Maria Eva Duarte Peron, Evita, in Spanish meaning little Eva, was born May 7, 1919 and died July 26, 1952. She was the second wife of President Juan Perón and served as the first lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death.
If you are not from Latin America, and from the United States, Evita is probably the most famous person you have ever heard of who you know for sure is from Argentina. It is my guess that there is probably no one else famous you know from Argentina. But this may not be true, because after writing this statement I checked a list of famous Argentinians and the list is very long, so depending on the field you are in, or your areas of interest you may know other famous Argentinians.
The only ones who come to my mind for me besides Evita is Ernesto Che Guevara born June 14, 1928 in Rosario and died October 9, 1967 and Jorge Luis Borges born August 24, 1899 in Buenos Aires and died June 14 1986.
The cemetary also holds the remains of many illustrious military Generals, presidents, scientists, poets and other affluent Argentinians. There is a saying in Argentina that it costs more to die than it does to live.
I went to see Evita yesterday at her final resting place in the Recoleta Cemetary located in the northern part of barrio Recoleta. We were alone together. The most famous Argentinian of all time and I had a moment of silence together and then more people arrived to visit with her.
A friend of mine is a professional photographer, and so we shot the dead for hours on a beautiful Saturday morning in Buenos Aires. It was an absolutely gorgeous splendid spring day. The weather this time of year is superb, and I was happy to be hanging out in a cemetary walking around looking for cool shots and noticing famous people who I now know who are from Argentina. Most of the famous people I ran into include people who have streets named after them and towns and neighborhoods in the local area.
The Nobel Peace Prize in 1936
The one person who stood out in my mind that I ran into while crusing the tombs of the dead was Mr. Carlos Saavedra Lamas.
This tomb for some reason was one we stopped at and sat for awhile, we were shooting some other stuff around the tomb and upon closer evaluation and my reading the plaque in Spanish of course I started to notice that this was no ordinary person, general or rich guy from Buenos Aires, but this was a true worldly person.
He was in the company of Martin Luther King, Linus Pauling, Andrei Sakharov, Anwar Sadat, Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Gorbachev and last but not least the Dalai Lama just to name a few from the last one hundred years or so.
So you may be wondering what did Mr Lamas do in his life to have the honor of being in the company of the above people. To find out more about his life and the time in 1936 read the link above to discover the state of Argentina in 1936.
Upon further research I also realized that a total of four Latin American men including Mr. Lamas have been granted the Nobel peace and one woman Rigoberta Menchú.
They include:
Óscar Arias Sánchez (born 1940), statesman, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (1987).
Alfonso García Robles (1911–1991), diplomat and politician, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (1982). -
Rigoberta Menchú (born 1959), activist, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (1992).
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (born 1931), activist, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (1980).
I digress today for many reasons but mainly to note that the world is a very big place and if you include human history there is a lot of information to get to know. The mind is small and the universe is vast. I continue to appreciate the opportunity and grace for being able to spend part of my life in a land very far away from my home yet rich in culture and corazón.
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