Born Oct. 24, 1821, in Guayaquil; died Aug. 6, 1875, in Quito. Ecuadorian political figure.
García Moreno headed Equador’s provisional government in 1860; he was president from 1861 to 1865. In 1869 he staged a coup d’etat and proclaimed himself dictator and turned the country into a theocratic state of sorts. By a concordat with the Pope on Sept. 26, 1862, Catholicism was acknowledged the sole religion and 10 percent of the revenue was allotted annually to the Vatican treasury. Education was put in the hands of the Jesuits. García Moreno’s dictatorship of clerics and landowners dealt savagely with its opponents, cruelly suppressing the protests of the working people and in particular of the Indians. García Moreno was assassinated by a group of students who had organized a conspiracy against him.
B. I. KOVAL’