María Estela Martínez Cartas de Perón (born February 4, 1931), better known as Isabel Martínez de Perón or Isabel Perón, was the third wife of Argentine President Juan Perón. During her husband's third term as president, Isabel served as vice president. After her husband's death in office, Isabel served as president from July 1, 1974 to March 24, 1976. She was the first non-royal female head of state and head of government in the Western Hemisphere.

In 2007, an Argentine judge ordered the arrest of Isabel Perón over the forced disappearance of an activist in February 1976, on the grounds that the disappearance was authorized by her signing of decrees allowing Argentina's armed forces to take action against "subversives". Warrant for ex-Argentine leader, BBC, January 12, 2007 She was arrested near her home in Spain on 12 January 2007. [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-isabel13jan13,0,4399284.story?coll=la-home-world Isabel Peron's arrest signals shift in Argentina], Los Angeles Times, January 13, 2007

Argentina (officially República Argentina ), is a South American country, constituted as a federation of twenty-three provinces and an autonomous city. It is second in size on the South American continent to Brazil and eighth in the world. Argentina occupies a continental surface area of between the Andes mountain range in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east and south.

It is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast, and Chile in the west and south. Argentina also claimed of Antarctica, known as Argentine Antarctica, overlapping other claims made by Chile (Chilean Antarctic Territory) and the United Kingdom (British Antarctic Territory), but all such claims are suspended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1957.

Argentina has the highest Human Development Index level and the second highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in purchasing power parity in Latin America.GDP per capita PPP April 2008, IMF. Argentina's nominal GDP is the 31st largest in the world;Human Development Report 2007/2008 - Country Fact Sheets - Argentina when purchasing power is taken into account, however, its total GDP makes it the 23rd largest economy in the world.http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/5.html International GDP rankinghttp://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_ARG.html Argentina Country Fact Sheet] United Nations.

The country is currently classified as an Upper-Middle Income CountryCountry Classifications by the W...