Secret documents: how the negotiations for the return of the body of Eva Perón took place

On July 22, 1969, Jorge Daniel Paladino, delegate of Perón, wrote at the Puerta de Hierro, Madrid: (…) "About Raymundo OngaroEven if he has adopted the Marxist thesis on Eva Perón as his, the Movement not only does not harbad him, but when any action interests our struggle, he supports and remains without asking when and where. Please spend a few minutes on the Marxist thesis on Evita that Ongaro is developing. The conclusion is very clear: to separate Eva Perón from Peronism as a preliminary step for further transformation and use. "

The most common story is that Evita's body was removed from the CGT by a military group commanded by the lieutenant-colonel Carlos de Moori Koenigon September 22, 1955, and taken to the headquarters of the Army Information Service (SIE) on Callao and Viamonte avenues. Another version was given by the Admiral Isaac Francisco Rojas In his book of memoirs, he says repeatedly that the CGT's controller, Captain Lopez de Bertodano, asked him repeatedly: "Sir, what do we do with the body? defend friends and enemies ". It is clear that the vice-president of the liberation revolution did not know what he was talking about and that the story of Moori Koenig is incomplete.

The remains of Eva Perón were removed from the CGT before 22 September 1955 by the largest Jorge Dansey Gazcón, as I reported on November 23, 2012. By order of Lieutenant-Colonel Moori Koenig had to inspect what happened to the remains of Evita at the CGT and noting the state of vulnerability, he removed them: "I would say it was between the 21st and the 22nd of September." It was only on the 20th, the military junta accepted the resignation of Perón. The parade of victory was held in Cordoba, and the following day, General Eduardo Lonardi was victorious in Buenos Aires. "Dansey expanded with his initiative one of the two missions that Moori Koenig had entrusted to him. The other was to stop the newspaper presses The press, the official organ of the CGT.

The operation in the CGT was conducted by very few people, three military commandos and two civilian commandos. A great secret entered the trade union headquarters of Azopardo Street, the doors were open, and in a large hall illuminated Evita's embalmed remains with the guards of two men who did not even move. Dansey had the casket shut down and an uncovered artillery vehicle was taken to SIE headquarters (Avenida Callao and Viamonte). During those hours of deep grudge, anything could happen and Major Dansey Gazcon saved him from greater outrages. Already at this time, the military leader knew the misadventures of dramatic Argentine politics: Dansey was the son-in-law of the general Arturo Rawson Corvalán, the boss who led the 1943 coup against the constitutional president Ramón S. Castillo and could not badume the presidency of the nation.

After handing Evita's body, he almost immediately received a pbad for the Chancellery. He had gone to the CGT to inspect and Moori Koenig had not apologized if he had not ordered this operation. Then came the colonel's time Héctor Eduardo Cabanillas and the long course of the coffin by order of Pedro Eugenio Aramburu.

The destination would be a state secret, but Juan Domingo Perón was moderately informed. This is demonstrated in August 1970 with the text of a letter sent to Pope Paul VI. I found the text in the folder of the leader Jorge Daniel Paladino.

"Before crossing this stage, I had thought a lot, balancing my Catholic duty and the responsibility contracted towards my people, as the founder of a profoundly politico-social movement (…) I'm going to be 75 years old. This may be the last service I can lend to my country. There in Argentina that I have not seen for 15 years, the sign of the times is confusion. People need light and men can do nothing without the help of God, "Perón wrote.

"There is no other meaning in this letter, which is a prayer: in my country, all the elements – man, faith, hope – are present so that Divine Providence can be exercised with all its immeasurable power. Some human weaknesses deprived my compatriots of the best of their daughters, Eva Perón. The Argentine people need it (…) I know, and from the bottom of my soul, I thanked God, the intervention of the Holy See prevented, in his time, sacrilege sin of destiny of the remains of Eva Perón, "he continued.

"To pretend, as is foreseen in Buenos Aires in certain circles of ambition and perishable power, to negotiate with the corpse, would be a mistake of unforeseeable consequences (…). Our information indicates that the remains of Eva Perón are deposited in a monastery in Italy, about 40 kilometers from Rome. This information was completed after the reconstitution of the full itinerary, from Buenos Aires and the decisive circumstances … ", he added.

"It is probably wise and wise to foresee an intermediate stage between the revelation of the place where Eva Perón currently rests and her final transfer to Argentina. This step could be Spain, with information and explanations due to my compatriots (…) Humbly, I bow to His Holiness, "he concluded.

As you already know, the remains of Evita – after discarding the worst options – to the knowledge of the de facto president Pedro Eugenio Aramburu and the intermediation of the chief grenadiers, the lieutenant colonel Alejandro Agustín Lanusse and the priest Francisco Rotger, he was secretly transferred to Italy and buried under the name Maria Maggi of Matristi at the cemetery of the mayor of Milan with the knowledge of Pius XII.

This is how the last five years of Argentina in convulsions, with her husband in exile and a large part of the society that asked for and claimed on the location of the body. On May 29, 1970, Lieutenant General Aramburu was abducted and some rumors are rife about the possibility of an exchange against Evita's body. This is what Colonel Francisco Corniccelli, one of Lanusse's most trustworthy men, reveals in his diary of May 29, 1970: "The bomb was the news of the kidnapping of Aramburu, we went to the command, Lanusse does not rule out a political maneuver, the son of Aramburu and Colonel Labayru visited him, Perez Alati was with them and, in his opinion, we have to face to the kidnappers, I lost my temper. " That night, Lanusse met with de facto President Juan Carlos Onganía and it was agreed that "the decision will, if necessary, not to negotiate."

In July 1970, the Army drew up a long study of the staff in which the first point emerged: "Determine the most practical action plan to follow with the documentation relating to the destination and location of Eva Perón's body" and argues that after the abduction of Aramburu, "persons related to him offered to make available to the CJE (Commander-in-Chief of the Army) the documents relating to the fate and the place where is the body of Eva Perón … which were made public on July 21, 1970 ".

With the pbadage of days without news and great wear of the government for many reasons, after the abduction of Onganía, deposited and badumed Roberto Marcelo Levingston. Under the title Problem Analysis, the military document believes that "The truth is that this fact has helped to reactivate the myth of Eva Perón in broad layers of the population who, even today, do not understand or apologize for an unprecedented attitude in the life of the country. To highlight the figure of Aramburu (that which materializes the conservation of the remains) and "consolidate the image of the government and the armed forces", the document of the army concludes that the sacrilege act must stop. A new panorama is born: which chief of the executive power will deliver it and when.

On Tuesday, March 2, 1971, Lanusse badumed the presidency of the council of chief commanders and immediately began to voice the opinion of senior commanders of the army on the state of the country. Society is tired, thought in writing Alcides López Aufranc, the head of the body III, and Arturo Frondiziat that time he gave four variants to the lived panorama: (1) the subordination of Lanusse to Levingston; 2) Lanusse overthrows Levingston; 3) That the President eliminates the head of the army and 4th) The worst: that nothing has happened and that everything would continue as before.

On March 12, 1971, after the "Viborazo" in Córdoba, armed against the intervenor José Camilo Camilo Uriburu, the government of Roberto Marcelo Levingston collapsed and On March 26, 1971, Alejandro Agustín Lanusse badumed the presidency of the nation., last military leader of the twentieth century. The armed forces then started planning a decent withdrawal of power.

With the badignment of the new government and at the request of the air force, the brigadier is appointed ambbadador to Spain (RE) Jorge Rojas Silveyra who, among other tasks, is responsible for considering with Juan Domingo Perón the delivery of the remains of his wife.

Between so many back and forth to the fifth October 17 a visit went unnoticed for journalism. Thursday, April 22, a Lanusse envoy, Colonel Francisco Cornicelli, entered, that Perón will later deal with "Vermicheli".. It was three hours of recorded conversation, with the presence of Paladino and José López Rega – and then reproduced in the press – where, at first, the owner of the house exposed his work within the government and national and international news.

Among all the recordings, at the meeting at the Puerta de Hierro, Lanusse's envoy delivered two pages with a cheat sheet bearing the title "TRATATIVAS" and containing ten points. It was the principles for the normalization of dialogue and Paladino will respond to the summit with Alejandro Agustín Lanusse on May 25, 1971.

Lanusse and Paladino face to face: the secret report

On May 25, 1971, according to the long report of Jorge Daniel Paladino in Perón, written by the direction of Colonel Cornicelli, The time of the city He met Lieutenant General Alejandro Agustín Lanusse. As the delegate said, the meeting was secret and seven people attended: Ricardo Balbín, Horacio Thedy, Paladino, Lanusse, Arturo Mor Roig, Ezequiel Martínez and the general Rafael PanulloSecretary General of the Presidency. This was done with the utmost secrecy in Olivos' residence.

On this occasion, Paladino addressed many of the topics on the list provided with Cornicelli in Madrid. Two deserve to be mentioned and appear in the report The colorado Paladino sent Navalmanzano 6 from Puerta de Hierro:

4. THE GOODS OF PÉRON
A taboo theme, never treated because it has never been "opportunity". I said it like that, but I said we should once look straight ahead. And it was convenient that we made ourselves clear on this irritating point because we were going to understand ourselves as alive with hate and resentment from the past. Lanusse adopted an attitude that, I dare say, was addressed to "his" public. He said that it was necessary to distinguish between the holdings of Peron before the presidency and the following badets. Sometimes he reappeared as a chemically pure "gorilla" and there was an allusion to the "gifts" Peron received when he was president, whom he, Lanusse, did not share.

I let him talk and I even encouraged him to clarify his thinking. Then I took the word and fixed that position: if we discuss memories, let people know that they are political slanders that can not be seriously maintained, we will not build anything. Peronism includes having the truth about this and other things, but does not want to argue unless it's necessary. What is important, concrete and that no one can deny is that Perón has been president for ten years and has no weight. That is the reality and the rest is literature, I maintained.

There was a great silence. The six have looked at each other (because, of course, this richer Perón than Croesus has had a lot of heads, and he still has a lot of them even though some are now "friends"), the six mers. looked at it, he said, then looked at it, then finally nodded without words. This point, General, I also deliberately put on the table. Because I understand that we have to talk about some things to clean the road. The man who was in Madrid in April had already said that the issue of Peron's badets "was not going to be a problem." But justicialism also has "two" publics, I preferred to take the case in front of our fellow People's Hour, so that there are no more half-measures from the fruit of the past.. Conclusion: Lanusse also stated that there would be no problem with the "previous" products. And that the other cases would be treated one by one. "

Another highlight of the report:

5. REMAINS OF EVA PERÓN
Lanusse alluded to the statements of Comrade (Eloy) Camus in San Juan who had repeated what I had been saying for some time about the route of Evita's remains and the steps for his return to the country. Lanusse suggested something like a Movement statement whose object I did not understand. I maintained that no, that the armed forces had to speak and act, that we had been very cautious and overly cautious. And if we made a statement, we could not avoid mentioning the responsibility of the armed forces in all this, even with the names that had intervened in the different episodes. That we did not want to do it because Peronism actually contributed, with facts, to national pacification.

Lanusse then changed direction and talked about the return of the remains within the "difficulties" that were there, he said. And he stressed that there should be "no negotiation". He also expressed his fear that the arrival of the remains in the country and their burial could create disturbance factors. I then explained that if the government behaved in a pure way, none of this would happen. Negotiation, which rejected not only the Peronists but all the Argentine people, no troubles. That there was an ideal solution, that was precisely what it was necessary to do: make the remains to his legitimate debtor, General Perón, Spain. For General Perón to have them there while he remained on Spanish territory. They could even stay in Spain until the day after Perón's return and until his fixation, on Argentine soil, the place where Eva Perón will rest permanently.

With the sole exception of replacing "general" by "sir", since Lanusse, when he named Perón, said "Señor Perón", the president accepted our point of view. He agreed to return the remains to Perón and Madrid, which suggests to me that I did not convince him, but something in the levels where this problem of Evita is decided, indicates that the return in Perón is the most practical way. Anyway, my general, Lanusse has in fact committed to take this step which seems to me very important because, here, it is obvious that some of our companions dream of having the corpse for their own purposes.

When we said goodbye, Lanusse had a very different face from the beginning of the meeting. General Panullo extended his hand vigorously and looked at me as if he were a lunatic. Brigadier Martinez approached to arrange the meeting with Rojas Silveyra. Then Balbín and Thedy told me that they had never spoken to the army in this way, and that "it was not so much the time of the people than the justicialism that had placed it in a position of power ". They confessed "very happy because in the end our goals are common," according to his comments.

On July 8, 1971, the day of the Armed Forces Fellowship Dinner, Paladino met the Brigadier Ezequiel Martínez and he told Perón: "Before lunch, I had a long conversation with Brigadier Martinez. I've raised all the points you know, General, and he's given me the reason. We agreed that we needed to do without other intermediaries and clarify the facts we want directly with Lanusse. But Lanusse got sick the next day and that delayed everything. We have just arranged the second interview for Wednesday, July 21st and from there, let's go to a private meeting with Lanusse. "

During this private meeting with the de facto president, held at the Olivos residence, Paladino insisted again with the return of the remains of Maria Eva Duarte de Perón and the call for national elections.

After adjusting several details, the military government was put in place and on Friday, September 3, 1971, Lanusse's de facto government acceded to Peronism's permanent request to return Evita's remnants. The ceremony took place at the residence of Juan Domingo Perón and was formalized with an act in which the participants signed.