GABRIEL GARCÍA MORENO: BIOGRAPHY, PRESIDENCY AND WORKS - ARTE - 2025

Gabriel García Moreno (1821-1875) was a lawyer, writer and politician who served as president of Ecuador for two periods, in which he established a powerful conservative and authoritarian line.

He took an active role in the turbulent political life of the 19th century in the South American country, being convinced that the remedy for his nation's problems lay in the application of the moral principles taught by a powerful and decisive leader.

Presidency of the Republic of Ecuador

During his two presidential terms, he centralized the government, reduced corruption, maintained relative peace in the country, strengthened the economy, and established a strong link between the Catholic Church and the state.

To achieve his goals, García Moreno twice reformed the constitution of the republic and led an undoubtedly autocratic regime. This originated a strong liberal opposition that ended his life when he was about to start a third presidential term.

Biography

Early years

Gabriel García Moreno was born on December 24, 1821 in Guayaquil, a region of Quito under Spanish rule. He was the eighth child of Gabriel García Gómez and Mercedes Moreno, who at the time of their birth occupied a high social position in that city.

The family would lose its comfortable finances after the death of the father when the young Gabriel was only nine years old. This endangered his education, for which he received primary studies in his own home, taught by a priest of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy and a family friend whom historians only review by his surname: Betancourt.

This early religious-bent education had a great influence on his future decisions. For now, García Moreno with only 15 years of age moved to Quito where two sisters from Betancourt housed him so that he could attend the Convictorio de San Fernando.

At that stage, he taught Latin classes to children in the lower grades, a job that earned him a scholarship with which he could continue his education.

In 1838, at the age of 17, he manifested to the world his strong religious inclination by receiving minor orders from the Bishop of Guayaquil, but finally he took another path and that same year he began his law studies at the University of Quito, an institution in which later served as Rector in 1857.

Personal life

Gabriel García Moreno married Rosa Ascásubi Matheu in 1846, who died in 1856. Six months after being widowed, he married again, this time with Mariana del Alcázar, the niece of his late wife.

It is thought that García Moreno had a genetic disease that he transmitted to his offspring, since he had four children with his first wife and all died before reaching the age of two.

This event was repeated with his second wife with whom he had three girls who also died after living a short childhood. Only one child from this union survived to adulthood.

A versatile man

By 1844 he had already graduated as a lawyer, but his love for the law was also accompanied by other facets as he mastered chemistry, philosophy, mathematics, the exact sciences and writing. He studied French, English and Italian and was fond of volcanology and mountaineering.

His political career began at an early age. At the age of 24, he was appointed Commissioner of War in the Northern Jurisdiction, at the age of 25 he was Regidor of the Cabildo de Quito, and at 26 he was chosen as Governor of Guayaquil.

Years of exile

In 1849 he supported the presidency of Vicente Ramón Roca, faced with the threat of the deposed former president Juan José Flores to retake power, but after the end of the term he supported he had to go into exile to protect his life.

For this reason he traveled to Europe where he found the traces of the revolutions that had just swept the continent a year earlier. This led to a rejection of liberalism and uncontrolled violence.

In 1850 he returned to Ecuador, being by that time already known as a good speaker and writer for the conservative cause. In 1856 he opposed President José María Urbina, for which he was once again exiled.

In 1859 he led a rebellion that overthrew President Francisco Robles and, faced with this power vacuum, he was part of a triumvirate that he shared with Patricio Chiriboga and Gerónimo Carrión to lead the country until 1861.

That same year the Ecuadorian Congress elects Gabriel García Moreno as President of the Republic.

Presidency

Church and State

By the time that García Moreno assumed the presidency, Ecuador was a young country with only thirty years of foundation, so it did not have a nationalist tradition, there were strong regional resentments and a class division between Europeans and Indians who did not share a common language.

Gabriel García Moreno understood that the only thing that Ecuadorian society shared was religion and, based on this, he granted an important opening to the Catholic Church during his two periods of government established between 1861-1865 and 1869-1875.

He promoted a centralized government and a direct link between Church and State after the Concordat signed in 1862 with the Vatican. This agreement opened the doors of the country to the Jesuit orders and left the education of the country in the hands of the Church.

The religious fervor did not stop there, some priests considered liberal were exiled, other religions were discouraged, and only Catholics were declared to be the true and only citizens. In 1873 he urged Congress to dedicate the Republic of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to send money from the Ecuadorian State to the Vatican.

Authoritarianism

García Moreno imposed an autocratic regime with his back to freedom of the press and established a new constitution in 1861 that was later replaced by another in 1869, considering the previous one too liberal.

The second constitution was called by its opponents the "Slavery Charter" or "Black Charter", since they considered that it was designed to conform to the requirements of García Moreno and ignored when its restrictions stopped the actions of the president.

The National Congress only existed to approve his decisions and his strongest critics had to go into exile due to the fierce hunt against the liberals who opposed his regime.

However, some historians soften García Moreno's manner by stating that he genuinely acted for the good of his people by following moral instructions from a greater power, justifying him especially for his austere lifestyle and for being a strong enemy of corruption.

Presidential works

Historians point out that, although some aspects of the government of Gabriel García Moreno were very negative, they marked the first period of genuine progress for Ecuador, especially in the area of ​​public works and education. During his presidential terms, he achieved:

- Approve the Organic Law of Public Instruction.

- Inaugurate schools and hospitals.

- Promote female education.

- Create the National Scientific and Literary Academy.

- Founding the National Polytechnic School of Education.

- Improve the public welfare system.

- Initiate reforms of the fiscal and financial system.

- Improve the international credit of Ecuador.

- Promote foreign investment.

- Founding the Meteorological Observatory.

- Build new roads.

- Start the works of the railway lines that would eventually link the regions of the mountains and the coast.

- Implement a telegraph wire.

- Execute reforms in agriculture that slowly managed to raise production.

Public death

In 1875, after completing his second term, García Moreno called elections and was elected for a third term. However, on August 6 of that same year, before taking possession of the new term, he was assassinated by a group of liberals at the gates of the Presidential Palace.

García Moreno came walking to the place from the Metropolitan Cathedral, where he had gone to pray. When he was climbing the steps of the Carondelet Palace, the Colombian liberal Faustino Rayo, who had hidden behind the columns, attacked him with a machete. Immediately, four other people who were part of the ambush used firearms against the president.

The presidential aide could do little given the magnitude of the shocking onslaught. Of all the attackers, only Rayo was arrested, who was killed during his transfer by a rifle shot from a corporal in charge of his protection.

García Moreno was transferred still alive to the Cathedral and placed at the foot of the altar of Our Lady of Sorrows where he finally died, he was 54 years old. A plaque commemorating his death is displayed at the site.

And although it is officially an assassination, liberal writers such as Juan Montalvo, who exercised strong opposition against García Moreno, affirm that what happened to the president was a "tyrannicide" due to the autocratic nature of his regime.

Legacy

The most remembered writings of García Moreno are: "Epistle to Fabio", "Defense of the Jesuits" and "The Truth to my slanderers." He also left hundreds of letters and speeches throughout his political career that are still preserved for the study of his approaches in the historical context of the time.

Historians still debate about their positive or negative image and most agree that they cannot put their actions on only one side of the scale.

They consider him a brilliant statesman who was also branded a tyrant, a religious devotee also branded a fanatic. He led Ecuador to progress but under an autocratic regime, among other aspects of his behavior as a public figure.

For this reason, their true intentions and the scope of their achievements up to the current period of Ecuador will continue to be the subject of discussion and sensitive analysis.

References

1. The publishers of Encyclopedia Britannica. Gabriel Garcia Moreno. Taken from britannica.com Chritopher Minster. (2017). Gabriel Garcia Moreno. Taken from thoughtco.com
2. Fernando Pascual. (2015). Gabriel García Moreno: politician and Catholic. Taken from es.catholic.net
3. Valverde León, Jorge Gustavo and Llumiquinga Gualotuña, Sandra Elizabeth. (2017). Government of Gabriel García Moreno. Taken from dspace.uce.edu.ec
4. Eduardo Kingsman Garcés and Ana María Goetschel. (2014). President Gabriel García Moreno, the concordat and the administration of populations in Ecuador in the second half of the 19th century. Taken from redalyc.org
5. Catholic Encyclopedia: Gabriel García Moreno. (2019). Taken from newadvent.org