1. Jose Eloy Alfaro Delgado often referred to as "The Old Warrior," was an Ecuadorian politician who served as the President of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911.
23 Facts About Eloy Alfaro
1. 2.
Eloy Alfaro emerged as the leader of the Liberal Party and became a driving force for fairness, justice and liberty.
3.
Eloy Alfaro became one of the strongest opponents of the pro-Catholic conservative President Gabriel Garcia Moreno.
4.
Eloy Alfaro led the modernization of Ecuadorian society through the introduction of new ideas, education, and systems of public transport and communication, including the engineering feat of the Transandino Railway linking Guayaquil with Quito.
5.
Eloy Alfaro's effigy appeared on the Ecuadorian 50-cent coin from the 2000 issue, and the Ecuadorian Army's military college bears his name, as have two ships of the Ecuadorian Navy.
6.
Eloy Alfaro was born in Montecristi, Manabi, on 25 June 1842.
7.
Eloy Alfaro's father was don Manuel Alfaro y Gonzalez, a Spanish Republican native of Cervera del Rio Alhama, La Rioja, Spain who arrived in Ecuador as a political exile; his mother was dona Maria Natividad Delgado Lopez.
8.
Eloy Alfaro received his primary education in his place of birth.
9.
Eloy Alfaro fought against Presidents Garcia Moreno, Borrero, Veintemilla and Camano, and as a result he is traditionally known as the "Viejo Luchador".
10.
Eloy Alfaro experienced many serious difficulties in the various campaigns he initiated against the conservative Ecuadorian governments.
11.
Eloy Alfaro spent his fortune, acquired with the help of his Panamanian wife, Ana Paredes Arosemena, in those battles.
12.
Nine children were born of their marriage: Bolivar, Esmeraldas, Colombia, Colon, Bolivar, Ana Maria, America, Olmedo, and Colon Eloy Alfaro; Rafael was born out of wedlock.
13.
From a very early age Eloy Alfaro participated in acts of rebellion.
14.
Eloy Alfaro almost lost his life in the disastrous naval battle of Alajuela when he tried to disembark in Ecuador with a troop of revolutionaries and was defeated by Conservative Government forces.
15.
Eloy Alfaro participated in the battles of Montecristi, San Mateo, Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, Jaramijo, Gatazo, Cuenca, and Chasqui.
16.
Eloy Alfaro was a model father and was magnanimous with friends and the destitute.
17.
Eloy Alfaro supported various liberals, such as the writer Juan Montalvo, to whom he offered monetary assistance.
18.
Eloy Alfaro constructed numerous public schools and inaugurated the right to a free and secular education.
19.
Eloy Alfaro seized much property of the Church, expelled religious orders and prohibited the establishment of any new monasteries or convents.
20.
Eloy Alfaro was captured near Guayaquil and sent to Quito on the railroad he had constructed.
21.
Eloy Alfaro was exiled to Panama during the interim government of Carlos Freile Zaldumbide.
22.
Eloy Alfaro returned to Ecuador on 4 January 1912, and attempted another coup but was defeated, arrested and jailed by General Leonidas Plaza.
23.
On 28 January 1912, a group of pro-Catholic soldiers whose motto was "Muerte al indio Eloy Alfaro", supported by a mob, broke into the prison where Eloy Alfaro and his colleagues were detained and dragged them along the cobbled streets of the city center.