July Revolution (Ecuador)

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The July Revolution of 1925 resulted in the end of liberalism in Ecuador and the takeover of power by the socialist Liga de Militares Jóvenes . As a period of Ecuadorian history, it is usually dated from the moment of the coup d'état by the young military to the overthrow of President Isidro Ayora, who was incumbent on August 24, 1931 as a result of the revolution and a new constitution .

course

On the afternoon of July 9, 1925 , a military junta was formed in Guayaquil, mainly made up of young military men, chaired by Luis Telmo Paz y Miño and Ildefonso Mendoza , and on the evening of July 11 in Quito, the ruling President Gonzalo Córdova bloodlessly but under military threat discontinued. The military junta itself elected a new government junta composed mainly of civil dignitaries, consisting of Francisco Arízaga , Francisco Boloña , Rafael Bustamante , Luis Napoleón Dillon , Pedro Pablo Garaicoa , General Francisco Gómez de la Torre and General Moisés Oliva (later replaced by Modesto Larrea Jijón ), who transferred power and in which each member was head of state every week. This new government initially sought to end the influence of previous "oligarchs" such as General Leonidas Plaza Gutiérrez and banker Francisco Urbina Jado (owner of Banco Comercial y Agrícola and son of ex-President José María Urbina ) through popular tribunals . The people's tribunals were soon abolished for abuse of authority. Urbina was forcibly exiled immediately and Plaza in October 1925. Urbina died shortly afterwards in Chile. Plaza later returned to Ecuador.

The civil junta was replaced on January 9, 1926 by a new junta made up of Humberto Albornoz , Isidro Ayora, Pedro Pablo Egüez , José Antonio Gómez Gault , Adolfo Hidalgo , Julio Enrique Moreno and Homero Viteri . The policy of the government junta did not achieve the expected success, so that there were new military uprisings, which were put down, but ultimately resulted in the appointment of Isidro Ayora as dictator or transitional president on April 1, 1926. Ayora accepted the appointment on condition that the military did not interfere with his government. Ayora implemented a comprehensive, above all, economic policy program with a hard hand, in the course of which, among other things, the Ecuadorian central bank and other important institutions were founded. On December 9, 1928, a constituent assembly began its work, which passed a new constitution on March 26, 1929. She also elected Ayora as constitutional president. Contrary to Ayora's previous policy, the constitution was clearly democratic and gave parliament stronger rights. Women's suffrage and habeas corpus rights were introduced and social legislation was strengthened. In the course of the Great Depression, which also hit the Ecuadorian economy in 1929/30, the expanded social programs could not be carried out, which led to numerous uprisings that put down the Ayora government and the military . Finally, after various attempted coups, Ayora was overthrown in 1931 and replaced by Colonel Luis Larrea Alba , thus ending the phase of the July Revolution.

Carrier and content

The "revolution" was mainly driven by rising petty bourgeoisie who had risen in the military. The nominal goal of the coup and the "July Revolution" was the modernization of the state and the reorientation away from the ruling v. a. liberal-entrepreneurial oligarchy towards the interests of broader social classes. Despite socialist inclinations, the government program primarily benefited medium-sized merchants and civil servants. In fact, the protagonists of the “revolution” were ready to make concessions to the existing elites from the start. The July Revolution resulted in a shift in power from the export bourgeoisie in the coastal region, which had led the way since the Liberal Revolution, to the old and new elites of the Andean region.

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