Peron paternity claim by woman not proved in first DNA results

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday November 14, 2006

Buenos Aires- The late Argentine leader Juan Domingo Peron is not the father of 73-year-old Martha Holgado, according to the first results of a DNA test that were made public on Tuesday. After much legal wrangling, samples were taken from Peron's shoulder and femur in mid-October to allow DNA testing, and analyses were to be carried out by public forensic officials and by agents of both Holgado and of Peron's officially recognised family.

The tissues were removed from Peron's remains in a dramatic last- minute action before his body was reburied last month.

The first results were made public by legal representatives of Peron's widow, Maria Estela Martinez, currently in exile in Spain after also serving as president of Argentina at one point. The representatives, speaking in Cordoba, said they established that Holgado is not Peron's daughter.

The results of two other analyses were still pending - one sent by the would-be daughter to a Miami laboratory and the other being carried out at the request of Argentine Justice in Buenos Aires.

"We have to wait for the court's decision," Holgado indicated in a first reaction.

However, Martinez's legal counsel Humberto Linares said the three laboratories use the same procedure, so results should not differ.

In 1993 Holgado filed suit to establish that she is the daughter of Peron, who was married three times and allegedly had no children.

Martinez and the Peronist leaders that guard the man's political heritage have rejected the claims.

Peron (1895-1974) was president of Argentina 1946-55, and again from 1973 until his death in 1974. The country's most famous politician, he greatly improved the lot of the poor and working class and continues to influence Argentine politics to this day.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency