The incredible story of Pérez Esquivel with Evita: “That is Peronism”

Adolfo Perez Esquivel is an Argentine activist and professor -among many other things-, who was distinguished with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980 for his commitment to the defense of democracy and human rights in the framework of the different military dictatorships that took place in Latin America. Beyond everything he achieved, as a child he had many complications and it was not easy for him to study. But Eva Peron appeared and gave him the opportunity to transform into who he is.

Born on November 26, 1931 in the City of Buenos Aires -specifically in the neighborhood of San Telmo-, Pérez Esquivel is currently 90 years old.. Son of Cándido Pérez González, a Spanish immigrant from Pontevedra who worked as a fisherman and his mother, whom he did not know but knew that he was of Basque origin. For a time he lived in the Patronato Español de Colegiales (boarding school) and then with his grandmother, in the Haedo neighborhood.

At the end of his primary stage, where he had already fallen in love with sculpture, he moved with his family to San Telmo and then went on to study at the Manuel Belgrano National School of Fine Arts in Retiro (where he later became a teacher). But beyond all that has been achieved, It is important to note that Eva Perón played a central role in your education.

“A boy without a mother and with a blind father had to work because the money was not enough. He wrote to Evita asking for help and a few days later they received a pension that allowed him to study”, wrote Andrés Pérez Esquivel in relation to his family history. After sharing an image of a little Adolfo in overalls and Eva, he added: “Years later that child, my grandfather, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.” And completed: “That is Evita and Peronism, an Argentina in which no one is left over.”

It is not the first nor the only known story of this style. the singer-songwriter Facundo Cabralborn on May 22, 1937, took four months to travel to the Federal Capital when he lived in Tierra del Fuego to meet with President Juan Domingo Perón and his wife Eva Perón since he had heard that they helped those most in need. “A man told my mother that there was a president who cared about the poor,” started.

From there, he traveled to La Plata because they informed him that both were going to be in an act. He sought to approach the president’s car and he saw it when the security forces tried to stop him. “Did you want to talk to me?” he asked. Peron. And a Cabral very young, he consulted: “Is there work?”. Eve listened and said: “Finally someone who asks for work and not alms. Of course there is, my love, there is always work.”

Following this they took care of him, gave him clothes, food and returned him home by plane along with a letter and a job for his mother in a school in the town of Tandil. “Eva Perón saved our lives, that simple. I would have really liked him to live many more years because I would have liked to thank him personally. The problem for which he has lived so long on the street is not so much hunger or cold, which are important, but it is not as hard as knowing that one is outside the party, you are absolutely excluded from society,” he assured in That moment.

The full interview: