Eva Peron's legacy continues

Argentinians, including President Cristina Kirchner, pay tribute to Eva Peron Thursday on the 60th anniversary of the national icon's premature death. Kirchner was to eulogize Evita, whose death from cancer at the age of 33 shocked the nation, at a ceremony expected to draw 60,000 people 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of here. To mark the occasion, a new 100 peso bill -- equivalent to about 22 US dollars -- was unveiled Wednesday imprinted with the image of Eva Peron. The banknote shows the late first lady in profile, her blond hair swept back into the classic chignon hairstyle she usually wore. Kirchner called it a fitting tribute, noting it marked "the first time in 200 years that a woman appears on a (national) bill". Another commemoration was scheduled to take place at La Recoleta cemetery, where Maria Eva Duarte de Peron, the glamorous second wife of president Juan Peron, is buried in an exclusive Buenos Aires district. And a mural depicting Evita painted in a hospital bearing her name will be inaugurated by the governor of Buenos Aires province, Daniel Scioli. There will also be a musical tribute on the stairs of the Argentine Congress, with the participation of baritone Ernesto Bauer and soprano Eugenia Fuente along with a school orchestra of 60 youths. At 2325 GMT, the precise moment when Evita died, the national anthem will be sung outside Congress. "Evita was a bridge linking the humble, the workers and the State. As members of the Evita Movement, we have an obligation to show a strong commitment to the workers and the humble," said Emilio Persico, secretary-general of the organization created in 2001 and now a major base of support for Kirchner. The movement is to mark the anniversary in the central city of Cordoba. With the slogan "As banner to victory", Buenos Aires meanwhile called for a meeting in the National Library in front of the Evita Monument. The General Confederation of Labor was also holding its own commemoration at its headquarters. "We take your (Evita's) name as a banner against social injustice and exclusion," said one of the many union slogans published in Thursday's newspapers. Over 30,000 copies of Pigna's biography "Jirones de su Vida" (Bits of Her Life), about Evita's ascent from street to chic and power, have sold in less than a month. And she is also being remembered with the reissuing of novels and biographies as well as with exhibitions of photographs and memorabilia.