Buenos Aires, Argentina—On May 14, 2016, UPF-Argentina’s Peace Council visited the historic Quinta San Vicente, located about 45 miles from the center of Buenos Aires city. This country estate is where former three-time Argentinian president Juan Domingo Perón lived on the weekends with his wife, Evita. The grounds also hold the mausoleum of the late president. There, members of the Council representing different faiths offered prayers, including one for Argentina in its Bicentennial year.
Members of the Council, all Ambassadors for Peace, also visited the 44 acre park in the area. Perón once said, “This is the solitary place where La Pampa starts.”
Visitors to the complex can see the balcony of a train the former president and his wife once used to travel between provinces; the tower where Perón recorded speeches which afterwards would be broadcasted throughout Argentina; the “Descamisado monument” (monument to those “without shirts”); and the chapel next to the mausoleum. Near this place is the iconic picture of Eva lying on Perón’s shoulder while, ill with cancer, giving a speech from the balcony of the Government Palace in 1951.
The trip ended with a visit to the Museo de 17 de October (October 17 Museum), where furniture, giant pictures and many objects that belonged to the married couple are exhibited. Members of the Council talked with the museum’s director and Ms. Adriana Boccalandro, town councilor of the San Vicente municipality. Ms. Boccalandro gave a book about the Argentinian president to UPF, and UPF gave Ms. Boccalandro a Universal Peace Flag as a way to acknowledge Argentina’s history and express hope for harmony in Argentina and the world.