An Armed Forces Anomaly: Key Ingredients to Ecuador’s Democratic Consistency

The 1960s launched an era in Latin America tainted by the blood of innocent citizens and haunted by dictatorial military rule. During this period, a series of right-wing governments throughout Latin America crushed the opposition through public repression, human rights abuses and, in several instances, no-hold civil wars. Military forces, often trained and supplied by the United States, became the instrument of choice to enforce Cold War-driven national stability.

Inexplicably, during subsequent decades, when it came to dictatorial rule in the Americas, Ecuador proved to be an exception. Although Ecuador did undergo rule by a military junta, it was popularly referred to as the dictablanda, or “soft dictatorship,” which was neither a democratic institution nor an administration that committed grievous human rights violations by challenging the constitutional rights of Ecuadorian citizens. Its history indicates that the Ecuadorian armed forces have proven to be the only institutionally constant democratic component in an otherwise unstable country. The military thus uniquely has been called upon to act as a monitor ofcontinuismo—promoting democratic behavior by acting as a constitutional guarantor, rather than a usurper of power.

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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Juan Pablo Pitarque