Emilio Estrada Carmona (1855 -1911) was a politician and president of the Republic of Ecuador in 1911. He was active in the ranks of the Liberals and participated in the revolutions that led them to reach power.
He participated in the group of "Los Chapulos" and fought for the liberal cause together with Eloy Alfaro. Estrada Carmona also collaborated for a time in the newspaper El Federalista. She started at the bottom and built a name for herself in business and politics. For several years he was in exile in Panama, until 1889, when he returned to Ecuador.
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His presidential term was quite short, but he managed to make some advances that brought progress to the country, such as the start of oil exploitation in Santa Elena and the creation of the Pedro Moncayo canton.
Estrada Carmona died just four months after starting his government in 1911.
Biography
Early years
Emilio Antonio Jerónimo Estrada Carmona was born on May 28, 1855 in the Ecuadorian city of San Francisco de Quito. He was one of the three children of Dr. Nicolás Estrada Cirio and his wife, Francisca Carmona Vazmesón.
His father was a politician and in 1859 he was the personal representative of the Supreme Chief, General Guillermo Franco Herrera.
Emilio Estrada Carmona was baptized on June 29, 1855, his godparents were the then president of Ecuador, General José María Urvina, and his wife Teresa Jado de Urvina.
During the Peruvian invasion, Estrada Cirio served as Ecuador's foreign minister. In 1860 he was sent into exile like other prominent liberals, after the rise to power of General Gabriel García Moreno as president, along with the forces of Juan José Flores, leaders of the conservative party.
The Estrada Carmona family was in a serious economic situation. Francisca Carmona had to settle in Guayaquil with her three children, meanwhile, she carried out tasks such as confectionery and embroidery to provide for the young people after the exile and subsequent death of her father.
Emilio Estrada Carmona and his brothers, Nicolás Enrique and José Manuel, entered the Colegio San Vicente de Guayaquil in 1863. There the boy studied for six years.
Revolution
When he was 14 years old, he withdrew from formal education and dedicated himself to working to help support his family.
He started from the bottom in the world of commerce, where he managed to build a solid reputation that led him to positions such as Administrator of the Empresa de Carros Urbanos de Guayaquil, to which he introduced great technological advances.
He was also a paving contractor for the streets of Guayaquil and started his own businesses such as a construction materials factory called La Victoria. At this time he married Isabel Usubillaga, from whom he widowed without issue.
In 1882 he rebelled against the government of General Ignacio de Veintemilla, but his attempt failed so he took refuge for a few months in Central America. The following year, as General Alfaro prepared to storm Guayaquil, Estrada gave him a plan of the enemy fortifications with details.
Estrada's action was essential for the victory of July 9, 1883 and as a prize he obtained the position of General Provider of the Army and then the headquarters of the Police Station.
However, when Plácido Caamaño, a civilian, took power, the Liberals were excluded from the new government. It is then that Estrada began to collaborate in El Federalista, a recently created newspaper critical of the government.
Exile and return
Emilio Estrada Carmona was one of the forerunners of the Los Chapulos Revolution (1884), in Los Ríos. After his failure, he was imprisoned while his wife was dying. He was granted permission to visit her corpse, but it was not possible for him to give him one last kiss.
Thanks to the help of the president's sister-in-law, Estrada managed to escape, this time heading to Panama. There he worked hard in the construction of the canal and managed to climb quickly in the positions until he was one of the assistants of the engineers of the work.
In 1889, Estrada returned to Ecuador thanks to a safe-conduct given to him by President Flores Jijón. Then he dedicated himself to private life and momentarily moved away from politics.
A year after his return he married María Victoria Pía Scialuga Aubert, with whom he had a son, Víctor Emilio, and two girls named Francisca and María Luisa.
When the Liberal Revolution triumphed in 1895 and Alfaro took power, Emilio Estrada Carmona was appointed Governor of the Guayas region, a position he held a total of six times.
Estrada was always ready to contribute to tasks related to public service and at the same time continued to participate in journalistic activity.
In 1906 he was assigned by General Alfaro as Visitor of Consulates in Europe, in the hope that there he could find treatment for his wife, who was ill, but she died shortly afterwards despite all efforts.
Presidency
In 1911 the presidential candidacy of Emilio Estrada Carmona emerged, proposed by the Liberal Party with the blessing of Alfaro who wanted to hand over the government to a civilian leader. However, the general repented and withdrew his support for Estrada in the elections.
Despite the circumstances, Estrada was the winner in the contest with a large percentage and his government began on September 1, 1911. The year in which he also married Lastenia Gamarra, his third wife.
The Estrada government was accepted by the majority, but it had to deal with some riots that were resolved quickly and with good judgment.
In the few months that he lasted as president, oil extraction began in Santa Elena, with the concession to Ancon Oil and also created the Pedro Moncayo canton in the province of Pichincha.
Death
Emilio Estrada Carmona died on December 21, 1911 in Guayaquil. He suffered from a heart attack at 56 years of age.
He was only four months in the first national office, but the stress associated with his recent nuptials and the weight of the presidency rapidly deteriorated his delicate health.
References
- Pérez Pimentel, R. (2018). EMILIO ESTRADA CARMONA. Biographical Dictionary of Ecuador. Available at:biograficoecuador.com dictionary.
- En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Emilio Estrada Carmona. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
- Avilés Pino, E. (2018). Estrada Emilio - Historical Characters - Encyclopedia Del Ecuador. Encyclopedia Of Ecuador. Available at: encyclopediadelecuador.com.
- Toro and Gisbert, M. and Garcia-Pelayo and Gross, R. (1970). Little Larousse illustrated. Paris: Ed. Larousse, p.1283.
- Estrada-Guzman, E. (2001). Emilio Estrada C. Website of the Surname Estrada. Available at: estrada.bz.
- Sanchez Varas, A. (2005). Emilio Estrada Carmona. Guayaquil: Editions Moré.