Eloy Alfaro
José Eloy Alfaro Delgado | |
|---|---|
Supreme Chief of Manabí & Esmeraldas, in rebellion | |
| In office February 1883 – 11 October 1883 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | José Eloy Alfaro Delgado 25 June 1842 Montecristi, Ecuador |
| Died | 28 January 1912 (aged 69) Quito, Ecuador |
| Political party | Ecuadorian Radical Liberal Party (Founder) |
| Spouse | |
| Signature |  |
José Eloy Alfaro Delgado (25 June 1842 – 28 January 1912) often referred to as "The Old Warrior," was an
Alfaro's major political legacies are considered to be strengthened
Biography
Rebellious youth
Alfaro was born in
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
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
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
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
