María Estela Martínez Cartas (Married name Isabel Martinez de Peron) was born in La Rioja, Argentina on February 4, 1931. Isabel gained the Isabel (her saint’s name) when she had her Roman Catholic confirmation. She went by her birth name of Maria until she became a dancer after which she went by Isabel. She met Juan Peron in 1955. After meeting him, she became his personal secretary and gave up her dancing career. When Juan was exiled in 1955, Isabel followed him, and they eventually settled in Madrid. In 1961, Juan and Isabel were married. Isabel traveled between Madrid and Argentina building support for her husband’s Peronist Party (his supporters from his former presidency) in the 1960s and early 1970s. Isabel was Juan’s running mate in 1973 when he ran for the Argentine presidency again. Juan became severely ill several times, and during these times, Isabel was acting…show more content… Isabel attempted to solve her country’s problems by appointing new Cabinet members, printing money to pay foreign debts, and imposing a state of siege in November 1974 to prevent an anarchy. She was urged to resign due to the problems that continued to arise during her presidency, but she refused to give in. The problems in the country got worse, and on March 24, 1976, air force officers placed her under house arrest for five years. In 1981, she was paroled after her conviction for corrupt practices. She went to Spain after she was exiled. She submitted her resignation as head of the Peronist Party, which her husband had created, from her home in Madrid in 1985 after she had been pardoned of her crimes in late 1983. In 2007, a warrant for her arrest was released under the charges that she had allowed armed forces to abuse human rights during her presidency. She is still alive to this day. Isabel Peron was important because of the work she did to help build support for the Peronist Party, and she was the first female president in the
