Educational purpose only. This post documents historical events related to political history and aims to educate about the cultural and historical significance of Eva Perón’s legacy. We do not glorify violence or hate.
The Bizarre Odyssey of Eva Perón’s Body: The First Lady Who Was Stolen, Hidden, and Returned
Eva Perón, known to millions as “Evita,” was Argentina’s most beloved and controversial First Lady. When she died of cervical cancer on July 26, 1952, at just 33 years old, her husband President Juan Perón ordered her body embalmed to preserve her as a symbol for the working class . The plan was to build a massive monument called the Monument to the Shirtless Ones, where Evita would rest .
But Perón was overthrown in a military coup in 1955 before the monument could be built. The new regime feared Evita’s embalmed corpse could become a rallying symbol for Peronist resistance . That fear triggered one of the strangest journeys in political history—a 16-year odyssey of theft, secret hiding places, and international intrigue.
1. The Embalming: A Life-like Icon
Spanish anatomist Dr. Pedro Ara spent more than a year embalming Evita’s body in a secret laboratory inside the CGT building in Buenos Aires . Using advanced techniques similar to those used on Lenin, he injected paraffin and glycerin to preserve her lifelike appearance . Millions of Argentines had filed past her glass coffin during 14 days of public viewing after her death .
The body stayed in the CGT building while workers prepared the site for the Monument to the Shirtless Ones—a project Evita herself had conceived before her death. But the monument was never finished .
2. The Theft: A Nighttime Heist
On November 22, 1955, months after the coup, a military unit led by Lt. Col. Carlos Moori Koenig broke into the CGT building and seized Evita’s coffin . The anti-Peronist regime was determined to prevent her tomb from becoming a pilgrimage site for Peronist supporters .
The officers debated destroying the body—burning it, throwing it into the Rio de la Plata, or dissolving it with acid . But President Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, a devout Catholic, insisted on a Christian burial—just a secret one .
3. The Hidden Years: A Bizarre Tour of Buenos Aires
The body’s first hiding places were surreal. Koenig moved it around Buenos Aires in a florist’s van parked on the streets, behind a cinema screen, and inside the city’s waterworks . He stored it for a time in the attic of Major Arandía, a colleague—until one night Arandía heard noises, fired his gun in the dark, and accidentally killed his pregnant wife .
Koenig eventually kept the coffin standing upright in his own office, showing it to trusted visitors . Disturbing stories circulated that he had become obsessed with the corpse. When Aramburu learned of this, he had Koenig removed .
4. The Vatican’s Secret: Buried in Milan
In 1957, with the covert help of the Vatican and the Company of St. Paul, the body was secretly shipped to Italy . It was buried in Milan’s Musocco Cemetery under a false name: María Maggi de Magistris, an Italian woman who had died in 1951 .
For 14 years, Evita lay in a Milan cemetery while Argentina’s Peronist movement desperately searched for her. Graffiti appeared on Buenos Aires walls asking: “Where is the body of Eva Perón?” . Her corpse became a symbol of resistance against the regime that had stolen it.
5. The Return: 1971
In 1971, military leader Alejandro Lanusse, now in power, began negotiations with exiled Juan Perón . As a gesture of goodwill, he agreed to return Evita’s body to her widower .
On September 3, 1971, the coffin—having been exhumed from Milan and driven across Europe—arrived at Perón’s home in Madrid . One witness described the scene: “General Perón, the gardener, and I took the body out of the coffin. We lay it on a marble-topped table. Our hands got dirty from all the earth, so the body had to be cleaned” .
Isabel Perón, the general’s third wife, carefully cleaned Evita’s hair and body over several days . Damage was visible: one finger was missing, likely removed to verify the body’s identity after the coup . There were also marks on the face, chest, and back .
6. Final Resting Place: The Recoleta Crypt
Juan Perón returned to Argentina and became president again in 1973. After his sudden death in 1974, Isabel Perón took power and ordered Evita’s body brought back to Buenos Aires .
Restorer Domingo Tellechea was hired to repair the damage to the body, despite the danger. “To do the work was to put myself in opposition to the people who made the body disappear,” he later said .
In October 1976, after another military coup, Evita’s body was finally placed in the Duarte family mausoleum at Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires . To ensure she would never be disturbed again, the crypt was fortified like a nuclear bunker, buried five meters underground with two steel plates .
Primary Sources:
BBC — The macabre kidnapping of Eva Perón’s corpse (2022)
BBC News — The 20-year odyssey of Eva Peron’s body (2012)
La República — ¿Por qué embalsamaron el cadáver de Eva Perón? (2022)
Univision — La misteriosa historia del cuerpo momificado de Eva Perón (2018)
Infobae — La devolución del cadáver de Evita (2017)
Time Magazine — The Odyssey of Eva Perón (1971)
Aventuras na História — Oito destinos: A saga do corpo de Evita Perón (2019)