Arosemena Monroy, Carlos Julio (1919–2004)

Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy (b. 24 August 1919, d. 5 March 2004), president of Ecuador (1961–1963). Scion of a wealthy Guayaquil family, Arosemena received his law degree in 1945 from the University of Guayaquil and became active in Liberal politics. By the 1950s he was an ardent nationalist, loyal to José María Velasco Ibarra. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1952 and 1958, and he became president of the Federación Nacional Velasquista in 1960. In the latter year he was the vice presidential candidate on the slate with Velasco and was swept to office by the Velasquista landslide victory.

Presiding over Congress in his role as vice president of the republic, Arosemena soon broke with Velasco and became an outspoken critic. When Velasco was overthrown in 1961, Arosemena, at age forty-two, succeeded him as president. A supporter of labor and an outspoken nationalist, he espoused moderate reforms while expressing sympathy for the Cuban Revolution. This position aroused traditional domestic interests and angered the United States. His public displays of drunkenness became increasingly frequent, and the opposition hardened. On 11 July 1963 Arosemena was overthrown by the armed forces, which set up their own junta.

Arosemena soon organized his personalistic party, the Partido Nacionalista Revolucionario (PNR), which carried his banner in elections for the 1966 Constituent Assembly and afterward. But the PNR was unable to generate significant popular support. By 1984 its congressional representation consisted of Arosemena himself, and since 1986 the PNR has been moribund.

See alsoEcuador, Political Parties: Overview .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Martin C. Needler, Anatomy of a Coup d'état: Ecuador 1963 (1964).

John D. Martz, Ecuador: Conflicting Political Culture and the Quest for Progress (1972).

Additional Bibliography

Arosemena Monroy, Carlos Julio, and Carlos Calderón Chico. "No me importa el juicio de la historia": (Conversaciones con Carlos Julio Arosemena). Quito, Ecuador: Planeta, 2003.

                                          John D. Martz