Eloy Alfaro
José Eloy Alfaro Delgado | |
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15th President of Ecuador | |
In office 16 January 1906 – 12 August 1911 | |
Preceded by | Lizardo García |
Succeeded by | Carlos Freile Zaldumbide |
In office 5 June 1895 – 31 August 1901 | |
Vice President | Manuel Benigno Cueva (1897—1899) Carlos Freire Zaldumbide (1899—1901) |
Preceded by | Vicente Lucio Salazar |
Succeeded by | Leónidas Plaza |
Supreme Chief of Manabí & Esmeraldas, in rebellion | |
In office February 1883 – 11 October 1883 | |
Personal details | |
Born | José Eloy Alfaro Delgado (1842-06-25)25 June 1842 Montecristi, Ecuador |
Died | 28 January 1912(1912-01-28) (aged 69) Quito, Ecuador |
Political party | Ecuadorian Radical Liberal Party (Founder) |
Spouse | Ana Paredes Arosemena (m. 1872) |
Signature | |
José Eloy Alfaro Delgado (25 June 1842 – 28 January 1912) often referred to as "The Old Warrior," was an Ecuadorian politician who served as the President of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911. Eloy Alfaro emerged as the leader of the Liberal Party and became a driving force for fairness, justice and liberty. He became one of the strongest opponents of the pro-Catholic conservative President Gabriel García Moreno (1821–1875). The "Viejo Luchador" (in Spanish) played a central role in the Liberal Revolution of 1895 and fought against conservatism for almost 30 years.
Alfaro's major political legacies are considered to be strengthened national unity, securing the integrity of Ecuador's borders, and the increased secularization of the country. Alfaro led the modernization of Ecuadorian society through the introduction of new ideas, education, and systems of public transport and communication, including the engineering feat of the Transandino Railway linking Guayaquil with Quito. Alfaro's effigy appeared on the Ecuadorian 50-cent coin from the 2000 issue, and the Ecuadorian Army's military college bears his name, as have two ships of the Ecuadorian Navy.
Biography
Rebellious youth
Alfaro was born in Montecristi, Manabí, on 25 June 1842. His father was don Manuel Alfaro y González, a Spanish Republican native of Cervera del Río Alhama, La Rioja, Spain who arrived in Ecuador as a political exile; his mother was doña María Natividad Delgado López.
Alfaro received his primary education in his place of birth. After graduation he dedicated himself to helping his father with his business negotiations. During his youth he aligned himself with anticlerical liberalism, a doctrine later embodied in the Ecuadorian Radical Liberal Party. He fought against Presidents García Moreno, Borrero, Veintemilla and Camaño, and as a result he is traditionally known as the "Viejo Luchador" (Old Warrior). Eloy Alfaro experienced many serious difficulties in the various campaigns he initiated against the conservative Ecuadorian governments. He spent his fortune, acquired with the help of his Panamanian wife, Ana Paredes Arosemena, in those battles. Nine children were born of their marriage: Bolívar, Esmeraldas, Colombia, Colón, Bolívar(2), Ana María, América, Olmedo, and Colón Eloy; Rafael was born out of wedlock.
From a very early age Alfaro participated in acts of rebellion. He almost lost his life in the disastrous naval battle of Alajuela when he tried to disembark in Ecuador with a troop of revolutionaries and was defeated by Conservative Government forces. When his ship sank, he saved himself from drowning by clinging to a barrel. He participated in the battles of Montecristi, San Mateo, Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, Jaramijó, Gatazo, Cuenca, and Chasqui.
Alfaro was a model father and was magnanimous with friends and the destitute. He supported various liberals, such as the writer Juan Montalvo, to whom he offered monetary assistance. Once in power, he glorified the memory of Montalvo as a great teacher and an example to the Ecuadorian people. Even though Alfaro was not very well-educated, through force of character he was able to overcome this fault and impress others with his clear intelligence. During his exile, he travelled Central America and was granted the rank of "General de División" by the Nicaraguan Congress.
First presidency (1895–1901)
Alfaro, head of the Radical Liberals, was the leader of the Ecuadorian Liberal Revolution, carrying out a struggle that he waged from his youth in the 1860s until 1895 when the liberals finally took power in a coup d'état. In this uprising, he deposed President Vicente Lucio Salazar and declared himself a dictator on 5 June 1895 and was later named constitutional president from 17 January 1897 until 1 September 1901. The principal accomplishment of his first government was the introduction of the principle of secularism. Many public buildings in Quito including the Instituto Nacional Mejía and the first purpose build siege of the National Polytechnic School were commissioned in his administration to French architects.
Second presidency (1906–1911)
After initially supporting, but later coming to oppose, his successor, in 1906 he led another revolt, deposing elected President Lizardo García, being declared supreme dictator by the army and continuing in office until 12 August 1911.[1] During this second presidency he enacted a number of changes, among them freedom of speech and the legalization of civil marriage and divorce. He constructed numerous public schools and inaugurated the right to a free and secular education. What is considered to be his greatest public work during this period was the completion of the Ferrocarril Transandino (Trans-Andean Railroad) connecting Guayaquil to Quito. Consistent with his anticlericalism, he suppressed the influence of the Catholic Church while in office.[2] He seized much property of the Church, expelled religious orders and prohibited the establishment of any new monasteries or convents.[1][3] His attempts to secularize Ecuadorian society were opposed by the Archbishop of Quito Federico González Suárez.[4]
In 1911, he was removed from office by his former supporters. In 1911 he tried to strike a blow at the State in an attempt to return to power. He was captured near Guayaquil and sent to Quito on the railroad he had constructed. After he left office, during the administration of Emilio Estrada Carmona, Alfaro was severely critical of the government and his followers soon began to organize a series of military insurrections. Alfaro was exiled to Panama during the interim government of Carlos Freile Zaldumbide. He returned to Ecuador on 4 January 1912, and attempted another coup but was defeated, arrested and jailed by General Leonidas Plaza.
Assassination
On 28 January 1912, a group of pro-Catholic soldiers whose motto was "Muerte al indio Alfaro" (death to the Indian Alfaro), supported by a mob, broke into the prison where Alfaro and his colleagues were detained[2] and dragged them along the cobbled streets of the city center. They were all dead when the horde arrived at the esplanade of El Ejido (city gardens)[5] in the northern outskirts of town. The crowd finally burnt the corpses in the area where the present day park of El Ejido is located.[6] (A monument was erected in the 1960s at the site.) Days later, Alfaro's remains were buried in Quito, in secret. They were transported to Guayaquil and deposited in a mausoleum there at some time in the 1940s. On the initiative of President Rafael Correa (in office from 2007 – 2017), some of the ashes of Eloy Alfaro were exhumed and re-interred with honors in the city of Montecristi, seat of the 2008 National Constitutional Convention.
References
- ^ a b New International Encyclopedia, Volume 7, p. 461, Dodd, Mead & Co. 1915
- ^ a b Roos, Wilma and Omer Van Renterghem, Ecuador: a guide to the people, politics and culture, p. 14, Interlink Books 2000
- ^ Jedin, Hubert, Roger Aubert, and John Dolan History of the Church, Vol. IX, The Church in the industrial age, p. 133, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1981
- ^ Domenico, Roy P. and Mark Y. Hanley, Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Politics, p. 244, 2006 Greenwood Publishing
- ^ "Biografia de Eloy Alfaro". biografiasyvidas.com.
- ^ "Quito parks". in-quito.com.
External links
- Manuel de Jesús Andrade Suárez (1912) Páginas de sangre; ó, Los asesinatos de Quito, el 28 de enero de 1912.[1]
- Pareja Diezcanseco, Alfredo (1944), La hoguera bárbara: Vida de Eloy Alfaro ("The Barbaric Bonfire: Life of Eloy Alfaro"; Published in Mexico).
- Official Website of the Ecuadorian Government about the country President's History[permanent dead link]
- Enciclopedia del Ecuador
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by | President of Ecuador 1895–1901 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | President of Ecuador 1906–1911 | Succeeded by |
- v
- t
- e
- Juan José Flores
- Vicente Rocafuerte
- Juan José Flores
- José Joaquín de Olmedo
- Vicente Ramón Roca
- Manuel de Ascásubi
- Diego Noboa
- José María Urvina
- Francisco Robles
- Gabriel García Moreno
- Rafael Carvajal
- Jerónimo Carrión
- Pedro José de Arteta
- Javier Espinosa
- Gabriel García Moreno
- Manuel de Ascásubi
- Gabriel García Moreno
- Francisco León Franco
- José Javier Eguiguren
- Antonio Borrero
- Ignacio de Veintemilla
- Provisional Government
- José María Sarasti
- Luis Cordero Crespo
- Rafael Pérez Pareja
- Agustín Guerrero
- Pedro Ignacio Lizarzaburu
- José Plácido Caamaño
- Pedro José Cevallos
- Antonio Flores Jijón
- Luis Cordero Crespo
- Vicente Lucio Salazar
- Eloy Alfaro
- Leónidas Plaza
- Lizardo García
- Eloy Alfaro
- Carlos Freile Zaldumbide
- Emilio Estrada
- Carlos Freile Zaldumbide
- Francisco Andrade Marín
- Alfredo Baquerizo
- Leónidas Plaza
- Alfredo Baquerizo
- José Luis Tamayo
- Gonzalo Córdova
- First Provisional Government
- Luis Telmo Paz y Miño
- Luis Napoleón Dillon
- Pedro Pablo Garaycoa
- Francisco Gómez de la Torre
- José Rafael Bustamante
- Modesto Larrea Jijón
- Francisco Arízaga Luque
- Moisés Oliva
- Second Provisional Government
- Isidro Ayora
- Luis Larrea Alba
- Alfredo Baquerizo
- Carlos Freile Larrea
- Alberto Guerrero Martínez
- Juan de Dios Martínez
- Abelardo Montalvo
- José María Velasco Ibarra
- Antonio Pons
- Federico Páez
- Alberto Enríquez Gallo
- Benigno Andrade Flores
- Manuel María Borrero
- Aurelio Mosquera
- Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Río
- Andrés Córdova
- Julio Enrique Moreno
- Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Río
- Julio Teodoro Salem
- José María Velasco Ibarra
- Carlos Mancheno Cajas
- Mariano Suárez
- Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola
- Galo Plaza
- José María Velasco Ibarra
- Camilo Ponce Enríquez
- José María Velasco Ibarra
- Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy
- Military Junta of 1963
- Clemente Yerovi
- Otto Arosemena
- José María Velasco Ibarra
- Guillermo Rodríguez
- Supreme Council of Government
- Jaime Roldós Aguilera
- Osvaldo Hurtado
- León Febres Cordero
- Rodrigo Borja Cevallos
- Sixto Durán Ballén
- Abdalá Bucaram
- Rosalía Arteaga
- Fabián Alarcón
- Jamil Mahuad
- Gustavo Noboa
- Lucio Gutiérrez
- Alfredo Palacio
- Rafael Correa
- Lenín Moreno
- Guillermo Lasso
- Daniel Noboa
- ^ Paginas de sangre, ó, Los asesinatos de Quito, el 28 de enero de 1912