Galo Plaza
Galo Plaza | |
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Galo Plaza in 1951 | |
4th Secretary General of the Organization of American States | |
In office 1968–1975 | |
Preceded by | José Antonio Mora |
Succeeded by | Alejandro Orfila |
29th President of Ecuador | |
In office 1 September 1948 – 31 August 1952 | |
Vice President | Manuel Sotomayor Abel Gilbert |
Preceded by | Carlos Julio Arosemena |
Succeeded by | José María Velasco |
Personal details | |
Born | Galo Lincoln Plaza Lasso de la Vega (1906-02-17)17 February 1906 New York City, New York, U.S. |
Died | 28 January 1987(1987-01-28) (aged 80) Quito, Ecuador |
Nationality | Ecuadorian |
Political party | National Democratic Civic Movement (1947–1987) |
Other political affiliations | Radical Liberal Party (1930–1947) |
Spouse | Rosario Pallares (m. 1933) |
Children | 6 |
Alma mater | University of Maryland University of California, Berkeley Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University |
Galo Lincoln Plaza Lasso de la Vega[1] (17 February 1906 – 28 January 1987) was an Ecuadorian statesman who served as President of Ecuador from 1948 to 1952 and Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1968 to 1975. He is the son of former Ecuadorian President Leonidas Plaza.
Early life
Plaza was born in New York City in 1906 at the Marlton House during the exile of his father, the general and ex-president Leónidas Plaza; his mother was Avelina Lasso Ascásubi. In Quito, he completed his secondary school at the Instituto Nacional Mejía.[2] Then, he studied agriculture at the University of Maryland, economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and diplomacy at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Career
In 1938, Plaza was appointed the Minister of War of Ecuador. In 1940, he founded the Colegio Americano de Quito.[3] In 1944, he was appointed as Ecuador's Ambassador to the U.S. In 1948, after forming a liberal political group in Ecuador, he was elected President of Ecuador.
Presidency
Galo Plaza differed from previous Ecuadorian presidents. The son of former President Leónidas Plaza, he had been born in the United States, where he also attended several universities. His ties to the United States grew even closer as a result of serving there as ambassador under President Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Río. These links, as Pike points out, "rendered him vulnerable to charges by Velasco Ibarra and other demagogic opponents of being the lackey of U.S. imperialism."
Galo Plaza brought a developmentalist and technocratic emphasis to Ecuadorian government. He invited a wide variety of foreign experts in economic development and in governmental administration to recommend and catalog reforms in both areas. In large part because of a lack of political will within either the executive or the legislature, however, virtually none of the recommended reforms was enacted. Nevertheless, the economy experienced a marked improvement, with inflation finally slowing down and both government budget and foreign currency accounts balancing for the first time in many years. This achievement was even more remarkable in light of the series of major earthquakes, landslides, and floods suffered by Ecuador in 1949 and 1950.
No doubt Galo Plaza's most important contribution to Ecuadorian political culture was his commitment to the principles and practices of democracy. Galo Plaza endorsed such democratic guarantees as freedom of the press and the freedom of opponents to voice their opinions, to assemble for political purposes without fear of being jailed or worse, and to be elected to the legislature without fear of being defrauded or arbitrarily dismissed. Galo Plaza was able to create a mystique around the idea of his completing his term in office, something no president had accomplished since 1924, and this mystique no doubt helped him achieve his goal.
As Galo Plaza readily admitted, however, his greatest asset, both politically and economically, was the onset of the nation's banana boom, as diseases plaguing plantations in Central America turned Ecuador into an alternative supplier to the huge United States market. Ecuador's banana exports grew from US$2 million to US$20 million between 1948 and 1952. During these years, Ecuador also benefited from sizable price increases—generated by the Korean War—for its commodity exports.
As president he managed to foment the agricultural exports of Ecuador during his government, creating economic stability. During his presidency, an earthquake near Ambato severely damaged the city and surrounding areas and killed approximately 8,000 people. Unable to succeed himself, he left his office in 1952 as the first president in 28 years to complete his term in office. He ran again in the election of 1960, but was defeated by José Maria Velasco Ibarra.
After leaving office, he held a number of diplomatic posts for the United Nations. He was a mediator in the conflicts in Lebanon (1958), the Congo (1960) and Cyprus (1964–1965). In 1968, he became the Secretary General of the OAS, where he gained a reputation for leadership.
Galo Plaza owned a large hacienda and cattle ranch Zuleta near Quito, where he customarily spent weekends throughout his four years as president. During the later 1950s and into the 1960s, the former president instituted educational and landholding reforms for the benefit of the numerous workers there.[4]
Inter-American Dialogue
In 1982 Galo Plaza together with the U.S. diplomat Sol M. Linowitz formed the Inter-American Dialogue think tank with the goal of bringing together leaders of the Americas to set a new inter-American agenda.
Death
Galo Plaza died of a heart attack 28 January 1987 in a hospital in Quito. He was survived by his wife, Rosario Pallares, and his five daughters and one son.
References
- ^ Index Pi-Py. Rulers.org
- ^ "Presidentes del Ecuador, Galo Plaza Lasso, Camilo Ponce Enriquez". www.trenandino.com. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
- ^ Princeton Alumni Weekly vol 49. 1948. p. xiix. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- ^ Johnson, William Weber The Andean Republics: Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru Time-Life International 1966 pp93-4, 98-9
External links
- Galo Plaza's biography at the Ecuadorian government's website (in Spanish)
- Plaza's obituary in the NY Times
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by | President of Ecuador 1948–1952 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | Secretary General of the Organization of American States 1968–1975 | Succeeded by |
- v
- t
- e
- Juan José Flores
- Vicente Rocafuerte
- Juan José Flores
- José Joaquín de Olmedo
- Vicente Ramón Roca
- Manuel de Ascásubi
- Diego Noboa
- José María Urvina
- Francisco Robles
- Gabriel García Moreno
- Rafael Carvajal
- Jerónimo Carrión
- Pedro José de Arteta
- Javier Espinosa
- Gabriel García Moreno
- Manuel de Ascásubi
- Gabriel García Moreno
- Francisco León Franco
- José Javier Eguiguren
- Antonio Borrero
- Ignacio de Veintemilla
- Provisional Government
- José María Sarasti
- Luis Cordero Crespo
- Rafael Pérez Pareja
- Agustín Guerrero
- Pedro Ignacio Lizarzaburu
- José Plácido Caamaño
- Pedro José Cevallos
- Antonio Flores Jijón
- Luis Cordero Crespo
- Vicente Lucio Salazar
- Eloy Alfaro
- Leónidas Plaza
- Lizardo García
- Eloy Alfaro
- Carlos Freile Zaldumbide
- Emilio Estrada
- Carlos Freile Zaldumbide
- Francisco Andrade Marín
- Alfredo Baquerizo
- Leónidas Plaza
- Alfredo Baquerizo
- José Luis Tamayo
- Gonzalo Córdova
- First Provisional Government
- Luis Telmo Paz y Miño
- Luis Napoleón Dillon
- Pedro Pablo Garaycoa
- Francisco Gómez de la Torre
- José Rafael Bustamante
- Modesto Larrea Jijón
- Francisco Arízaga Luque
- Moisés Oliva
- Second Provisional Government
- Isidro Ayora
- Luis Larrea Alba
- Alfredo Baquerizo
- Carlos Freile Larrea
- Alberto Guerrero Martínez
- Juan de Dios Martínez
- Abelardo Montalvo
- José María Velasco Ibarra
- Antonio Pons
- Federico Páez
- Alberto Enríquez Gallo
- Benigno Andrade Flores
- Manuel María Borrero
- Aurelio Mosquera
- Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Río
- Andrés Córdova
- Julio Enrique Moreno
- Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Río
- Julio Teodoro Salem
- José María Velasco Ibarra
- Carlos Mancheno Cajas
- Mariano Suárez
- Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola
- Galo Plaza
- José María Velasco Ibarra
- Camilo Ponce Enríquez
- José María Velasco Ibarra
- Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy
- Military Junta of 1963
- Clemente Yerovi
- Otto Arosemena
- José María Velasco Ibarra
- Guillermo Rodríguez
- Supreme Council of Government
- Jaime Roldós Aguilera
- Osvaldo Hurtado
- León Febres Cordero
- Rodrigo Borja Cevallos
- Sixto Durán Ballén
- Abdalá Bucaram
- Rosalía Arteaga
- Fabián Alarcón
- Jamil Mahuad
- Gustavo Noboa
- Lucio Gutiérrez
- Alfredo Palacio
- Rafael Correa
- Lenín Moreno
- Guillermo Lasso
- Daniel Noboa