Who were Ana Carmen Macri, Delia Degliuomini from Parodi and Susana Correché from Novick, why they were imprisoned in 1955, what were the charges. Although it is part of our recent history, the case of the female Peronist legislators arrested in 1955 is almost unknown. For this reason, the Antonio Ballvé Argentine Penitentiary Museum (Humberto Primo 378), directed by Oscar González, decided to put on the exhibition “From Congress to Prison” that can be seen on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and which tells the story of these brave women.
“The exhibition is the story of the interrupted beginning of women in the exercise of their political rights. When only four years after the first election, in 1951, where citizens voted and were elected, The 1955 coup violently cut short that process of expanding rights, taking the first group of female legislators in Argentine history to prison.. Interestingly hidden episode that we rescue from the Museum so that it is not forgotten,” says Oscar González.
After the coup d’état of September 16, 1955, 32 legislators belonging to the Peronist Women’s Party (PPF) were imprisoned in what is now the museum, in case 4,198, called Perón, Juan Domingo and others, for “betrayal of the Homeland and Illicit Association.” According to what the curators of the exhibition, Graciela Fusco and Vivian Elem, were able to investigate, thanks to the records found, the detention period of each of the legislators ranged from one month to almost three years: The last seven held in the Asylum were released by decree 15,401 of November 22, 1957, which proposed an amnesty for all political prisoners.
The interesting thing about the exhibition, in addition to knowing this little-known history, is that the building where it is located is also essential part of our heritage, entering it is like entering a time warp: you can see apothecaries from the end of the 19th century, antique sewing machines, and clothing from the period while you walk through the galleries from the end of the 18th century. In 1890, the Residence, the current headquarters of this Museum, was handed over to the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, a religious order of French origin with a history of managing detention institutes for women in different Latin American countries – Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia–, Europe and the United States. At that time, the Order was in charge of the Women’s Prison which – for almost 100 years – maintained the administration of the prison under a disciplinary regime that “advocated spiritual and moral regeneration through pious office practices.”
In the words of Graciela Fusco: “The Peronist legislators, unjustly detained, They represented democratic legitimacy and the fight for women’s rights. That is why we wanted to honor them with this temporary exhibition: so that that disastrous part of the political history of our country, ignored by the majority, can come to light.”
