[Glycerol|glycerine]] in order to preserve the organs and lend an appearance of "artistically rendered sleep".<ref name="Fraser 164">{{harvp|Fraser|Navarro|1996|p=164}}.</ref>

===Disappearance and return of body===
[[File:Evita 60 Aniversario.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Perón rests in [[La Recoleta Cemetery]]]]

Shortly after Perón's death, plans were made to construct a memorial in her honour. The monument, which was to be a statue of a man representing the ''[[descamisados]]'', was projected to be larger than the [[Statue of Liberty]]. Perón's body was to be stored in the base of the monument and, in the tradition of [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]]'s corpse, to be displayed for the public. While the monument was being constructed, Perón's embalmed body was displayed in her former office at the CGT building for almost two years. Before the monument to Perón was completed, Juan Perón was overthrown in a military [[coup d'état|coup]], the [[Revolución Libertadora]], in 1955. Juan Perón hastily fled the country and was unable to make arrangements to secure Eva Perón's body.

Following his flight, a military dictatorship took power. The new authorities removed Perón's body from display, and its whereabouts were unknown for 16 years. From 1955 until 1971, the military dictatorship of Argentina maintained a ban on Peronism. In 1971, the military found that Perón's body was buried in a crypt in [[Milan]], Italy, under the name "María Maggi de Magistris". It appeared that her body had been damaged during its transport and storage, including compressions to her face and disfigurement of one of her feet due to the body having been left in an upright position.

In 1995, [[Tomás Eloy Martínez]] published ''[[Santa Evita]]'', a fictionalised work propounding many new stories about the escapades of the corpse. Allegations that her body was the object of sexual abuse are derived from his description of an 'emotional necrophilia' by embalmers Colonel Koenig and his assistant Arancibia. Many primary and secondary references to his novel have inaccurately stated that her body was sexually abused, resulting in the widespread belief in this myth. Also included are allegations that many wax copies had been made, that the corpse had been damaged with a hammer, and that one of the wax copies was the object of an officer's sexual attentions.<ref name="Fraser epilogue">{{harvp|Fraser|Navarro|1996|loc=Epilogue}}.</ref>

===Final resting place===

In 1971, Perón's body was exhumed and flown to Spain, where Juan Perón maintained the corpse in his home. Juan Perón and his third wife, Isabel, decided to keep the corpse in their dining room on a platform near the table.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} In 1973, Juan Perón came out of exile and returned to Argentina, where he became president for the third time. Perón died in office in 1974. That year, the group [[Montoneros]] stole the corpse of [[Pedro Eugenio Aramburu]], [[Pedro Eugenio Aramburu#Death|whom they had also previously kidnapped and assassinated]]. Montoneros then used the body of Aramburu to bargain for the repatriation of Eva Perón's body.<ref name=negrete /> Juan Perón's third wife, [[Isabel Perón]], who had been elected vice-president, succeeded him, and had Eva Perón's body returned to Argentina to be displayed beside Juan Perón's body. Once Eva Perón's body had arrived in Argentina, Montoneros left Aramburu's corpse on a street in Buenos Aires.<ref name=negrete>{{cite book |last = Negrete |first = Claudio R. |date = 2010 |title = Necromanía: Historia de una pasión argentina |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bQGoIAE2p1gC&q=lopez+rega+cadaver+evita&pg=PT109 |publisher = Sudamericana |chapter = Canjeando muertos |isbn = 978-9500737692 |language = es }}</ref> Eva Perón's body was later buried in the Duarte family tomb in [[La Recoleta Cemetery]], Buenos Aires.

Later Argentine governments took elaborate measures to make Eva Perón's tomb secure. The tomb's marble floor has a trap door that leads to a compartment containing two coffins. Under that compartment is a second trap door and a second compartment, where Eva Perón's coffin rests.<ref name="Fraser 192">{{harvp|Fraser|Navarro|1996|p=192}}.</ref>