Remains of Argentina's Juan Peron to be moved

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Oct 12 (Reuters) The remains of former Argentine President Juan Peron will be moved to a new mausoleum next week, ending a lengthy legal battle to block the move by a woman claiming to be his illegitimate daughter.

A decision by a federal judge yesterday cleared the way for political and union leaders to proceed with a ceremony next week in honor of the relocation of Peron's body.

The move is tinged with political symbolism before next year's presidential election. Peron is an Argentine icon, remembered by many along with his charismatic wife Eva, Argentina's famous first lady known popularly as Evita.

Argentine officials have been working for years to move Peron's corpse from the Chacarita cemetery in Buenos Aires to the suburb of San Vicente, on the grounds of what was once his weekend home.

Their efforts had faced legal obstacles, including a challenge from Martha Holgado, who says she is Peron's daughter and was suing to have samples taken from his body for possible DNA testing to prove her claim.

Organizers describe the relocation of Peron's body, which will be carried out in coming days, as the first step in an effort to reunite Peron, who died in 1974, and Eva, who died in 1952. Both are now buried in separate cemeteries in the Argentine capital.

A former army colonel, Peron was elected president in 1946, a year after he was jailed for leading a military coup. Mass protests by his supporters helped him win freedom.

With the flamboyant Eva at his side, Peron nationalized railroads and utilities and expanded worker benefits as president, bringing profound social changes to Argentina.

His critics decried him as authoritarian and divisive, and amid economic turmoil, he was toppled in a military coup in 1955.

After spending 18 years in exile in Spain, he returned to Argentina in 1971 and was elected president again two years later. After his death, his widow, Isabel, succeeded him in office and was overthrown by the military in 1976.

Both he and Eva remain stirring symbols of the Peronist party, Argentina's largest, and their names are frequently invoked by political leaders.

REUTERS DH RAI0612