José María Velasco Ibarra

Presidencies

In 1933, he stood in the Ecuadorian presidential election and received 80% of the votes cast, the highest in Ecuadorian history. Velasco Ibarra traveled through several Latin American countries, including Peru, and restored Ecuador's global image. As president, he focused primarily on public works programs.

His first presidency began on 1 September 1934. He was unable to get support for his policies in parliament, leading him to try to seize dictatorial powers but he was ousted in August 1935 by a military coup. He went into exile in Colombia, where he worked in the Santander School in Sevilla, which was named the best school in Colombia. Later, he traveled to Buenos Aires, where he worked as a university professor.

He stood again in the 1940 election and was defeated by the Radical Liberal Party candidate Carlos Arroyo del Río by a small margin. Arroyo del Río lacked Velasco Ibarra's popularity and public support, which indicated that there had been a fraud. Velasco Ibarra plotted a coup d'état with pilots from the Salinas Air Force base. Before executing his plan, he was detained and exiled again.

1944 was an especially acute crisis, following the defeat of Ecuador in a war with Peru. There was a bitter rivalry between the conservative regular army and the more radical national police (the 'carabineros'). High inflation had soured the people. Velasco Ibarra built his coalition using the rhetoric of moral reform, calling for the virtuous common people to rise against the corrupt and selfish oligarchy. Velasco presented himself as the embodiment of positive moral qualities, appealing to both Left and Right without presenting any precise political program. Thanks to the "Glorious Revolution" of May 28, he was named Supreme Chief of the Republic and was later named Constitutional President by the Constituent Assembly.

In March 1946, Velasco Ibarra implemented a self-coup with the support of Conservatives. He suspended the constitution and seized dictatorial powers. He persecuted leftist politicians and shut down most leftist media outlets.

In August 1947, he was again deposed by a military coup. Three defense ministers perpetrated the coup against Velasco Ibarra; among them was minister Mancheno, who later was his successor.

In 1952, he again won the presidential election, and began his third term as president on September 1, 1952. This time, he served his entire term, which ended on August 31, 1956. His third term was a time of progress for Ecuador: 311 schools were constructed, with another 104 in progress. More than 1359 km of roads were constructed, and 1057 km more were improved. Velasco Ibarra was a noted orator: in his political campaigns from town to town, he captivated people with eloquence, becoming a leader of the masses. Velasco Ibarra once said, "Give me a balcony and I will become president."

In 1960, he was elected president for the fourth time. In 1960, he nullified the Rio de Janeiro Protocol, which led to conflicts between Ecuador and Peru, including Paquisha in 1981 and the War of El Cenepa in 1995. He was ousted in a military coup on November 7, 1961.

Finally, in 1968, Velasco Ibarra won the presidency for a fifth time. In 1970, he suspended the constitution and seized dictatorial powers. He announced elections for 1972, but the military did not think there was a candidate who could defeat Assad Bucaram, leader of the CFP. On February 15, 1972, the military overthrew Velasco Ibarra and installed General Guillermo Rodríguez Lara as dictator.

In total, Velasco Ibarra governed nearly 13 years, making him the longest-serving president in Ecuadorian history (although Rafael Correa's decade-long presidency from 2007 until 2017 is the longest continuous presidency). The events surrounding the end of his fifth and last presidency are dealt with in Philip Agee's book Inside the Company: A CIA Diary.

Velasco was a fiery populist who did not have a formal party organization. Rather it was his populist rhetoric that attracted enthusiastic followers, as he presented himself as the advocate of the poor and downtrodden. In office he was not responsible for major reforms, but he used patronage effectively to maintain his largely inefficient and corrupt administrations.

There is debate about whether his rule can correctly be labelled as populist. Following Agustin Cueva, several authors have argued that in the midst of a hegemonic crisis Velasco rose to power on the votes of the coastal sub-proletariat, peasants who had migrated to urban centres as the cacao industry dwindled. The charismatic figure of Velasco, according to this view, emotionally captured the masses with promises of redemption. Others, among them Rafael Quintero, argue that the entrenched landowning elite was instrumental for Velasco's victory (at least in the 1930s), as the Coastal elite had been weakened by the end of the cacao boom.

Death

Velasco Ibarra's wife, Corina Parral de Velasco Ibarra died in Buenos Aires after falling from a bus. This precipitated the death of Velasco Ibarra, who said on his return to Ecuador, "I come to meditate and to die." He died in Quito, on 30 March 1979.