It was jealousy of Peron's growing popularity and worries about his close relations with the descamisados that led a group of his opponents within the army to order his arrest and imprisonment on the grounds that he was creating public disorder. The extent of Peron's popular following was immediately revealed in a large-scale protest outside the prison which forced the authorities to release him after only four days. Of particular significance in the episode was the part played by Eva Duarte, a prominent female supporter. Eva, or Evita ('little Eva'), as she became better known, was to prove to be one of his greatest political assets. In this instance, she had not organized the protest, but, once it had begun, she was foremost in supporting him. The couple were married soon after his release.
SOURCE C
What information does Source C convey, regarding the relationship that Eva Peron had established with ordinary Argentinians by the 1950s?
An extract from a letter written in 1951 from a young girl asking Eva Peron for her help, quoted in The Argentina Reader, edited by Gabriela Nouzelles and Graciela Montaldo, published by Duke University Press, Durham and London, UK, 2002
My dear Evita, I'm not going to ask you for anything the way everybody else around here does, cause the only thing I want is for you to read this letter and remember my name. I know that if you keep my name in your mind even if it's just for one little minute nothing can happen to me and I'll be happy and not have any ailments or miseries. I'm 17 and I sleep on the mattress you left at my house for a present last Christmas. I love you lots, pretty Evelina.
Why did Peron’s presidential campaign prove successful?
World History
