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Ecuador MILITARY HERITAGE
Ecuador's military history dates from the first attempt to
secure freedom from Spain in 1811. The rebel forces of the newly
declared independent state of Quito attempted to extend their
control to other parts of Ecuadorian territory but proved little
match for the army dispatched by the viceroy of Peru. In the Battle
of Ibarra in December 1812, Spanish forces easily reasserted
control of the country. When the independence movement began again
in 1820, Ecuadorian forces assembled in Guayaquil, combining with
contingents of revolutionary soldiers from Colombia commanded by
Antonio José de Sucre Alcalá, a close collaborator of the
Venezuelan liberator, Simón Bolívar Palacios. After a successful
invasion of the Sierra (Andean highlands), the rebels scored a
decisive victory over the royalist army in 1822 at the Battle of
Pichincha
(see The Struggle for Independence
, ch. 1).
In 1828, as a member along with Colombia and Venezuela of the
Confederation of Gran Colombia, Ecuador fought against Peru to
block the latter's attempt at annexation. Confederation forces,
fewer than half of which were Ecuadorians, defeated the much larger
Peruvian invasion force at a second Battle of Pichincha in February
1829.
At the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830, most of Ecuador's
senior army officers and many of its troops were Venezuelans, as
was the country's first president, Juan José Flores. The army of
2,000 men consisted of three infantry battalions and one cavalry
regiment. Even as late as 1845, when Flores was forced from his
second term of office, only four of fifteen general officers were
Ecuadorian. Non-Ecuadorians comprised most of the officers and
noncommissioned officers (NCOs) of the elite cavalry units as well.
Upon taking office as president in 1851, General José María Urbina
freed the black slaves and recruited many of them into the
military.
Beginning in the 1860s, successive governments attempted to
professionalize the armed forces. Gabriel García Moreno, who
dominated the political scene from 1860 until 1875, reduced the
army in size and depoliticized it. Further improvements in the army
occurred during the relatively prosperous period of the 1880s and
1890s under the military dictator Ignacio de Veintemilla, and
successor civilian governments. French officers arrived to provide
training on a newly acquired arsenal of weapons. By 1900 the army
was able to repel an attack from Colombia by Ecuadorian political
opponents of the government in power.
In 1905 the government established military education and
training institutions and divided the country into four defense
zones. Immediately preceding World War I, the army had nine
infantry battalions, three cavalry regiments, three artillery
regiments, and three engineering battalions. By the mid-1920s, it
had expanded to fifteen infantry battalions. Later, under the
influence of an Italian military mission, the infantry was reduced
to ten battalions, although each battalion now consisted of four
rather than the previous two or three rifle companies. In 1930 the
army had a total strength of about 5,500 men of all ranks.
Despite the military's continual growth, in July 1941, when
conflict broke out over the Amazonian region disputed with Peru,
the Ecuadorians were ill-prepared to resist invasion. The much
larger Peruvian army of 13,000, supported by a battalion of
Czech-manufactured tanks, together with artillery and air power,
moved quickly into the southern coastal province of El Oro,
threatening Guayaquil
(see fig. 1).
The fewer than 1,800 Ecuadorian
troops in the area lacked air cover and could offer only limited
resistance. Peruvian forces also moved into the disputed Amazonian
territory without significant opposition. After a campaign lasting
only three weeks, an armistice was arranged. The subsequent
Protocol of Peace, Friendship, and Boundaries (Rio Protocol) in
early 1942 imposed on Ecuador acceptance of Peru's claims in the
Amazonian region in return for Peruvian withdrawal from Ecuador's
coastal provinces.
Ecuador declared war on the Axis powers and began to receive
military aid from the United States in 1942. This aid consisted at
first of light weapons, mortars, light tanks, and armored scout
cars. Under a military assistance agreement with the United States
in 1952, the Ecuadorian armed forces, which now totaled
approximately 15,000 troops, received additional equipment,
including howitzers, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. Revenue
coming from the oil discovered in the late 1960s financed the
purchase of considerable additional ground forces weaponry as well
as fighters for the small air force
(see Armed Forces
, this ch.).
Occasional clashes with Peru occurred in the border area lost
by Ecuador in the 1942 settlement. These clashes flared into an
outbreak of serious fighting in January 1981. Ecuadorian troops had
apparently established an outpost on Peruvian soil but were driven
back in an engagement lasting five days at a reported cost to
Ecuador of 200 deaths. The Peruvians made effective use of
helicopters, air strikes, and commando teams specially trained for
jungle operations. In 1983 and again in 1984, shooting incidents
occurred when patrols of both countries met in the territory still
claimed by Ecuador.
Data as of 1989
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