Descamisado

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This is a model of a statue called "El Descamisado." This statue was to be built as memorial to Eva Perón. It was projected to stand taller than the Statue of Liberty, but Juan Perón was overthrown before the monument was completed.

Descamisado is a Spanish word that literally means "without shirt" or "shirtless." The term was originally used as an insult by the elite of Argentina to describe the followers of Juan Perón, who served as president of Argentina from 1946 until 1955, and then again briefly from 1973 to 1974. The term was later reclaimed as a term of pride, with Juan Perón and his wife Eva Perón affectionately referring to their followers as "descamisados." And during his 1945 campaign for president, Juan Perón toured the country on a train that he named "El Descamisado."

By most accounts, the term has its origins on October 17, 1945, when thousands of supporters of Juan Perón gathered in front of the Casa Rosada to demand Perón's release from prison. While waiting for Perón on this hot day, many men in the crowd removed their shirts -- hence the term "shirtless."

The "descamisados" of Peronism have occasionally been compared to the Sans-culottes of the French Revolution.

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