History UsefulNotes / JuanDomingoPeron

While he was enthusiastic about progressive reform and trade unions, Perón himself was no socialist despite the presence of socialists in his cabinet, regularly snubbed the Left Peronists, and was close friends with right-wing figures such as Somoza Garcia, Trujillo, and Franco. But the Cuban Revolution was becoming very popular among most Peronist youth, and Perón decided to cash in by making vague statements on television about 'nationalist socialism' in Argentina. This fired up a rising new sector of the Left Peronists; young Marxist students from rich families. Believing that Perón would be an Argentine Castro, the students clamored around him and synthesized Peronism with their communist militancy, forming the Peronist insurgent group known as the Montoneros.

Eva Perón died of cancer, and the economic crisis continued. Former allies of Peronism, such as the Church, Catholic unions and the military began to turn against Perón and plotted with the opposition. Conflicts escalated, with acts of violence on both sides, and Perón was overthrown in a bloody coup in 1955, where the [[TheRevolutionWilLNotBeCivilized rebellious armed forces]] bombed the Plaza del Mayo with jets, killing many civilians. As the leaders of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nacionalismo_%28Argentine_political_movement%29 Catholic nationalist]] and militaristic 'Argentine Revolution" began to dismantle his work, Perón left the country and sought asylum in several places, until he settled in Spain. Peronism was outlawed, but remained a strong political force in Argentina, with its fanatical supporters resisting a nationwide crackdown on Peronism by the government and military by any means possible.

* ''Music/{{Evita}}''

The alliance between Perón and the Montoneros came to an end. He ordered them to disarm and disband, but they would not. As an anti-communist and an Argentine military officer, Perón was never willing to align with the Left Peronists, nor would he follow the example of the Cuban Revolution the Montoneros admired. The Montoneros deluded themselves that Perón was being manipulated by his close friends who were all fascists, and that creating enough instability in Argentina would rouse the masses to communist revolution. So the Montoneros shot CGT leader José Rucci, rumored to be Perón's only true friend, after killing Rucci's secretary, Osvaldo Bianculli. Unsurprisingly, Rucci's murder escalated things even further, as he had ironically wanted to pursue a diplomatic approach to the Montoneros and welcome them into government. Enraged by Rucci's death, Perón expelled the Montoneros from the Justicialist Party, publicly insulted its members,[[note]]famously calling them ''estupidos imberbes'', "stupid callow people",[[/note]] and created the AAA (Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance) to hunt them down and kill them. He then purged all the Left Peronists by having them forcibly dismissed from their posts, or arrested and jailed. But out of respect for Perón, the Montoneros waited until his death and funeral to resume armed operations, and many even believed that Perón was innocent and really a helpless puppet of the notorious fascist and occultist in his cabinet, José Lopez Rega.

Isabel's economic minister, Celestino Rodrigo, devalued Argentine currency by 60% in an ill-advised move that caused the biggest economic crisis of Argentina up to that date, the "Rodrigazo", which raised wages that were rendered immediately worthless by hyperinflation. Isabel Perón, who was just a former cabaret dancer and had no political experience of any kind before becoming president, was overwhelmed by all this. She was so overwhelmed that she willingly became a figurehead for her own political advisor - José Lopez Rega, who ruled the country ''de facto'' and vowed to be tough on all 'sedition'. Lopez Rega's effective control of the government enraged the Left Peronists, and political violence erupted as the Left and Right Peronists went to war. As fears of an Argentine civil war loomed, the traditional solution emerged; a military coup to restore stability. This created the monstrous junta known as the UsefulNotes/NationalReorganizationProcess, which contrary to past trends would not step down and instead rule the country outright from 1976 to 1983, [[UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar with disastrous results.]]

The alliance between Perón and the Montoneros came to an end. He ordered them to disarm and disband, but they would not. As an anti-communist and an Argentine military officer, Perón was never willing to align with the Left Peronists, nor would he follow the example of the Cuban Revolution the Montoneros admired. The Montoneros deluded themselves that Perón was being manipulated by his close friends who were all fascists, and that creating enough instability in Argentina would rouse the masses to communist revolution. So the Montoneros shot CGT leader José Rucci, rumored to be Perón's only true friend, after killing Rucci's secretary, Osvaldo Bianculli. Unsurprisingly, Rucci's murder escalated things even further, as he had ironically wanted to pursue a diplomatic approach to the Montoneros and welcome them into government. Enraged by Rucci's death, Perón expelled the Montoneros from the Justicialist Party, publicly insulted its members,[[note]]famously calling them ''estupidos imberbes'', "stupid callow people",[[/note]] and created the AAA (Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance) to hunt them down and kill them. He then purged all the Left Peronists by having them forcibly dismissed from their posts, or arrested and jailed. But out of respect for Perón, the Montoneros waited until his death and funeral to resume armed operations, and many even believed that Perón had exiled them to placate a notorious fascist and occultist in his cabinet, José Lopez Rega.

While he was enthusiastic about progressive reform and trade unions, Perón himself was no socialist despite the presence of socialists in his cabinet, regularly snubbed the Left Peronists, and was close friends with right-wing figures such as Somoza Garcia, Trujillo, and Franco. But the Cuban Revolution was becoming very popular among most Peronist youth, and Perón decided to cash in by making vague statements on television about 'nationalist socialism' in Argentina. This fired up a rising new sector of the Left Peronists; young leftist students from rich families. Believing that Perón would be an Argentine Castro, the students clamored around him and synthesized Peronism with their communist militancy, forming the Peronist insurgent group known as the Montoneros.

While he was enthusiastic about progressive reform and trade unions, Perón himself was no socialist despite the presence of socialists in his cabinet, regularly snubbed the Left Peronists, and was close friends with right-wing figures such as Somoza Garcia, Trujillo, and Franco. But the Cuban Revolution was becoming very popular among most Peronist youth, and Perón decided to cash in by making vague statements on television about 'nationalist socialism' in Argentina. This fired up a rising new sector of the Left Peronists; rebellious young lefist students from rich families. Believing that Perón would be an Argentine Castro, the students clamored around him and synthesized Peronism with their communist militancy, forming the Peronist insurgent group known as the Montoneros.

Initially, there was much prosperity, as the country made lucrative food exports to the war-ravaged European countries during and after the war. Eva Perón in particular was known for giving gifts to citizens, from dolls to sewing machines. Several services owned by foreigners, such as railways, were nationalized, and the international trade in agricultural production was seized by the state. The market economy was transformed into a corporatist one. Alas, this prosperity was short-lived as a result of the populist spending programmes. Inflation reached spectacular rates, so a few years later Peron started an austerity program. As Perón had already been Secretary of Labor, he had little issue attracting the majority of the Argentine working class, who deserted the socialist and communist parties for Perón. They gratefully nicknamed him 'El Primer Trabajador' - the First Worker. Using loyal labor unions as a supporting base was a tactic taken from Fascist Italy and its 1927 labor charter, and indeed Perón's own labor charter is nearly identical to Mussolini's. Perón removed a great many non-Peronist unions to replace them with others loyal to him, with the dominant Peronist trade union being the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Confederation_of_Labour_(Argentina) CGT]], the General Confederation of Labour. The CGT was socialistic but staunchly anti-communist, and later came into conflict with the Peronist left wing.

Eva Perón died of cancer, and the economic crisis continued. Former allies of Peronism, such as the Church, Catholic unions and the military began to turn against Perón and plotted with the opposition. Conflicts escalated, with acts of violence on both sides, and Perón was overthrown in a bloody coup in 1955, where the [[TheRevolutionWilLNotBeCivilized rebellious armed forces]] bombed the Plaza del Mayo with jets, killing many civilians. As the leaders of the Catholic and militaristic 'Argentine Revolution" began to dismantle his work, Perón left the country and sought asylum in several places, until he settled in Spain. Peronism was outlawed, but remained a strong political force in Argentina, with its fanatical supporters resisting a nationwide crackdown on Peronism by the government and military by any means possible.

While he was enthusiastic about progressive reform and trade unions, Perón himself was no socialist, and regularly snubbed the Left Peronists. But the Cuban Revolution was becoming very popular among most Peronist youth, and Perón decided to cash in by making vague statements on television about 'nationalist socialism' in Argentina. This fired up a rising new sector of the Left Peronists; rebellious young lefist students from rich families. Believing that Perón would be an Argentine Castro, the students clamored around him and synthesized Peronism with their communist militancy, forming the Peronist insurgent group known as the Montoneros.

Like Cuba's Fidel Castro, Perón is perhaps the most polarizing figure in Argentine history, with fierce defenders and detractors alike. To his supporters, he was a great populist who was a true hero of the common people, the only politician Argentina ever needed, and the greatest Argentine to ever live. To his detractors, he was a fascist who damaged Argentine democracy beyond repair, an incompetent administrator who killed Argentina's chances at becoming a first-world nation through his inept policies, and an egotistic caudillo just as bad as Juan Manuel de Rosas [[note]]Rosas's name is synonymous with tyrant in Argentina, but many Peronists admire him[[/note]].

At home, a catastrophe erupted. The economic policy of Celestino Rodrigo, who devalued Argentine currency by 60%, caused the biggest economic crisis of Argentina up to that date, the "Rodrigazo". Isabel Perón, who was just a former cabaret dancer and had no political experience of any kind before becoming president, was overwhelmed by all this. She was so overwhelmed that she willingly became a figurehead for her own political advisor - José Lopez Rega, who ruled the country ''de facto'' and vowed to be tough on all 'sedition'. Lopez Rega's effective control of the government enraged the Left Peronists, and political violence erupted as the Left and Right Peronists went to war. As fears of an Argentine civil war loomed, the traditional solution emerged; a military coup to restore stability. This created the monstrous junta known as the UsefulNotes/NationalReorganizationProcess, which contrary to past trends would not step down and instead rule the country outright from 1976 to 1983, [[UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar with disastrous results.]]

His ideas are known as Peronism, and while the ideology contains common elements such as laborism, corporatism, Argentine nationalism, and a CultOfPersonality around Perón and his wife [[UsefulNotes/EvaPeron Eva]], it primarily revolves around a constantly shifting narrative, making it difficult to define on the traditional left-right axis of political ideologies. While this arrangement allowed Peronism to court a broad support base guaranteed to steamroll any opposition through sheer numbers, it also made it more fragile compared to other populist leaders such as Brazil's UsefulNotes/GetulioVargas and Chile's Eduardo Frei Montalva, whose ideologies formed clear center-left directions. While it attracted the support of Argentine leftists historically, Peronism takes heavy inspiration from Italian Fascism and its style of corporatism.

Because of his friendly labor policies, Perón was unusual compared to the standard Argentine military officer of the time, who was very conservative and saw all unions as communist hotbeds. He became very popular among the working classes and won the lasting loyalty of many a Catholic trade unionist. Suspecting Perón of being a closet communist, the other military cliques forced him to resign, but a demonstration held on October 17 restored him to power. After his release he married Eva Perón. The military regime called elections and Perón ran for president under the Labour Party. Most other parties, fearing the emergence of a local fascist government, united in the Democratic Union. Even the American ambassador to Argentina, Spruille Braden, took an active role in the election by accusing Perón of being pro-Axis, but Perón won anyway. It was the only case in the history of Argentina that a military dictatorship called elections, took part in them and won. In 1947, Perón formed the populist Justicialist Party that would dominate Argentina for decades to come.

Initially, there was much prosperity, as the country made lucrative food exports to the war-ravaged European countries during and after the war. Eva Perón in particular was known for giving gifts to citizens, from dolls to sewing machines. Several services owned by foreigners, such as railways, were nationalized, and the international trade in agricultural production was seized by the state. Alas, this prosperity was short-lived as a result of the populist spending programmes. Inflation reached spectacular rates, so a few years later Peron started an austerity program. As Perón had already been Secretary of Labor, he had little issue attracting the majority of the Argentine working class, who deserted the socialist and communist parties for Perón. They gratefully nicknamed him 'El Primer Trabajador' - the First Worker. Using loyal labor unions as a supporting base was a tactic taken from Fascist Italy and its 1927 labor charter, and indeed Perón's own labor charter is nearly identical to Mussolini's. Perón removed a great many non-Peronist unions to replace them with others loyal to him, with the dominant Peronist trade union being the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Confederation_of_Labour_(Argentina) CGT]], the General Confederation of Labour. The CGT was socialistic but staunchly anti-communist, and later came into conflict with the Peronist left wing.

Eva Perón died of cancer, and the economic crisis continued. Former allies of Peronism, such as the Church, Catholic unions and the army began to turn against Perón and plotted with the opposition. Conflicts escalated, with acts of violence on both sides, and Perón was overthrown in a bloody coup in 1955, where the [[LaResistance rebellious armed forces]] bombed the Plaza del Mayo with jets, killing many civilians. As the leaders of the militaristic 'Argentine Revolution" began to dismantle his work, Perón left the country and sought asylum in several places, until he settled in Spain. Peronism was outlawed, but remained a strong political force in Argentina, with its fanatical supporters resisting a nationwide crackdown on Peronism by the government and military by any means possible.

At home, a catastrophe erupted. The economic policy of Celestino Rodrigo, who devalued Argentine currency by 60%, caused the biggest economic crisis of Argentina up to that date, the "Rodrigazo". Isabel Perón, who was just a former cabaret dancer and had no political experience of any kind before becoming president, was overwhelmed by all this. She was so overwhelmed that she willingly became a figurehead for her own political advisor - José Lopez Rega, who ruled the country ''de facto'' and vowed to be tough on all 'sedition'. Lopez Rega's effective control of the government enraged the Left Peronists, and political violence erupted as Left and Right Peronists went to war. As fears of an Argentine civil war loomed, the traditional solution emerged; a military coup to restore stability. This created the monstrous junta known as the UsefulNotes/NationalReorganizationProcess, which contrary to past trends would not step down and instead rule the country outright from 1976 to 1983, [[UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar with disastrous results.]]

At home, a catastrophe erupted. The economic policy of Celestino Rodrigo, who devalued Argentine currency by 60%, caused the biggest economic crisis of Argentina up to that date, the "Rodrigazo". Isabel Perón, who was just a former cabaret dancer and had no political experience of any kind before becoming president, was overwhelmed by all this. She was so overwhelmed that she willingly became a figurehead for her own political advisor - José Lopez Rega, who ruled the country ''de facto'' and vowed to be tough on all 'sedition'. Lopez Rega's effective control of the government enraged the Left Peronists, and political violence erupted as Left and Right Peronists went to war. As fears of an Argentine civil war loomed, the traditional solution emerged; a military coup to restore stability. This created the junta known as the UsefulNotes/NationalReorganizationProcess, which contrary to past trends would not step down and instead rule the country outright from 1976 to 1983, [[UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar with disastrous results.]]

Perón's mannerisms, such as him raising his hands in the air [[note]] Perhaps for this reason, Peron's hands were sawed off by burglars who broke into his tomb in 1987, and never recovered [[/note]] before speeches as pictured above, and style of dress, particularly the [[https://library.brown.edu/create/modernlatinamerica/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2013/07/Juan_Peron_con_banda_de_presidente.jpg army dress uniform]] he proudly wore upon winning his first election, have become notorious in Argentine popular culture. His wives Eva and Isabel are also just as polarizing as their husband. Fittingly, Perón alongside Castro is one of the major inspirations for TheGeneralissimo in Latin American media.

Like Cuba's Fidel Castro, Perón is perhaps the most polarizing figure in Argentine history, with fierce defenders and detractors alike. To his supporters, he was a great populist who was a true hero of the common people, the only politician Argentina ever needed, and the greatest Argentine to ever live. To his detractors, he was a fascist who damaged Argentine democracy beyond repair, an incompetent administrator who killed Argentina's chances at becoming a first-world nation through his inept policies, and an egotistic caudillo just as bad as Juan Manuel de Rosas.

Like Cuba's Fidel Castro, Perón is perhaps the most polarizing figure in Argentine history, with fierce defenders and detractors alike. To his supporters, he was a great populist who was a true hero of the common people, the only politician Argentina ever needed, and the greatest Argentine to ever live. To his detractors, he was a fascist who damaged Argentine democracy beyond repair, and an egotistic caudillo just as bad as Juan Manuel de Rosas.

His ideas are known as Peronism, and while the ideology contains common elements such as laborism, corporatism, Argentine nationalism, and a CultOfPersonality around Perón and his wife [[UsefulNotes/EvaPerón Eva]], it primarily revolves around a constantly shifting narrative, making it difficult to define on the traditional left-right axis of political ideologies. While this arrangement allowed Peronism to court a broad support base guaranteed to steamroll any opposition through sheer numbers, it also made it more fragile compared to other populist leaders such as Brazil's UsefulNotes/GetulioVargas and Chile's Eduardo Frei Montalva, whose ideologies formed clear center-left directions. While it attracted the support of Argentine leftists historically, Peronism takes heavy inspiration from Italian Fascism and its style of corporatism.

Juan Domingo Perón (8 October 1895 -- 1 July 1974) is a military officer from [[{{Useful Notes / Argentina}} Argentina]], who served as its populist president for three terms, founded the Justicialist Party, and is one of the most famous political strongmen in Latin American history.

His ideas are known as Peronism, and while the ideology contains common elements such as laborism, corporatism, Argentine nationalism, and a CultOfPersonality around Perón and his wife Eva, it primarily revolves around a constantly shifting narrative, making it difficult to define on the traditional left-right axis of political ideologies. While this arrangement allowed Peronism to court a broad support base guaranteed to steamroll any opposition through sheer numbers, it also made it more fragile compared to other populist leaders such as Brazil's UsefulNotes/GetulioVargas and Chile's Eduardo Frei Montalva, whose ideologies formed clear center-left directions. While it attracted the support of Argentine leftists historically, Peronism takes heavy inspiration from Italian Fascism and its style of corporatism.

Juan Domingo Perón (8 October 1895 -- 1 July 1974) is a military officer from [[{{UsefulNotesArgentina}} Argentina]], who served as its populist president for three terms, founded the Justicialist Party, and is one of the most famous political strongmen in Latin American history.

Juan Domingo Perón (8 October 1895 -- 1 July 1974) is a military officer from [[UsefulNotesArgentina Argentina]], who served as its populist president for three terms, founded the Justicialist Party, and is one of the most famous political strongmen in Latin American history.

Juan Domingo Perón (8 October 1895 -- 1 July 1974) is a military officer from [[{{Useful Notes /Argentina}} Argentina]], who served as its populist president for three terms, founded the Justicialist Party, and is one of the most famous political strongmen in Latin American history.

Juan Domingo Perón (8 October 1895 -- 1 July 1974) is a military officer from [[{{Useful Notes / Argentina}} Argentina]], who served as its populist president for three terms, founded the Justicialist Party, and is one of the most famous political strongmen in Latin American history.

Juan Domingo Perón (8 October 1895 -- 1 July 1974) is a military officer from [[{{Useful Notes/Argentina}} Argentina]], who served as its populist president for three terms, founded the Justicialist Party, and is one of the most famous political strongmen in Latin American history.

Juan Domingo Perón (8 October 1895 -- 1 July 1974) is a military officer from [[UsefulNotes/Argentina Argentina]], who served as its populist president for three terms, founded the Justicialist Party, and is one of the most famous political strongmen in Latin American history.

Juan Domingo Perón (8 October 1895 -- 1 July 1974) is a military officer from [[UsefulNotes/ Argentina Argentina]], who served as its populist president for three terms, founded the Justicialist Party, and is one of the most famous political strongmen in Latin American history.

Juan Domingo Perón (8 October 1895 -- 1 July 1974) is a military officer from Argentina, who served as its populist president for three terms, founded the Justicialist Party, and is one of the most famous political strongmen in Latin American history.

His ideas are known as Peronism, and while the ideology contains common elements such as laborism, corporatism, Argentine nationalism, and a personality cult around Perón and his wife Eva, it primarily revolves around a constantly shifting narrative, making it difficult to define on the traditional left-right axis of political ideologies. While this arrangement allowed Peronism to court a broad support base guaranteed to steamroll any opposition through sheer numbers, it also made it more fragile compared to other populist leaders such as Brazil's UsefulNotes/GetulioVargas and Chile's Eduardo Frei Montalva, whose ideologies formed clear center-left directions. While it attracted the support of Argentine leftists historically, Peronism takes heavy inspiration from Italian Fascism and its style of corporatism.

His ideas are known as Peronism, and while the ideology contains common elements such as laborism, corporatism, Argentine nationalism, and a personality cult around Perón and his wife Eva, it primarily revolves around a constantly shifting narrative, making it difficult to define on the traditional left-right axis of political ideologies. While this arrangement allows Peronism to court a broad support base guaranteed to steamroll any opposition through sheer numbers, it also makes it more fragile compared to other populist leaders such as Brazil's UsefulNotes/GetulioVargas and Chile's Eduardo Frei Montalva, whose ideologies formed clear center-left directions. While it attracted the support of Argentine leftists historically, Peronism takes heavy inspiration from Italian Fascism and its style of corporatism.

After graduating from the military college, Perón started his military career, and married Aurelia Tizón, his first wife. He helped to depose President Hipólito Yrigoyen in the 1930 coup, but got reassigned elsewhere as a result of the military politics. Tizón died of uterine cancer in 1938, and the couple did not have any offspring.

A teacher of military history at the Argentine War Academy, he was sent to Europe in 1939, attached to the Royal Italian Army to study mountain warfare. He was permitted to study at the University of Turin for a semester and tour Europe to study the governments of the time and their militaries, visiting UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, France, Francoist Spain, Hungary, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Italian-occupied Albania, and the Soviet Union. When he returned he wrote positive and praising reports about UsefulNotes/FascistItaly and Germany, especially the former that he had spent most of his time in. He had great admiration for the ways the state controlled everything in those societies, although he claimed to dislike their totalitarianism. Those reports made no mention of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, nor is there any known moment when he made reference to it (either supporting or rejecting it).

Promoted to Colonel for his hard work, Perón created a secret lodge within the military, the GOU (Grupo de Oficiales Unidos). They made a coup against president Ramón Castillo; the new military government stayed neutral during WWII and only declared war on the Axis powers when Germany was already defeated, Japan was on the ropes, and the victorious Allied armies were just about to enter Berlin. From the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare he started to outline his plans, banning several unions and replacing them with unions loyal to him. When the province of San Juan had a destructive earthquake, Perón forbade all independent charity donations, channeling all the welfare support through the government. He met the radio actress UsefulNotes/EvaPeron at this time.

Because of his friendly labor policies, Perón was unusual compared to the standard Argentine military officer of the time, who was very conservative and saw all unions as communist hotbeds. He became very popular among the working class and won the lasting loyalty of many a Catholic trade unionist. Suspecting Perón of being a closet communist, the other military cliques forced him to resign, but a demonstration held on October 17 restored him to power. After his release he married Eva Perón. The military regime called elections and Perón ran for president under the Labour Party. Most other parties, fearing the emergence of a local fascist government, united in the Democratic Union. Even the American ambassador to Argentina, Spruille Braden, took an active role in the election by accusing Perón of being pro-Axis, but Perón won anyway. It was the only case in the history of Argentina that a military dictatorship called elections, took part in them and won. In 1947, Perón formed the populist Justicialist Party that would dominate Argentina for decades to come.

Initially, there was much prosperity, as the country made lucrative food exports to the war-ravaged European countries during and after the war. Eva Perón in particular was known for giving gifts to everyone, from dolls to sewing machines. Several things owned by foreigners, such as railways, were nationalized, and the international trade in agricultural production was seized by the state. Alas, this prosperity was short-lived as a result of the populist spending programmes. Inflation reached spectacular rates, so a few years later Peron started an austerity program. As Perón had already been Secretary of Labor, he had little issue attracting the majority of the Argentine working class, who deserted the socialist and communist parties for Perón. They gratefully nicknamed him 'El Primer Trabajador' - the First Worker. Using loyal labor unions as a supporting base was a tactic taken from Fascist Italy and its 1927 labor charter, and indeed Perón's own labor charter is nearly identical to Mussolini's. Perón removed a great many non-Peronist unions to replace them with others loyal to him, with the dominant Peronist trade union being the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Confederation_of_Labour_(Argentina) CGT]], the General Confederation of Labour. The CGT was socialistic but staunchly anti-communist, and later came into conflict with the Peronist left wing.

Naturally, all this created a extremely powerful personality cult around Perón and Eva, so strong that it survives into the present day. Their speeches attracted enormous crowds of cheering supporters, hundreds of buildings were erected in their names, and portraits of Perón were everywhere. Perón's very visage became a symbol of the Justicialist Party itself, and he even had his own theme song that is still sung by supporters to this day, the famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronist_March Peronist March.]]

Eva Perón died of cancer, and the economic crisis continued. Former allies of Peronism, such as the Church, Catholic unions and the army began to turn against Perón and plotted with the opposition. Conflicts escalated, with acts of violence on both sides, and Perón was overthrown in a bloody coup in 1955, where the rebellious armed forces bombed the Plaza del Mayo with jets, killing many civilians. As the leaders of the militaristic 'Argentine Revolution" began to dismantle his work, Perón left the country and sought asylum in several places, until he settled in Spain. Peronism was outlawed, but remained a strong political force in Argentina, with its fanatical supporters resisting a nationwide crackdown on Peronism by the government and military by any means possible.

While he was enthusiastic about progressive reform and trade unions, Perón himself was no socialist, and regularly snubbed the Left Peronists. But the Cuban Revolution was becoming very popular among most Peronist youth, and Perón decided to cash in by making incredibly vague statements on television about 'nationalist socialism' in Argentina. This fired up a rising new sector of the Left Peronists; rebellious young lefist students from rich families. Believing that Perón would be an Argentine Castro, the students clamored around him and synthesized Peronism with their communist militancy, forming the Peronist insurgent group known as the Montoneros.

As Isabel was already acting president, it was perhaps no real surprise that she that would get sworn in an official capacity with her husband's passing. And from there, things got even worse: the Montoneros and the communist ERP [[note]] People's Revolutionary Army [[/note]] restarted their armed campaigns separate of each other. The Montoneros attacked army barracks in the cities, and the ERP waged guerrilla warfare in the countryside, following the example of Che Guevara. The government signed decrees ordering the army to "annihilate the subversion". The police were sent to take down the Montoneros, while the army launched [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Independence Operation Independence]] to crush the ERP in their stronghold of Tucumán Province. These operations soundly defeated both insurgencies, but came at the cost of many innocent civilians tortured and killed because they were thought to be subversives; a prelude to the horrors of the Dirty War.

To safeguard Perón's popularity, Eva's friend and CGT official Raul Apold crafted a powerful propaganda campaign based on the methods of Joseph Goebbels. This propaganda demonized the opposition to Perón and the state of Argentina before his arrival, and glorified him as a champion of the people, even attributing to him labor rights that existed since decades before. Perón attracted controversy for his sheltering of Nazi war criminals, but at the same time he protected Jewish immigrants and Argentine Jews. Eva rallied Argentine women into politics by enlisting them in the Peronist cause, although she followed a fairly conservative model that strongly discouraged abortion and radical feminism.

Promoted to Colonel for his hard work, Perón created a secret lodge within the military, the GOU (Grupo de Oficiales Unidos). They made a coup against president Ramón Castillo; the new military government stayed neutral during WWII and only declared war on the Axis powers when Germany was already defeated and the victorious armies were just about to enter Berlin. From the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare he started to outline his plans, banning several unions and replacing them with unions loyal to him. When the province of San Juan had a destructive earthquake, Perón forbade all independent charity donations, channeling all the welfare support through the government. He met the radio actress UsefulNotes/EvaPeron at this time.