better-funded and organised than many departments of State. It had funds of over three billion pesos, controlled $200 million on the exchange rate, employed over 14,000 workers, purchased 500,000 sewing machines, 400,000 pairs of shoes and 200,000 cooking pots for distribution annually and it had succeeded in building numerous new houses, schools, hospitals and orphanages. The vast majority of these funds came from willing donors and the Peronist-dominated Congress, who were keen to back the First Lady's endeavours. The trade unions, who saw Evita as their patron, regularly sent enormous contributions to the Foundation’s work. More importantly, the Catholic Church had endorsed her projects, citing Biblical exhortations towards charity for the poor and Evita’s own personal priest, Father Benítez, claimed that the need to help the poor had taken over Eva Perón’s life. Finally, Congress assisted in 1950 by ruling that a proportion of all lottery tickets, cinema tickets and gambling games played in casinos should be given to the Foundation. By the time of Evita's death in 1952, the popularity of the Foundation amongst her millions of followers had given her an aura of sainthood. Criticisms There were allegations that most of the Foundation's wealth was ill-gotten, with Evita coercing people into donating. There were examples of pressure, particularly with the infamous case of the Mu-Mu sweet manufacturers, who were temporarily shut down after they refused to give the Foundation a free donation of sweets for underprivileged children. There was, however, only one example of Evita targeting the landed aristocracy and this was when the Foundation received most of the 97 million pesos which the Bemberg dynasty were forced to pay after they had attempted to evade tax after their patriarch died abroad. There were allegations that Evita set up a secret bank account in Switzerland with the funds, but these allegations have been dismissed by her more recent biographers. Decline After Evita's premature death in 1952, the Foundation briefly passed under the control of other Peronist women; but it did not outlast the fall of the regime itself in 1955 and had been in terminal decline since 1952 anyway. It was disbanded like every other Perónist organization by the military junta in 1955, after they overthrew Juan Perón on September 19, 1955. As late as the 1970s, storage facilities full of goods intended for the Argentine poor were still being discovered. Footnotes External links Foundations based in Argentina