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Republic of Ecuador República del Ecuador | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1895–1925 | |||||||||
.svg) Flag (1900–1925) | |||||||||
| Motto: "Dios, patria y libertad" | |||||||||
| Anthem: Salve, Oh Patria | |||||||||
.svg) Ecuador until 1904.svg) Ecuador until 1916.svg) Ecuador until 1942 | |||||||||
| Capital | Quito | ||||||||
| Government | Liberalpresidential republic | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1895–1901 | Eloy Alfaro | ||||||||
• 1901–1905 | Leónidas Plaza | ||||||||
• 1905–1906 | Lizardo García | ||||||||
• 1906–1911 | Eloy Alfaro | ||||||||
• 1911 | Carlos Freile Zaldumbide | ||||||||
• 1911 | Emilio Estrada | ||||||||
• 1911-1912 | Carlos Freile Zaldumbide | ||||||||
• 1912 | Francisco Andrade Marín | ||||||||
• 1912 | Alfredo Baquerizo | ||||||||
• 1912-1916 | Leónidas Plaza | ||||||||
• 1916-1920 | Alfredo Baquerizo | ||||||||
• 1920-1924 | José Luis Tamayo | ||||||||
• 1924-1925 | Gonzalo Córdova | ||||||||
| Vice President | |||||||||
• See list | See list (fromManuel Benigno Cueva toAlfredo Baquerizo) | ||||||||
| Legislature | National Congress | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 5 June 1895 | |||||||||
• Disestablished | 9 July 1925 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Ecuador Colombia Peru | ||||||||
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TheLiberal Era (1895–1925) was a period during whichEcuador was governed by theLiberal Party. It began with theLiberal Revolution of 1895, led byEloy Alfaro, who assumed office asSupreme Chief. The era ended in 1925 with theJuly Revolution, amilitary coup that removed the Liberals from power in response to a severe economic crisis.
Alfaro's administration sought to reduce the influence of the Catholic Church by reversing many of the privileges it had received during the conservative governments of PresidentGabriel García Moreno (1861–1875).[1] Major reforms included theseparation of church and state, thesecularization of public education, and the legalization of civil marriage and divorce.[2]
Catholic officials and their Conservative allies resisted these changes through political opposition, public denunciations, and armed uprisings.[3][4]
After the initial reforms of the Liberal Era in Ecuador, theLiberal Party achieved few subsequent accomplishments of comparable scale. In the Sierra, the entrenched system of debt peonage known asconcertaje came under government regulation, though enforcement was weak. Imprisonment for debt, a key feature of the system, was formally abolished in 1918 under PresidentAlfredo Baquerizo Moreno.
Limitedsocial benefits for indigenousEcuadorians and the coastalMontubioworking class were overshadowed by major crises in the early 1920s. A severe economic downturn, triggered by the collapse of the globalcacao market on which Ecuador's economy depended, caused widespread hardship. This was compounded by the government's violent repression of the emerginglabor movement, most notably in themassacre of striking workers in Guayaquil on 15 November 1922.
The Liberal period was marked by political instability and frequent reliance on military interventions. TheLiberal Revolution of 1895 began with a coup, andEloy Alfaro returned to power in 1906 through another.
During Alfaro's first year as president, beginning in June 1895, Ecuador was engulfed in civil war. Clergy incited followers to rebel against the "atheistic alfaristas," a pejorative term for Alfaro's anticlerical supporters, while some clergymen themselves became victims of reprisals. Foreign-born bishops Pedro Schumacher of Portoviejo and Arsenio Andrade of Riobamba played key roles in organising resistance. The conflict was ultimately defused by Archbishop and historianFederico González Suárez, who persuaded the clergy to withdraw from direct political opposition, preventing a prolonged conflict.[1][3]
For nearly two decades, Alfaro and GeneralLeónidas Plaza y Gutiérrez y Caviedes led rival factions of the Liberal Party, dividing radicals from moderates. Plaza was elected president in 1901 and served until 1905. In 1906, shortly after Plaza's chosen successorLizardo García took office, Alfaro launched acoup d'état and returned to the presidency.
Alfaro was overthrown on 11 August 1911 after attempting to prevent his hand-picked successorEmilio Estrada from assuming office, citing Estrada's poor health. Estrada died of a heart attack on 21 December 1911, only months into his presidency. His death triggered renewed conflict between Alfaro and Plaza.
Alfaro returned from exile inPanama to lead a rebellion fromGuayaquil against the interim government inQuito, commanded by Plaza. The rebellion collapsed within weeks. Alfaro was captured and transported to Quito via the railway he had helped build. On 28 January 1912, a mob stormed the prison, killing Alfaro and six of his commanders. Their bodies were dragged through the streets and publicly burned in an event known as the "Barbaric Bonfire." This led to theConcha Revolution inEsmeraldas Province (1913–1916), which was eventually suppressed by government forces.
Following the civil unrest, Plaza began a second presidential term on 1 September 1912. His administration initiated a rare period of constitutional stability with four consecutive transfers of power:Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno (1916–1920),José Luis Tamayo (1920–1924), andGonzalo Córdova (1924–1925).
During this later phase of Liberal rule, political power was concentrated in aplutocracy of coastal banking and agricultural elites known as La Argolla ("the ring"), centred on the Commercial and Agricultural Bank of Guayaquil, led by Francisco Urbina Jado. The bank extended large loans to the state, issued its own currency, and became a dominant political force. According to historianÓscar Efren Reyes, its influence was so extensive that "candidates for president and his ministers, senators, and deputies had to have the prior approval of the bank."
Many of the bank's loans supported members of the Association of Agriculturists of Ecuador, a group of cacao growers that also received government subsidies. These funds, intended to promote an international cacao cartel, were reportedly diverted to private enrichment.
La Argolla supported Liberal governments, but its financial practices contributed to economic decline. The Commercial and Agricultural Bank and others financed government deficits by issuingfiat money, fuelling inflation. The cacao industry was simultaneously devastated by plant diseases such asWitches’ Broom andMonilia pod rot, while competition fromBritish colonies in Africa reduced Ecuador's market share. Declining global demand and prices during theGreat Depression further weakened the economy.
The crisis hit the working class and rural poor especially hard. A general strike in Guayaquil on 15 November 1922 ended with the killing of hundreds of demonstrators by government troops, while a peasant rebellion in the Sierra in 1923 was also suppressed by the military.
PresidentGonzalo Córdova, closely associated with La Argolla, took office in 1924 following a disputed election. Popular unrest, continuing economic hardship, and Córdova's poor health created the conditions for thebloodless coup of 9 July 1925.
Unlike earlier interventions led by individualcaudillos, the coup was carried out by the "League of Young Officers," a collective of reform-minded military leaders. Their agenda included establishing acentral bank, implementing aprogressive income tax, and replacing the Liberal–Conservative rivalry with new social and economic reforms. This marked the end of three decades of Liberal dominance in Ecuadorian politics.
