Death didn't end things for Eva Peron. Honestly, it was just the beginning of a saga so weird and macabre that if you saw it in a movie, you’d probably roll your eyes at the screenwriters.
She died at 33. Young, beautiful, and absolutely worshipped by the Argentine working class. But when the cancer finally took her on July 26, 1952, her husband, Juan Perón, didn't just want a funeral. He wanted an icon that would last forever. He hired Dr. Pedro Ara, a Spanish specialist often called a "pathologist of the soul," to turn the body of Eva Peron into something immortal.
The Art of Death: How Dr. Ara Preserved Evita
This wasn't your standard funeral home prep. Ara spent years working on her. He replaced her blood with glycerine and paraffin, a process that basically turned her into a human statue.
The results were uncanny. She looked like she was just taking a nap. People who saw her lying in state at the CGT (General Confederation of Labor) headquarters said she looked "otherworldly." Her skin was soft. She smelled of almonds and lavender. Some say Ara became obsessed with his creation. He worked in a lab on the third floor of the CGT building, treating the corpse with a level of devotion that bordered on the fanatical.
Then the world fell apart.
In 1955, a military coup—the "Libertadora"—toppled Juan Perón. He fled to Paraguay and then Spain, but he left the body of Eva Peron behind. The new military rulers were terrified. They knew that as long as the people could visit her, her legend would fuel a revolution. They couldn't burn it (they were Catholic, after all), and they couldn't just throw it in the river without risking a massive uprising.
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The 16-Year Odyssey of a Stolen Corpse
What followed was a decades-long game of hide-and-seek with a cadaver.
Colonel Moori Koenig was the man tasked with making "that woman" disappear. He took the body from the CGT building in the middle of the night. But things got weird fast. Everywhere he tried to hide the coffin—behind a cinema screen, in the attic of a major’s house, inside a van—mysterious flowers and candles would appear the next morning. It was like the public knew exactly where she was.
Koenig started to lose it. He allegedly kept the coffin in his office, showing it off to guests. There are even darker rumors that his obsession became sexual, a claim that researchers and biographers still debate today.
Eventually, the military grew tired of Koenig’s instability. They moved the body of Eva Peron overseas in 1957. They used "decoy" coffins sent to various embassies to confuse any Peronist spies. The real Eva was shipped to Italy under the name "María Maggi de Magistris," a fake identity for a woman supposedly killed in a car crash. She was buried in a small plot in Milan, where she stayed for 14 years.
A Quick Timeline of the Travels
- 1952-1955: Resting at the CGT building in Buenos Aires under Dr. Ara’s care.
- 1955: Stolen by military officers; hidden in vans and office buildings.
- 1957: Secretly shipped to Italy; buried under a false name in Milan.
- 1971: Exhumed and driven to Spain to be reunited with Juan Perón.
- 1974: Returned to Argentina after Juan’s death.
- 1976: Finally moved to the Recoleta Cemetery.
The Dinner Guest in Madrid
In 1971, the political winds shifted. The military government in Argentina was struggling and thought that returning the body might appease the Peronists. They dug her up and drove her to Juan Perón’s villa in Madrid, known as Puerta de Hierro.
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Imagine having your dead ex-wife in your dining room.
That’s basically what happened. Perón and his third wife, Isabel, kept the open casket in their home. Rumor has it that Isabel used to comb Eva’s hair to "absorb her magic." Some accounts say she even lay in the coffin next to the body to soak up the political power of the "Spiritual Leader of the Nation."
When Juan Perón returned to Argentina in 1973 to become president again, he left Eva in Spain. It wasn't until after he died in 1974 that his widow, now President Isabel Perón, finally brought the body of Eva Peron back home.
Where She Rests Now (And Why It’s a Bunker)
You can visit her today, but don't expect to see her.
She is buried in the Duarte family tomb in the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires. But the family wasn't taking any chances. After everything that had happened, they built a tomb that is essentially a nuclear-proof vault.
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Eva is buried nearly 20 feet underground. The tomb is reinforced with steel plates and has multiple trapdoors. It’s designed to withstand bombs, fire, and—most importantly—grave robbers. Even after death, she remains one of the most protected people in Argentina.
Why the Mystery Still Matters
The saga of the body of Eva Peron isn't just a ghost story. It’s a reflection of how deeply she fractured and unified a nation. To her followers, she was a saint whose body refused to decay. To her enemies, she was a dangerous symbol that had to be erased.
If you're planning to visit her tomb, here’s how to handle it like a local:
- Don't rush: Recoleta is a maze of marble. Find the Duarte tomb; it's usually the one with the most flowers stuck in the gate.
- Understand the gravity: People still cry there. It’s not just a tourist stop; it’s a shrine.
- Look for the details: Check out the plaques on the side of the tomb. They tell the story of her "official" life, even if they skip the part about the 16-year road trip.
The reality is that Eva Peron’s body became a political currency. It was traded for favors, stolen for spite, and hidden out of fear. It reminds us that sometimes, a symbol is more powerful than the person ever was.
To dig deeper into this history, you should check out Tomás Eloy Martínez’s book, Santa Evita. While it’s technically a novel, it’s based on extensive interviews with the people who actually handled the body during its disappearance. It captures the madness of that era better than any dry history book ever could. You might also want to look up the 1997 documentary Evita: The Grave with No Peace for actual footage and interviews with the officers involved.