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A half-deflated leather football, a box of marbles, a ragged

doll and a handful of windup cars and trains line the display cabinets in the

Evita Museum like ancient relics. These worn-out toys played a vital role in

the rise of Peronism in Argentina, one of the most influential movements in

Latin America.

Long before politicians started using social media to

influence public opinion, the political movement of Juan Perón and his second

wife also sought to touch voters on a personal level: handing out toys to 4

million children from Argentina’s poorest families. The practice was

fundamental to the popularity and at times unconditional backing showered by

Argentines on Peronism, which persisted far beyond the deaths of Perón and wife

Eva María Duarte, famously known as Evita and idolized by her supporters as the

“champion of the poor.”

To mark the 100th anniversary of her birth on May 7, 1919,

the Evita Museum in Buenos Aires has inaugurated an exhibition titled

“Childhood and Peronism, the toys of the Eva Perón Foundation.” It displays

several dozen of the toys distributed by the party every Christmas Day and the

Epiphany holiday between 1948 and 1955.

“Children were always given particular importance in Eva’s

work, especially all matters concerning children’s rights,” Marcela Genés, the

museum’s curator, told The Associated Press. “She herself had a very

impoverished childhood and that stayed with her. Achieving justice for children

was a particular focus for Eva.”

Juan Perón, an army general, served as president for two

different spans. He first took office in 1946 and won re-election in 1951 with

a landslide victory of 63.4% of the votes, still the highest percentage ever in

Argentina. The beginning of his second term, in 1952, was overshadowed by

Evita’s death at age 33 from uterine cancer. Three years later, he was

overthrown and forced into exile by a military coup. After 18 years, Perón

returned and was elected president again in 1973. He served until his death in

1974 and was succeeded by his widow, Isabel Perón, who herself was ousted by

the military in 1976.

Leaving behind humble beginnings, Evita arrived in Buenos

Aires as a teenager. She worked as an actress until she met Perón at a festival

held to raise funds for the victims of Argentina’s 1944 earthquake. Once she

had become first lady, she created the Eva Perón Foundation after being

prevented from heading the Buenos Aires Charitable Society, an organization

formed by upper-class women who traditionally appointed the first lady as its

honorary president.

Many children were delivered toys by Evita herself, while

others picked up their gifts at post offices across the country.

One item in the museum exhibit is a tin train set. Somewhat

rusty, it has huge sentimental value for 80-year-old Saúl Macyszyn. Seven

decades ago, it helped him recover after an accident left him without one arm

and paralyzed in the other arm and both legs.

Macyszyn chokes up when he recalls being visited in the

hospital by Evita after undergoing a seventh surgery.

“I saw many doctors and nurses coming toward me. Evita was

in the middle of them. With all the flashes from the photographers’ cameras, it

looked like she had fallen from heaven,” he said.

First, Evita greeted his parents. She then approached his

bedside and said: “Look, little Saúl, you will not be able to be a worker like

your father. You will have to study. The foundation will give you a

scholarship.”

Macyszyn said the accident had left him isolated, because an

amputated arm was considered “monstrous” in those days. The train set he

received from Evita served as a bridge with other children.

“Everyone in the neighborhood would come, so I had lots of

friends. I had a happy childhood,” he said.

The foundation continued after Evita’s death until the coup

toppled Perón.

Critics of Peronism accuse the movement of engaging in

populism and patronage to win votes from the poor rather than promoting social

mobility through enduring structural reforms. But away from political debates,

Evita’s persona has transcended time and borders.

The worldwide fascination began in the 1970s with Andrew

Lloyd Webber’s musical “Evita.” Then came Alan Parker’s film starring Madonna

that was based on the musical, followed by Evita’s dresses shown at New York’s

Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of a Christian Dior exhibit. The Evita

Museum draws dozens of tourists every day.

One recent visitor, Paola Jaque of Chile, looked at the toy

exhibition in admiration.

“The variety of toys and the letters the children wrote to

ask her for toys caught my eye,” Jaque said. “She answered them personally,

which I don’t believe happens nowadays.”