Hands Of Perón
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The hands of
Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine military officer and Statesman (politician), statesman who served as the History of Argentina (1946-1955), 29th president of Argentina from 1946 to Revolución Libertad ...
, former
President of Argentina The president of Argentina, officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation, is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Argentina, the national constitution, the president is also the Head of go ...
, were dismembered and removed from his tomb in 1987 by unknown burglars.


The incident

Perón died in July 1974. His casket remained in the '' Quinta de Olivos'' presidential residence until the March 1976 coup. The coffin was then placed in the Perón family tomb in Chacarita Cemetery, located in the Chacarita ward of the city of
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
. In June 1987, 13 years after his death, the Peronist
Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party (, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei. Fo ...
received an anonymous letter claiming Perón's hands had been removed from his tomb along with his army cap and sword; the letter demanded the party pay a US$8 million ransom for their return."Peron Hands: Police Find Trail Elusive."
The ''New York Times'', September 6, 1987. Accessed October 16, 2009.
"Grave robbers cut off hands of Juan Peron". The ''Chicago Sun-Times'', July 3, 1987. When authorities checked Perón's tomb, they discovered that it had indeed been broken into and the hands and other items removed. Forensic experts who examined the body said the mutilation had occurred only a short time before the discovery. One sourceJohnson, Lyman L. ''Death, Dismemberment and Memory: Body Politics in Latin America.'' Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004. . pp. 251–253. states that the tomb was broken into on June 23, 1987, and that a poem written to him by his last wife,
Isabel Isabel is a female name of Iberian origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of ''Elizabeth (given name), Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheba''). Arising in the 12th c ...
, had also been removed from the tomb. At the time, some news reports stated that the hands had been removed with "a surgical instrument", but later reports state that the dismemberment had been done with an electric saw. The head of the Justicialist Party, Vicente Saadi, refused to allow the ransom to be paid. A criminal investigation was begun under the leadership of judge Jaime Far Suau: although six men were arrested and five arraigned,"5 Arraigned in Theft of Juan Peron's Hands". ''The Los Angeles Times'', September 1, 1987. none were charged in relation to the incident. No suspect has ever been charged, and the hands have never been recovered. Many of those involved in the investigation of the disappearance of Perón's hands (including Judge Far Suau) have since died, some under circumstances considered questionable. There is evidence that the theft had some sort of official support, as the robbers used a key to enter the tomb. Argentinian anthropologistVerdery, Katherine. ''The Political Lives of Dead Bodies: Reburial and Post-Socialist Change.'' New York, Columbia University Press, 1999. . Rosana Guber has written that Perón's hands were seen by Argentinians as a symbol of his power, and that their theft was not just a simple criminal matter but also had deep cultural meaning; she viewed the debate about the hands as symbolic of the attempt to promote democracy in the country. Lyman Johnson viewed the dismemberment as "a catalyst to destroy the symbolic cult of Perón". In their book ''Second Death: Licio Gelli, The P2 Masonic Lodge and The Plot to Destroy Juan Peron'', writers Damian Nabot and David Cox write that the
Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...
P2, also known as the Propaganda Due, were involved in the theft, and that there was a ritual involved in the cutting of Peron's hands.Nabot, Damian, and Cox, David. ''Second Death: Licio Gelli, The P2 Masonic Lodge and The Plot to Destroy Juan Peron'' Amazon, 2014.


See also

* Pedro Eugenio Aramburu was the president after the removal of Perón in 1955. In 1974, his corpse was stolen by
Montoneros Montoneros (, MPM) was an Argentine far-left politics, far-left Peronism, Peronist, Camilism, Camilist and Catholic Church, Roman Catholic revolutionary Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla organization, which emerged in the 1970s during the "Argentine ...
to force the return of Evita Perón's body to Argentina. Evita's corpse had disappeared after her husband fled the country. * After his execution in Bolivia in 1967, the hands of Argentinian revolutionary
Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...
were sent to Argentina for identification. They were later sent to Cuba.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hands of Peron Juan Perón Peron, Juan Ransom 1987 in Argentina Crime in Argentina 1980s crimes in Argentina 1987 crimes in Argentina Perón, Juan Domingo