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Not a cult
The World: PERONISM: Our Sun, Our Air, Our Water
DURING a political rally in Argentina in 1954, one of Juan Domingo Perón's followers questioned the dictator about his health. Before Perón could reply, a zealous aide shouted,...
“DURING a political rally in Argentina in 1954, one of Juan Domingo Perón’s followers questioned the dictator about his health. Before Perón could reply, a zealous aide shouted, “We’ll have Perón for a hundred years!”
… Peronism is also a personality cult—in fact, a split-personality cult …
What primarily motivated Juan Perón was political opportunism, not the making of a new social order. But, he created an ideological façade that promised the people social change, social justice, economic independence from foreign powers and political sovereignty.
Perón nationalized the British-owned Argentine railroads, retired the entire foreign debt, and by 1947 boasted a fivefold increase in industrial production during his regime. Fraudulent bookkeeping concealed the fact that his spending programs had driven Argentina to the verge of bankruptcy.
On his trips into the countryside, Perón carried gifts for everybody—candy, bakery goods, a kilo of meat, a pair of shoes. Rarely did peasants realize that the gifts had been “requisitioned” from local shopkeepers. But they were ready to cheer when Evita told them, “There is only one Perón. He is God for us, so much so that we cannot conceive of heaven without Perón. He is our sun, our air, our water, our life.”
