Avenida del General Perón

The name honors Juan Domingo Perón, soldier and president of Argentina, in a Spain emerging from the Civil War isolated and hungry. While much of the world turned its back on Franco’s regime, Perón’s government sent wheat and credit that eased the ration book. Madrid returned the gesture: it registered this street in 1948, the year after his wife Eva Perón visited Spain. The avenue crosses the Cuatro Caminos neighborhood from Calle de la Infanta Mercedes to the Paseo de la Castellana, opening onto Plaza de Lima in the shadow of the AZCA skyscrapers and the stadium. In 1975, a year after Perón’s death, a bronze statue was raised in its gardens: the president standing, in uniform, staff of command in hand. It is still there, amid the traffic of the square.