Supreme Council of Government
|
The Supreme Council of Government was a military junta that governed Ecuador from 1976 to 1979, being considered the last military dictatorship that governed the country. The junta was headed by the military Alfredo Poveda (representing the naval force), Guillermo Durán Arcentales (representing the land force) and Luis Leoro Franco (representing the air force).
History edit
By 1976, the government of the then dictator of Ecuador Guillermo Rodríguez Lara had been extremely weakened due to the attempted coup that General Raúl González Alvear had tried to do in 1975, which added to his low popularity and internal pressures, ended up generating that He left the presidency in 1976, handing over his power to the new military junta in a peaceful and uncomplicated manner.
Once in power, the new government set itself the goal of a progressive return to democracy, preparing a referendum to see if Ecuadorians wanted a new constitution or simply modify the current one, as well as allowing the majority of political parties to participate in future ones elections. However, these goals were in contradiction with some actions taken by the regime, such as resorting to repression to reduce social tension, as well as denying registration to the political parties "Democracia Popular" and "Movimiento Popular Democrático".
In economic matters, during the government of the Supreme Council of Government, the Ecuadorian economy was severely affected, due to the bad economic policies imposed by the government that unleashed extreme indebtedness, a large devaluation of the currency, the wages freezes, a source of poverty and prominent corruption.
Despite its apparent intentions to want a democratic transition, the Council implemented an aggressive repression against anyone they might see as an opponent. Murders and torture were quite common, and these were mainly directed towards people who protested the bad economic situation or who demanded a faster return to democracy, as well as towards union leaders.
The dictatorship also persecuted and imprisoned several priests and bishops, and also many foreign priests who shared with Liberation Theology were expelled.
Perhaps one of the most infamous events committed by the dictatorship was the Aztra Massacre, which occurred on October 18, 1977, when workers at the Aztra engenho started a strike to demand better wages, which was violently repressed by the Ecuadorian police. The exact number of victims is not known, but it is known that there were more than 100, and all the perpetrators went unpunished.
Finally, in 1979, the Supreme Government Council left power after a presidential election in Ecuador, which would give Jaime Roldós Aguilera the winner, thus ending the last military dictatorship in Ecuador.