Hands of Perón

The hands of Juan Perón, former President of Argentina, were dismembered and removed from his tomb in 1987 by unknown burglars.

[1] A criminal investigation was begun under the leadership of judge Jaime Far Suau: although six men were arrested and five arraigned,[4] none were charged in relation to the incident.

[3] Many of those involved in the investigation of the disappearance of Perón's hands (including Judge Far Suau) have since died, some under circumstances considered questionable.

[3] Argentinian anthropologist[5] Rosana Guber has written that Perón's hands were seen by Argentinians as a symbol of his power, and that their theft was not just a simple criminal matter but also had deep cultural meaning; she viewed the debate about the hands as symbolic of the attempt to promote democracy in the country.

[3] In their book Second Death: Licio Gelli, The P2 Masonic Lodge and The Plot to Destroy Juan Peron, writers Damian Nabot and David Cox write that the Masonic lodge P2, also known as the Propaganda Due, were involved in the theft, and that there was a ritual involved in the cutting of Peron's hands.