Ecuador has had a tumultuous independent history best exemplified by its 20 constitutions a

record surpassed in south America only by Venezuela. the country has suffered through countless
coups and wars, this weakness has led to Ecuador losing territory to every single one of its
neighbors. to understand the reasons for Ecuador’s fragility join me for this brief explainer on the
history of Ecuador’s history and politics during the colonial period the realavincia de Quito which
comprised much of present-day Ecuador was something of a backwater it was not a source of gold
or silver for the crown instead its resource base lay in agriculture the highland indigenous
population became subject to forced labor on the landed estates and textile mills owned by the
colonial elite thus class and ethnicity were conjoined early in Ecuador’s history ，leaving a long
legacy of racism after Napoleon’s toppling of the Spanish king in 1808a pended Spanish authority
in the colonies Quito was the first place in the Americas where locals attempted to claim
autonomy while the monarchy was restored so on august 10 1809 the cry of elite signed a
document declaring as much day that is still celebrated in Ecuador today as the first cry of
independence the Spanish colonial government’s response was swift however and the new regime
barely lasted 24 days still this was only the beginning what followed for the next decade mostly
among yoyos that is Spanish bornin the Americas was a civil war between those who wanted to
maintain loyalty to the Spanish ground and those who wanted independence in the end what
tipped the scales were Simone bolivar's troops the final blow for the Spanish came at the battle of
Pichincha on May 24 1822 led by one of his lieutenants António Jose the victory for the
Ecuadorian rebels destroyed the remaining royalist forces and secured the independence for the
real audiencia de Quito given how and by whom it had been liberated the territory naturally
decided to join with grand Colombia a largely Bolivarian project that also included Colombia and
Venezuela the union was not a happy one however warfare would dominate politics first as the
front lines in Bolivia’s liberation of Peru and later in the armed struggle between Peru and grand
Colombia over the location of the common border thus once bolivar star began to fade as people
found him increasingly authoritarian the divisions between those who wanted a federal system and
those who wanted a central one became too large to overcome on May 13 1830 Ecuador declared
its succession from the union just nine days after bolivar’s resignation as president of grand
Colombia Ecuador kept little from that union beyond the flat colors not even its name the newly
independent state opted to name itself republic Ecuador or republic of the equator a name inspired
on a text published in 1748which gave account of a scientific expedition that came to south
America with the purpose of measuring the roundness of the earth the new republic's first 15 years
were dominated by Juan Jose Flores a Venezuelan and former office in bolivar's army he faced
multiple armed efforts to try to annex Ecuador back to Colombia but he was able to beat them
back when he changed the constitution in 1843to try to keep himself in power however he faced a
massive liberal rebellion what Ecuadorians call the revolution Marcista or march revolution and
was promptly deposed the Marcista period which lasted from 1843to 1859 was a series of weak
regimes dominated by an elite minority a property upper class uninterested in promoting a broad-
based democratization this elite was divided by geography and had contending economic interests
in the highlands large landowners lorded over traditional haciendas exploiting Indian laborers
were subject to exploitative arrangements reminiscent of serfdom allied with the roman catholic
church these landed oligarchs formed a conservative party to defend their interests on the coast
maritime commerce and tropical export agriculture produced a different more entrepreneurial
upper class the coastal elite interested in free trade and secularization became the bedrock of the
liberal party these political divisions rooted in geography would continue to shape the country’s
politics all the way to the present and would be especially violent in the19th century between 1861
and 1912this conflict was embodied by two men in particular bitter opponents who would end up
sharing a similar fate the first one Gabriel Garcia Moreno dominated politics between 1861and
1875. he was a staunch conservative an authoritarian and fanatical catholic who tried to limit
citizenship to Catholics only but who also tried to fight corruption and promoted science and
higher educationin the end this dictatorial manner ended costing him however on august 6 1875 he
was stabbed and hacked with a machete in the steps of the national palace in Quito by liberal
opponents the second one was Eloy Alfaro a radical anti-clerical man born in monavie one of the
coastal provincesalfaro was the leader of whatecuadorians call the liberal revolutionof 1895.he
served as president for 11 years andbrought important modernizing reforms tothe countryincluding
curtailing the power of thecatholic church establishing separationof church and stateand building
the transcendent railroadto connect the coast and the highlandshe also established the first
publichigh schools and universitiesultimately he proved too liberal for hisown party and was
ousted from powerhe met an ignominious death after he wasjailed for trying to foment ananti-
government insurrection and thensnatched from prisonand lynched by an angry mob on
january281912. liberals remained in office butthe real power during the periodwas a plutocracy of
coastal agriculturaland banking interestspopularly known as largoya or the ringwhose linchpin was
the commercial andagricultural bank of guayaquilduring world war one and the short boomthat
followed itthis clique further extended itsinfluence and diversified its capitalwith a view to
controlling theagriculture of the coastal plaincacao was the dominant export crop as inthe colonial
periodbut sugar and rice became increasinglyimportanta depression followed in the early 1920sthe
price of food increased and exportsin general declinedthe sucre the national unit of
currencyfellrapidly in value at the same timethe country's cacao plantations becameinfected with a
fungus that ruined theirproductionthese crises brought urban discontentthe formation of trade
unions inguayaquilriots and massacres by the armyhundreds died during riots and shootingsin
november 1922.in 1925 the army entered this turbulentsituationclaiming that it wished to
restorenational unity and blaming many of thecountry's problems on the merchantbankers of
guayaquilalthough the july revolution failed todismantle the power of traditionalelitesit did
succeed in establishing a statebureaucracycapable of governing with some autonomyfrom
oligarchic interestsmoreover it's set an important precedentfor the military itselfrather than
becoming a reactionary andoppressive force in public lifethe armed forces identify themselveswith
reformand never restore to the kind of brutalrepression later practiced by militarieselsewhere in
the regioninstability continued to dominateecuadorian politics for most of the 20thcenturyone
president jose maria velazquez waselectedfive times between 1934 and 1972and was ousted by the
military before hecould complete his termin all but one of his terms velazquezwasn't alonein the
10 years between 1930 and 194017 different presidents took a shot atleading ecuadornot one of
whom completed a turnvelazquezwas particularly stabilizing to ecuadorhe seemed to be able to
win any electionsuch was his popularity with the massesbut his terms of office were marked
bysudden reversals in policycontradictory economic programs personaloutburststemporary
suspensions of civil libertiesand military interventionsthis made it difficult for coherentpolitical
parties to developor useful public policies to bemaintained this constant instabilityleft ecuador
with a weaker army and morefragile state compared to its neighborsthis became particularly
obvious when injuly 1941after long diplomatic bickering in aseries of border incidentsthe
peruvian army invaded seized much ofthe disputed amazonianarea and devastated a lot of
provincethe equanorian forces poorly trained andequippedwere easily defeated and the
disgracecaused the overthrowof president arroyo del rio the unitedstates and the other major
powers weretoo preoccupied with world warii to allow such small conflicts todestroy allied
unityor to disrupt the production of vitalraw materialsa peace conference in rio de janeiro
in1942forced ecuador to relinquish its claimsto much of the amazonian regionsubsequently
ecuador repeatedlyattempted to reopen the questionclaiming that the protocol of rio didnot
establish precise bordersand that the new borders were thereforeinvalid ecuador had already lost
much ofthe original landed claim from colonialtimesso this remained a sore subject forecuadorians
for the following decadesnot surprisingly then in 1960 theecuadorian government renegedon the
real protocol and in 1995 peruand ecuador engaged in a very briefconflict deep in the
amazonknown as the cenepa war it led to a fewhundred ecuadorians deadin the final settlement of
the peru andecuador bordersmeanwhile ecuador's economy airs whilemostly based around banana
exportsbegan to change when oil was discoveredin the 1970sthe oil boom increased the size
andwealth of the middle classled to the building of infrastructureand caused severe inflationno
basic structural reforms took placehowever and the poor suffered theeffects of inflationbut reaped
few of the benefits of theoil boomafter oil was discovered ecuador beganto borrow moneywith the
belief that profits from allexports would enable the country torepay its foreign debtsbut this
proved impossible in the mid1980sdue to the sharp decline in ecuador'soil exportsworld oil prices
slumped in 1986 and in1987a disastrous earthquake wiped out about40 kilometers of oil
pipelineseverely damaging both the environmentand the economythe discovery of oil also opened
up vasttracks of ecuador'samazon base until exploration affectingboth the rainforest and the
localindigenous tribessome of whom had never beforeencountered outsidersvelazque ivara's death
in the withdrawalof the military officers from governmentallowed the country to return to
anelected civilian governmentin a new constitution in nineteenseventy nine jaime rodos aguilera
ayoung social democratwas elected president on a reformistplatformhe promised greater social
equality anda more equitable distribution of oilindustry profitsbut his promise ended tragically
whenless than two years into his presidencyhe was killed in an airplane crash onmay 241981. the
1980s and early 1990swere a continuing struggle betweenconservatives and liberalswith
corruption scandals weakeningpublic confidence in the ruling elitesthe contenders in the 1996
election weretwo fire brand politicians fromguayaquilboth known for their brashness thecandidate
who wonabdallah was nicknamed eloko or madmanfor his fiery curse-laden style oforationand his
penchant for performing at rockconcertsas part of his campaign bukaram promisedcheap public
housinglower prices for food staples and freemedicinebut instead he promptly devaluedecuador's
currency the sucrean increased living costs and was oftenspotted carusingin nightclubs by quito
residents withina few monthsmassive strikes led by trade unions andthe confederation of
indigenousnationalities of ecuadoror paralyzed the countrycongress declared garam mentally
unfitand terminated his presidencyand bukharam fled to panama after theformer president was
ousted his vicepresidentrosalia arteaga became ecuador's firstfemale presidentalbeit for fewer than
two days congressvoted overwhelmingly to replace her withfabiana larconthe head of congress he
led thegovernment until 1998when keith daniel camille of the populardemocracy partywas elected
president mawan had hispolitical savvy put to the testthe effects of a nasty el nino weatherpattern
in the sagging oil market of1997-1998sent the economy into a tailspin in1999. the same year the
shrimp exportsdropped by 80 percentfollowing devastating shrimp diseaseswhen inflation topped
60 percentmaking ecuador the worst economy inlatin americathe embattled president took
drasticmeasures hepinned ecuador's economic survival ondollarizationa process whereby
ecuador's unstablenational currency would be replaced bythe us dollardollarization has been used
successfullyin a few other struggling countriesincluding nearby panama but whenpresident
mahwah declared his plan todump the national currencythe country erupted in strikes protestsand
road closureson january 21st 2000 marches shut downthe capitaland protests took over the
legislativepalaceforcing mahwah to resign the protesterswere led by antonio vargascolonel lucio
gutierrez and formersupreme court presidentcarlos solorceno who then formed a briefruling
triumviratetwo days later and largely due to theinternational pressure that followedlatin america's
first military coupin two decades the triumvirate turnedthe presidency over to vice
presidentgustavo nowanovoa went ahead with dollarization andin september 2000 the us dollar
becamethe official currencyalthough one year earlier six thousandsucres bought one dollarpeople
were forced to exchange theirsucres at the dramatically inflated year2000 rate of 25 000 to 1.their
losses were severe along withdollarization of the economynoble also implemented
austeritymeasures to obtain2 billion in aid from the imf orinternational monetary fundand other
international lenders at theend of 2000gas and cooking field prices skyrocketedlargely because of
dollarizationand the new year saw frequent strikesand protests by unions and indigenousgroupsin
the end dollarization did solve theinflation problemand the economy stabilized but at a hugesocial
costnowhere though was able to leave insomewhat favorable termsformer cool leader lucio
gutierrezsucceeded noin 2002 promised a populist agendabut instead implemented imf
austeritymeasures to finance the country'smassive debtprotests erupted in the capital and
in2005congress voted overwhelmingly to removegutierrezthe third ecuadorian president ousted
ineight yearsreplacing him with vice presidentalfredo palacioa political newcomer who referred
tohimself as a simple doctor palacio soonturned his attention to the socialproblems his predecessor
had abandonedin order to fund health and educationprograms and kick-start the economypalacio
announced he would redirect oilprofits earmarked for paying the foreigndebtan essential partner in
this endeavorwas rafael correaa u.s educated economist who palacioappointedas his finance
minister and who latercarried out even more aggressive socialreformswhile also consolidating
power afterbecoming presidentin 2006.correa describes himself as a humanist afervent catholic of
the leftand a proponent of 21st centurysocialismafter taking the reins he ushered in aseries of
large-scale changesa new constitution in 2008 approved byreferendumlaid the groundwork for a
new socialarchetype that increased spending onhealthcare and the poorgave more rise to
indigenous groupsaccording new protections to theenvironmentand even allowed civil unions for
gaycouplesone of correa's biggest targets was theoil industryhe called for increasing taxes on
oilrevenue to be spenton the ecuadorian poor and accusedforeign oil companies operating
inecuadorof failing to meet current environmentalregulationshe also criticized his predecessor
mawadfor adopting the us dollar as thenational currencyand suggested ecuador would return tothe
sucre when economically feasiblemore recently korea focused on creatinga digital currencybut
few enter the market supportersapplaudedkorea's attention to the poor and hisfocus on economic
reformmeanwhile critics described correa as anaspiring version of the late hugo chavezvenezuela's
former president others saidhe was reneging on his promises toprotect the environmentparticularly
when drilling for oil beganin 2016in parque nacional lenin morenoformerly korea's vice president
waselected in may 2017in a historic moment moreno became theonly global head of state in
awheelchairhaving been paralyzed in an armedrobbery in 1998.he was elected as correa's protege
butwithin a few months he surprised manyobserverswhen he began reversing some of
korrespolicies rather than preserving thestatus quoin anticipation of correa seeking toreturn to
office in 2021moreover moreno pushed for a referendumthat would limit ecuadorian presidentsto
two termsand outraged correa campaign against thereferendumbut on february 4 2018 voters
approvedit by roughly a 2-1 marginthus preventing correa from ever runningfor the presidency
againthis lost him the support of thecorreistasbut that was just the beginning of hispolitical
problemsas his popularity began to drop this wasespecially truewhen in october 2019 he attempted
toimpose a number of imf-backed austeritymeasuresthe resulting higher gas prices
inparticularsparked massive mobilizations againstthe policiesall over the country he soon found
hisapproval ratingin the single digits and having tobacktrack since its democratictransition in
1979ecuador has made great strides and seemsto have finally found some stability andinstitutional
consolidation in the 2010sin 2021 ecuadorians now face an electionfor correa's new favorite
candidateandres arraus will face the rightscandidate guillermo lassowhen ecuador continue to
improve on itsinstitutional consolidationor will it backslide to its historicalnormonly time will tell