Juan José Flores

Juan José Flores (1801-1864) was a South American general and the first president of Ecuador. He dominated Ecuadorian political life for 2 decades.

Juan José Flores was born in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, on June 19, 1801, the illegitimate son of a rich Spanish merchant and Rita Flores. His father returned to Europe, and young Flores grew up in great poverty. He worked for a while in a Spanish military hospital and at the age of 14 enlisted in the army. When, as a sergeant, he was taken prisoner on Oct. 31, 1817, he joined the patriot army of Simón Bolívar. For his role in the victory of Carabobo (1821) Bolívar promoted Flores to lieutenant colonel. By 1824 he was a colonel and governor of the province of Pasto.

Soon after, Flores was appointed intendant of Quito. He retained this position until 1830, extending his authority over all of present-day Ecuador. As second in command under Gen. Antonio José de Sucre, he took part in the battle of Tarqui (Feb. 27, 1829), in which an invading Peruvian army was defeated. Flores was then promoted to general of division.

President of Ecuador

Left without rivals in Ecuador, where his position was strengthened by his marriage to a member of the aristocracy, Doña Mercedes Jijón, Flores convoked an assembly in Quito, which on May 13, 1830, declared the independence of Ecuador. A few months later, at the age of 29, he was elected its president for a 4-year term.

The first presidency of Flores was marked by his efforts to organize the republic. He was able to maintain himself with the backing of his Venezuelan troops and with the political support of the majority of the ruling class. However, a Liberal revolt broke out in Quito while Flores was on the coast facing an invasion by revolutionaries. The leader of the latter, Vicente Rocafuerte, fell into his hands. Showing his great political acumen and considering the important social connections of his prisoner in Guayaquil, Flores offered him the presidency. Rocafuerte accepted, and with the coastal region solidly under his control, Flores defeated the revolutionaries of Quito at Miñarica on Jan. 18, 1835.

During Rocafuerte's presidency Flores remained commander in chief of the army. He succeeded him for a second term in 1839, Rocafuerte moving to the politically very important post of governor of Guayaquil. Rocafuerte expected to continue alternating with Flores in the presidency, but the general decided to get himself reelected in 1843. A widespread revolt inspired by Rocafuerte forced a confrontation, and unable to reestablish his authority over the country, Flores signed an agreement with his opponents which guaranteed the safety of his family, his property, and his rank while in exile.

Exile and Return

Flores went to Europe, but when the new government rescinded the agreement, the general organized an expedition with the financial backing of the queen mother of Spain. The plan failed when the English government embargoed his ships. Flores then returned to his native country and spent several years in various Spanish American countries. An attempted invasion of Ecuador in 1852 was defeated by his erstwhile protégé Gen. José María Urbina.

In 1860 a Peruvian invasion of Ecuador led to civil war. The faction headed by Gabriel García Moreno—an admirer of Rocafuerte who began his political career as one of the most violent enemies of Flores—recalled the general to command its troops. Flores returned, took over the command, and ended the war on Sept. 24, 1860.

Flores then presided over the Constituent Convention of 1861, which legalized the García Moreno regime. The unwise foreign policy of the new president led to war with Colombia (New Granada), which ended with the defeat of Flores at Guaspud on Dec. 6, 1863. The following year he was back in Guayaquil, facing an invasion by former president Urbina. Seriously ill, Flores sallied forth against the revolutionaries and defeated them. He died on board the steamer that was carrying him back to Guayaquil on Oct. 1, 1864.

Further Reading

Discussions of Flores are in Lilo Linke, Ecuador: Country of Contrasts (3d ed. 1960), and George I. Blanksten, Ecuador: Constitutions and Caudillos (1964). See also Hubert Clinton Herring, A History of Latin America from the Beginnings to the Present (1955; 3d ed. 1968), and James Fred Rippy, Latin America: A Modern History (1958; rev. ed. 1968). □

Honduras Perhaps the perfect example of a Central American ‘banana republic’, by the late 1920s 90 per cent of its exports consisted of bananas from the plantations of three giant US companies. At that point, the companies determined not only the country's economy but also its infrastructure, politics, and social spending. Their authority was further enhanced by the support of the US government, which frequently interfered in domestic politics (seven military interventions 1903–37). Even though they continued to retain a crucial role in domestic life, the influence of the banana companies was reduced by two central factors. First, they were hit by a slump in prices following the Great Depression, and the spread of plant diseases during the 1930s, so that banana exports in 1942–3 stood at 10 per cent of their peak in 1929–30, with GDP in 1943 only at 36 per cent of its 1930 level. Second, the country was modernized dramatically under the government of Juan Manuel Gálvez (1949–54), when the banana companies were taxed efficiently for the first time, an independent infrastructure was established, an independent central bank was founded (1950), and sanitary works were instigated.

These policies of modernization were continued by Gálvez's three successors until they were halted in 1963 by a military whose own traditional structures had become threatened by the forces of progress. Military rule was characterized by high administrative incompetence during the 1960s, while the military itself was almost defeated in the 1968 Soccer War. Despite increasing levels of corruption during the 1970s, the economy began to show some gradual improvement. After the establishment of a Constituent Assembly in 1980, a new Constitution was passed and in January 1982 civilian rule was resumed. During the 1980s, US influence increased even further through its use of Honduras as the main refuge for the Nicaraguan Contras, and the establishment of a direct US military presence there. Virtual US domination of Honduran foreign policy was ended only towards the late 1980s, when the civilian government decided to endorse the peace plan of Arias Sánchez in opposition to current US policy. The domestic economy was hit by the subsequent decline of US spending in Honduras. At the same time, the civilian government also became more confident against the dominant military establishment. Under the liberal president Carlos Roberto Reina Idiaquez (1994–98), compulsory military service was abolished in April 1995, while the first military officers were charged with human rights abuses in July 1995. Honduras continued to struggle with the human rights legacy of the civil war under his predecessor, Carlos Flores Facussé. Former military generals became subject to prosecution after the Supreme Court declared in 2000 that unjustified imprisonments and capital punishment committed during the civil war was not covered by the amnesty of 1987.

Juan José Flores , 1800–1864, president of Ecuador (1830–34, 1839–45), b. Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. A commander under Bolívar in the War of Independence, Flores led (1830) the secession of Ecuador from the Colombian union and became its first president. A conservative who supported entrenched privileges, especially those of the Church, he was soon opposed by a liberal opposition under Rocafuerte , who succeeded him as president. Flores was twice reelected but, accused of dictatorial ambitions, he was exiled. Returning in 1860 with Gabriel García Moreno, he served as army chief until his death.