Perón, Isabel (“Isabelita”)

(1931– )

   President of Argentina (1974–1976) and the first woman president of any country. Born María Estela Martínez Cartas on 4 February 1931 in La Rioja, a provincial capital in northwest Argentina. Her family moved to Buenos Aires when she was very young. She quit school after the sixth grade and studied piano, ballet, and French. She also developed a passion for romantic Spanish poetry. In 1952 she set off on a career as a dancer, taking Isabel as her professional name. Three years later, working as a nightclub dancer in Panama City, Panama, Isabel met Juan Perón, who had been overthrown as president of Argentina only a few months before and was now in exile. Soon she became his personal secretary and live-in companion, moving with him from country to country before they settled, in 1960, in Madrid. They were married in 1961. From Madrid Perón directed his Peronist movement and plotted his return from exile. Isabel became his envoy and made several trips to Argentina, where she attended rallies, endorsed candidates, and entered talks with the administration of President Alejandro Lanusse. She accompanied her husband on a monthlong visit to Argentina in November 1972—legal restrictions against him being temporarily waived—and then returned permanently with him in June 1973 after the restoration of civilian government. The new president, Héctor José Cámpora, Perón’s stand-in during the recent elections, resigned in July at Perón’s behest. New elections were called, and there was little doubt that Perón would be the winning candidate. The only question was whom he would select as his running mate—an important matter considering his advanced age (77) and his poor health. To everyone’s surprise he named Isabel, who told a Peronist convention crowd, “I cannot offer you great things. I am only a disciple of Perón.” The couple won by a landslide on 23 September 1973, defeating the Radical party candidate Ricardo Balbín. Many thought Perón the only leader influential enough to solve the country’s economic and political problems. The economy improved at first, but by the middle of the following year, it deteriorated amid strikes, high inflation, and a black market. The country’s long tradition of political unrest persisted. Right- and left-wing Peronists struggled for control of the movement (Perón sided with the right), and the Marxist Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (People’s Revolutionary Army) continued its campaign of violence. On 1 July 1974 Perón died, and Isabel became president. In September the leftist Peronist Montoneros, whose hope for any revolutionary potential in Peronism died with Perón, ended their truce and resumed urban guerrilla activities. The country moved further to the right as Isabel came under the influence of José López Rega, her spiritual-advisor-turned-ministerof-social-welfare. Government repression against leftists intensified. Meanwhile, the economy continued to worsen. In 1975, under intense pressure, Isabel took lengthy leaves of absence. Her cabinet resigned in July after labor called a general strike. Soon after, her advisor López Rega was forced into exile by organized labor, oldguard Peronists, and the military. In November, convalescing after a gall bladder attack, she faced charges of corruption. Despite repeated calls for her resignation, she remained determined to serve out her term of office, scheduled to end in May 1977.

   Few were surprised when the military removed her from power on 24 March 1976 and placed her under house arrest. Released in 1981, she went into exile in Spain. She came back to Argentina in 1983 after the return to civility. She has remained in the background ever since.