Evita's Odyssey
Linda Pressly tells the stranger-than-fiction story of the odyssey made by the embalmed body of Eva Peron. From 2012.
When Eva Peron - Argentina's most famous First Lady died in 1952 - her body was embalmed.
Three years later in 1955, her widower, Juan Peron, was deposed in a coup.
Evita was the most potent symbol of Peronism, and military officers feared her corpse could become a rallying point of protest against the new government.
So they stole it. It probably spent time in a van parked in Buenos Aires, the city's waterworks, behind a cinema screen, and in the offices of Military Intelligence. But wherever it stayed, it is said that candles and flowers appeared. Clearly a more long-term solution was required...
Linda Pressly tells the stranger-than-fiction tale of what happened to her body over the next two decades - in Argentina and Europe.
It's an extraordinary story - one that takes in more grave-robbing, kidnap, murder, a revolutionary guerrilla group, and the occult.
Through interviews with key players - like the man who repaired the damage to Evita's body when it finally returned to Argentina in 1974 - this is a fascinating glimpse of Argentina before it descended into its darkest and bloodiest days of military dictatorship in the 1970s.
It is a story that will stay with you.
Producer: Linda Pressly
First broadcast on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 in July 2012.
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Broadcasts
- Mon 23 Jul 2012 20:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
- Fri 5 Oct 2012 11:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
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