Editing History of Ecuador (section)

==Liberal and conservative elites in an agrarian republic==
===The early republic===
{{further|History of Ecuador (1830–1860)}}
[[Image:Ecuador1830.png|thumb|left|290px|Ecuador in 1830]]

Before the year 1830 drew to a close, both [[Antonio José de Sucre|Marshal Sucre]] and [[Simón Bolívar]] would be dead, the former murdered (on orders from a jealous General Flores, according to some historians) and the latter from [[tuberculosis]].

[[Juan José Flores]], known as the founder of the republic, was of the foreign military variety. Born in Venezuela, he had fought in the wars for independence with Bolívar, who had appointed him governor of Ecuador during its association with Gran Colombia. As a leader, however, he appeared primarily interested in maintaining his power. Military expenditures, from the independence wars and from an unsuccessful campaign to wrest [[Valle del Cauca Department|Cauca Province]] from Colombia in 1832, kept the state treasury empty while other matters were left unattended. That same year, Ecuador annexed the [[Galapagos Islands]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.presidencia.gob.ec/galapagos-celebra-un-ano-mas-de-provincializacion/|title=Presidencia de la República del Ecuador » Galápagos celebra un año más de provincialización|website=www.presidencia.gob.ec}}</ref>

Discontent had become nationwide by 1845, when an insurrection in Guayaquil forced Flores from the country. Because their movement triumphed in March (''marzo''), the anti-Flores coalition members became known as ''[[Marcist Revolution|marcistas]]''. They were an extremely heterogeneous lot that included liberal intellectuals, conservative clergymen, and representatives from Guayaquil's successful business community.

The next fifteen years constituted one of the most turbulent periods in Ecuador's two centuries as a nation. The marcistas fought among themselves almost ceaselessly and also had to struggle against Flores's repeated attempts from exile to overthrow the government. The most significant figure of the era, however, was General [[José María Urbina]], who first came to power in 1851 through a coup d'état, remained in the presidency until 1856, and then continued to dominate the political scene until 1860. During this decade and the one that followed, Urbina and his archrival, García Moreno, would define the dichotomy — between Liberals from Guayaquil and Conservatives from Quito — that remained the major sphere of political struggle in Ecuador until the 1980s.

By 1859 — known by Ecuadorian historians as "the Terrible Year" — the nation was on the brink of anarchy. Local caudillos had declared several regions autonomous of the central government, known as ''Jefaturas Supremas''. One of these caudillos, Guayaquil's Guillermo Franco, signed the [[Ecuadorian–Peruvian War (1857–1860)#1860: Treaty of Mapasingue|Treaty of Mapasingue]], ceding the southern provinces of Ecuador to an occupying Peruvian army led by General [[Ramón Castilla]]. This action was outrageous enough to unite some previously disparate elements. García Moreno, putting aside both his project to place Ecuador under a French protectorate and his differences with General Flores, got together with the former dictator to put down the various local rebellions and force out the Peruvians. The final push of this effort was the defeat of Franco's Peruvian-backed forces at the [[Battle of Guayaquil]], which led to the overturning of the Treaty of Mapasingue. This opened the last chapter of Flores's long career and marked the entrance to the power of García Moreno.

===The era of conservatism (1860–1895)===
{{further|History of Ecuador (1860–1895)}}
[[Image:Ecuador1860.png|thumb|left|290px|Mainland Ecuador in 1860]]
[[Image:Gabrielgarciamoreno.jpg|thumb|250px|Gabriel Garcia Moreno, considered the ''Father of Ecuadorian conservatism''.]]

[[Gabriel García Moreno]] was a leading figure of Ecuadorian conservatism. Shortly after the onset of his third presidential term in 1875, García Moreno was attacked with a machete on the steps of the presidential palace by Faustino Lemos Rayo, a Colombian. As he was dying, García Moreno took out his gun and shot Faustino Lemos, while he said "''Dios no muere''" ("God doesn't die"). The dictator's most outstanding critic was the liberal journalist, [[Juan Montalvo]], who exclaimed, "My pen killed him!"

Between 1852 and 1890, Ecuador's exports grew in value from slightly more than US$1 million to nearly US$10 million. Production of cacao, the most important export product in the late 19th century, grew from {{convert|6.5 to 18|e6kg|e6lb|abbr=off}} during the same period. The agricultural export interests, centered in the coastal region near Guayaquil, became closely associated with the Liberals, whose political power also grew steadily during the interval. After the death of García Moreno, it took the Liberals twenty years to consolidate their strength sufficiently to assume control of the government in Quito.

[[Image:Ecuador1893.png|thumb|left|290px|Mainland Ecuador in 1893]]

===The liberal era (1895–1925)===
{{further|History of Ecuador (1895–1925)}}
[[Image:Eloy Alfaro.JPG|thumb|left|250px|Eloy Alfaro]]
[[File:Historic Center of Quito - World Heritage Site by UNESCO - Photo 437.jpg|thumb|250px|Antique [[Dugout (boat)|dug out canoes]] in the courtyard of the Old Military Hospital in the [[Historic Center of Quito]].]]
The new era brought in liberalism. [[Eloy Alfaro]], under whose direction the government headed out to aid those in the rural sectors of the coast, is credited for finishing the construction of the railroad connecting Guayaquil and Quito, the separation of church and state, establishment of many public schools, implementing civil rights (such as freedom of speech), and the legalization of civil marriages and divorce.

Alfaro was also confronted by a dissident tendency inside his own party, directed by its General [[Leonidas Plaza]] and constituted by the upper middle class of Guayaquil. His death was followed by economic liberalism (1912–25), when banks were allowed to acquire almost complete control of the country. During the 1920s, Ecuador's key export, cacao beans, were devastated by disease at the same time that its cacao producers faced increased competition from West Africa. The loss of export earnings seriously damaged the economy.

Popular unrest, together with the ongoing economic crisis and a sickly president, laid the background for a [[July Revolution (Ecuador)|bloodless coup d'état in July 1925]]. Unlike all previous forays by the military into Ecuadorian politics, the coup of 1925 was made in the name of a collective grouping rather than a particular caudillo. The members of the League of Young Officers came to power with an agenda, which included a wide variety of social reforms, such as dealing with the failing economy, establishing the Central Bank as the unique authorized bank to distribute currency, and creating a new system of budget and customs.

[[Image:Ecuador1920.png|thumb|left|290px|Mainland Ecuador in 1920]]

===Early 20th century===
{{further|History of Ecuador (1925–1944)}}
Much of the 20th century was dominated by [[José María Velasco Ibarra]], whose five presidential terms began with a mandate in 1934 and final presidency ending in 1972. However, the only term he actually completed was his third from 1952 to 1956.

Much of the century was also dominated by the [[History of the Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute|territorial dispute between Peru and Ecuador]]. In 1941 [[Ecuadorian–Peruvian War|Ecuador invaded]] Peruvian territory, and the Peruvians counterattacked and forced them to retreat into their own territory. At that time Ecuador was immersed in internal political fights and was not well equipped to win its offensive war.

With the [[World War II|world at war]], Ecuador attempted to settle the matter by means of a third-party settlement. In Brazil the two countries' negotiations were overseen by four "Guarantor" states (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and the United States — four of the most powerful countries in the region).<ref>United States Institute of Peace Washington, D.C.,</ref> The resulting treaty is known as the [[Rio Protocol]]. The protocol became the focus of a surge of Ecuadorian national pride and concomitant opposition, which resulted in an uprising and overthrow of the government.

===The postwar era (1944–1948)===
The Quiteño multitudes stood in the pouring rain on May 31, 1944, to hear Velasco promise a "national resurrection", with social justice and due punishment for the "corrupt Liberal oligarchy" that had been responsible for "staining the national honor", believed that they were witnessing the birth of a popular revolution. Liberal partisans were promptly jailed or sent into exile, while Velasco verbally baited the business community and the rest of the political right. The leftist elements within Velasco's Democratic Alliance, which dominated the constituent assembly that was convened to write a new constitution, were nonetheless destined to be disappointed.<ref name="lcweb2" />

In May 1945, after a year of growing hostility between the president and the assembly, which was vainly awaiting deeds to substantiate Velasco's rhetorical advocacy of social justice, the mercurial chief executive condemned and then repudiated the newly completed constitution. After dismissing the assembly, Velasco held elections for a new assembly, which in 1946 drafted a far more conservative constitution that met with the president's approval. For this brief period, Conservatives replaced the left as Velasco's base of support.

Rather than attending to the nation's economic problems, however, Velasco aggravated them by financing the dubious schemes of his associates. Inflation continued unabated, as did its negative impact on the national standard of living, and by 1947 foreign exchange reserves had fallen to dangerously low levels. In August, when Velasco was ousted by his minister of defense, nobody rose to defend the man who, only three years earlier, had been hailed as the nation's savior. During the following year, three different men briefly held executive power before [[Galo Plaza|Galo Plaza Lasso]], running under a coalition of independent Liberals and socialists, narrowly defeated his Conservative opponent in presidential elections. His inauguration in September 1948 initiated what was to become the longest period of constitutional rule since the 1912–24 heyday of the Liberal plutocracy.

===Constitutional rule (1947–1960)===
{{further|History of Ecuador (1944–1960)}}
Galo Plaza differed from previous Ecuadorian presidents by bringing a developmentalist and technocratic emphasis to Ecuadorian government. No doubt Galo Plaza's most important contribution to Ecuadorian political culture was his commitment to the principles and practices of democracy. As president he promoted agricultural exports of Ecuador, such as bananas, creating economic stability. During his presidency, an earthquake near Ambato severely damaged the city and surrounding areas and killed approximately 8,000 people. Unable to succeed himself, he left his office in 1952 as the first president in 28 years to complete his term in office.

A proof of the politically stabilizing effect of the banana boom of the 1950s is that even Velasco, who in 1952 was elected president for the third time, managed to serve out a full four-year term. Velasco's fourth term in the presidency initiated a renewal of crisis, instability, and military domination and ended conjecture that the political system had matured or developed in a democratic mold.

[[File:SageoEG_-_Avenida_Nueve_de_Octubre_01.jpg|thumb|left|The banana boom of the mid-20th century boosted the economy of Guayaquil, where office buildings like these were built.]]