Americans are now deciding whether the wife of an ex-president should become our country’s next president. Perhaps we should ask Argentina, where they have a long history of powerful presidents’ wives.

#1 - Eva Peron (Evita) was the 2nd wife of Argentine President Juan Peron. She went from rural poverty, to life as an actress in Buenos Aires, to wife of the president. As first lady, she was hugely poplar and influential. She founded the Eva Peron Foundation, that built homes for the poor and provided free health care. She was a vocal proponent of women’s rights to vote, and helped make that happen. She founded the first large female political party in Argentina, with 500,000 members. She never took the presidency herself, but she was officially named “Spiritual leader of the nation”. When Evita died of cancer in 1952, at the young age of 33, the country went into mourning, and many people around the country still remember her with love.
Power ****, Popularity = *****, Goodness = *****

Evita Peron Website: Evita’s legacy

#2 - Isabel Peron was Juan Peron’s 3rd wife. In between wives, he had been deposed in a coup and exiled. Isabel was a nightclub dancer (Juan was obviously a fan of the arts), who met him in Panama. They returned to Argentina in 1973, and Juan Peron was re-elected President, with Isabel as his Vice-President. When Juan died in 1974, she succeeded him, and became Argentina’s first woman president. Unlike Evita, Isabel was neither good nor popular. She invested a lot of power in an associate Lopez Riga– a fortune teller, and founder of the Triple A death squads, and the economy faltered during her time in office. Soon the military removed her in another coup, and exiled her to Spain. In 2007 she was arrested in Spain, charged with the “disappearance” of people in Argentina during her presidency. It is now believed that the Triple A alone murdered at least 600 people.
Power = ***, Popularity = *, Goodness = *

BBC - On this day: 1974: First female president for Argentina
Guardian: Isabel Peron arrested over accusations of human rights abuses

#3 - Cristina Fenandez de Kirchner is the current Argentine President, elected in late 2007 to succeed her husband Nestor Kirchner. He came to power during an economic crisis in Argentina, vowing to bring “a cold wind of change”. He restructured the country’s debts, revalued the currency, and realigned their policies, rejecting Free Trade. Though many were skeptical, the country had an economic turnaround. When he decided not to run for re-election, his approval ratings were 60%. His wife Cristina won the election, and Nestor is now First Gentleman in Argentina. How will she do? It’s too early to say, but we do know that just days into her term, investigations began into a potential scandal involving a suitcase full of $800,000 in Venezuelan oil money intended for her campaign. We will be watching with interest.

Wikipedia: Nestor Kirchner
UPI: Argentine president (Cristina) to hit the road

We’ll be back in Argentina in early 2009 for our women’s trip to Patagonia. Hopefully their latest woman president will be doing a great job. Who knows what will be happening here in the US?