eva_own

Excerpts from Evita's speeches and her autobiography
"La razón de mi vida" or "The Reason for myLife".

I was not, nor am I, anything more than a humble woman...a sparrow in an immense flock of sparrows...But Perón was, and is, a gigantic condor that flies high and sure among the summits and near to God. If it had not been for him who came down to my level and taught me to fly in another fashion, I would never have known what a condor is like, nor ever have been able to contemplate the marvellous and magnificent immenseness of my people.

That is why neither my life nor my heart belongs to me, and nothing of all that I am or have is mine. All that I am, all that I have, all that I think and all that I feel, belongs to Perón.

But I do not forget, nor will I ever forget, that I was a sparrow, nor that I am still one. If I fly higher, it is through him. If I walk among the peaks, it is through him. If I see clearly what my people are, and love them and feel their affection caressing my name, it is solely through him.

That is why I dedicate to him, wholly, this song which, like that of a sparrow, has no beauty, but is humble and sincere, and contains all the love of my heart.
The subject of the rich and the poor has been, ever since, the subject of my musings. I think I never mentioned it to other people, not even to my mother, but I thought about it often. I still needed, however, to take a step forward along the path of my discoveries.

I knew that there were poor and that there were rich; and I knew that the poor were more numerous than the rich, and were to be found everywhere. I had yet to learn the third dimension of injustice. Until I was eleven years old I believed that there were poor just as there was grass, and that there were rich just as there were trees.

One day I heard for the first time, from the lips of a working-man, that there were poor because the rich were too rich, and that revelation made a strong impression on me. I connected that opinion with all the things I had thought of on the subject...and, almost instantaneously, I realized that the man was right. Even more than through the power of reason, I felt it was true.

I admit I learned it almost at one blow, and that I learned it though suffering; and I declare that it never seemed to me either logical or natural. I felt, even then, in my innermost heart, something which I now recognize as a feeling of indignation. I did not understand why if there were poor people there must also be rich ones, nor why the latter's eagerness for riches must be the
cause of the poverty of so many people.

I have but one thing that counts, and it is in my heart; it burns in my soul, it aches in my flesh, and it ignites my nerves; that is my love for you the people and for Perón...I never wanted nor do I now want anything for myself. My glory is and always will be Perón's shield and my people's flag, and although I may leave tatters of my life along the road, I know that you will take up my name and wave it aloft like a victory flag...

My descamisados...The working people, the humble people of this land, are those who, here and throughout the country, are on their feet ready to follow Perón, the Leader of humanity, because he has raised the banner of redemption and justice for the masses of labourers who will follow him to defy the oppression of traitors here and abroad; those who, like vipers in the dark of night, wish to leave their venom in Perón's heart and soul, the heart and soul of the people of this country. But they will not know such success, just as the toad cannot silence the songbird, nor vipers hinder the condor's flight...
I beg God not to allow these lunatics to raise a hand against Perón, because woe be that day!...That day, my General, I will go with the working people, I will go with the women, I will go with the descamisados of our nation, dead or alive, to make sure that the only bricks left standing are Perónist. Because we will never allow ourselves to be crushed by the boot of the oligarchial traitors who have exploited the working class; because we will never allow ourselves to be exploited by those who, having sold out for four cents, are slaves to their masters from foreign metropolises and who would turn in their country's people as calmly as their did their country and consciences...

I have no great ambition. Yes, I do confess to one singular and grand ambition, and that is how the name of Evita will figure in the history of our nation.
I would like it to be said in a small footnote at the end of the great chapter that history will dedicate to Perón..."There was at Perón's side a woman who dedicated herself to bringing the hopes and needs of the people to the President, which Perón then converted into realities". And this footnote should end thus: "All that is known of this woman is that the people lovingly called her EVITA".