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History of Ecuador
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A coastal-based liberal revolution in 1895
under Eloy Alfaro reduced the power of the clergy and opened
the way for capitalist development. The end of the cocoa boom
produced renewed political instability and a military coup in
1925. The 1930s and 1940s were marked by populist politicians,
such as five-time president Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra. In
January 1942, Ecuador signed the Rio Protocol to end a brief
war with Peru the year before. Ecuador agreed to a border that
conceded to Peru much territory Ecuador previously had claimed
in the Amazon basin.
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After WWII
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After World War II, a recovery in the
market for agricultural commodities and the growth of the
banana industry helped restore prosperity and political peace.
From 1948-60, three presidents--beginning with Galo Plaza --were freely
elected and completed their terms. |
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Recession and popular unrest led to a
return to populist politics and domestic military
interventions in the 1960s, while with the discovery
of oil in the 1970s
foreign companies started to develop oil resources in
the Ecuadorian Amazon. In 1972, a nationalist military
regime overthrew Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra for the last
time and used the new oil |
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wealth and foreign borrowing to pay
for a program of industrialization, land reform, and subsidies
for urban consumers. |
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