Roberto Andrade

Roberto Andrade Rodríguez

Roberto Andrade Rodríguez (October 26, 1850 – October 27, 1938) was a politician, historian, author and polemicist. He was a participant in the assassination plot against President Gabriel Garcia Moreno. On August 6, 1875, Garcia Moreno was beaten with a machete while three or four others shot revolvers at him. Andrade landed a deadly shot to Moreno’s forehead. Throughout his life Andrade was persecuted for his polemicist essays and political ideology. “Pacho Villamar,” his semi-autobiographical work from 1900, is widely considered Ecuador’s first political novel.

Early Life and Education

Roberto Andrade Rodríguez was born on October 26, 1850, at the Hacienda Gualchán, near the town of Puntal, now the canton Bolívar in the Carchi province of Ecuador. He was one of fourteen children in a politically active family, as his parents, Rafael Andrade Narváez and Alegría Rodríguez Ubidia, were engaged in the liberal struggles that defined much of Ecuador’s 19th-century political landscape.

Andrade’s early education took place at Colegio San Diego in Ibarra, and he later attended the Jesuit-run Colegio San Gabriel in Quito. While there, Andrade developed a strong distaste for authoritarianism, influenced by reading the works of Ecuadorian liberal writer Juan Montalvo. He was eventually expelled from the Jesuit school due to his rebellious tendencies. Andrade subsequently enrolled in the Facultad de Jurisprudencia at the Universidad Central of Quito, where his involvement in political movements intensified, particularly against the dictatorship of President Gabriel García Moreno.

Involvement in the Assassination of Gabriel García Moreno

Roberto Andrade is most infamously remembered for his role in the assassination of Ecuador’s conservative leader Gabriel García Moreno on August 6, 1875. García Moreno’s ultraconservative and authoritarian rule, bolstered by secret police and the repression of leftist dissent, had made him a hated figure among Ecuador’s liberals. Andrade, heavily influenced by Juan Montalvo’s writings, joined a conspiracy to assassinate the president.

On the day of the assassination, Andrade, along with conspirators Faustino Rayo, Manuel Cornejo, and others, ambushed García Moreno in Quito. Rayo initiated the attack with a machete strike, while Andrade personally shot García Moreno in the forehead with a revolver. The assassination was meant to liberate Ecuador from the president’s authoritarian grip, but it left Andrade a fugitive. He fled the country and spent more than two decades in exile, primarily in Colombia and Peru, living under constant threat of capture.

Political Exile and Later Activism

During his years in exile, Andrade remained deeply involved in Ecuador’s liberal political cause. In 1882, while underground, he fought against the dictatorship of General Ignacio de Veintemilla, continuing to conspire until Veintemilla’s defeat in 1883. Despite this victory, Andrade was forced to remain hidden during the successive conservative administrations of Presidents Caamaño, Flores, and Cordero. His clandestine life came to a head in 1894 when he was arrested while attempting to flee to Panama. He was imprisoned in the Quito Panopticon for nearly a year until the triumph of Eloy Alfaro’s Liberal Revolution in 1895, which led to his release.

Despite his freedom, Andrade continued to face political persecution. Following the assassination of the Liberal Heroes in 1912, he went into exile again, spending five years in Peru before returning to Ecuador.

Literary Career

Roberto Andrade was not only a political figure but also a prolific writer and polemicist with avant-garde ideas. His literary output was heavily influenced by his staunch liberal ideology and his enduring opposition to García Moreno’s legacy. Among his significant works is Historia del Ecuador, a vitriolic multi-volume history that attacked García Moreno and exalted the liberal cause. While the work was criticized for its lack of scholarly rigor and manipulation of facts, it became an important piece of Ecuadorian liberal literature.

In addition to Historia del Ecuador, Andrade authored numerous other works, including Lecciones de Historia del Ecuador, Lecciones de Geografía del Ecuador, Estudios Históricos, and Vida y Muerte de Eloy Alfaro. His novel Pacho Villamar (1900) is particularly notable as it is considered Ecuador’s first political novel. The semi-autobiographical story of a provincial man navigating the political intrigues of Quito was a pioneering work that blended personal and political drama, reflecting Andrade’s own life experiences.

Legacy and Death

Roberto Andrade’s legacy remains controversial yet pivotal in Ecuadorian history. To his conservative detractors, he was a criminal responsible for the assassination of a sitting president. To liberals, he was a hero who helped free Ecuador from tyranny. His relentless advocacy for liberal causes, combined with his extensive literary work, left a lasting impact on Ecuador’s intellectual and political spheres.

He continued to suffer persecution for his political beliefs until his death on October 27, 1938, in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Despite the controversy surrounding his life and work, Roberto Andrade is remembered as a key figure in the history of Ecuador’s liberal movement and one of the country’s most influential political writers.

Works

  • La juventud (1883)
  • Contemplaciones (1886)
  • Exposición jurídica que a los poderes públicos de la nación peruana eleva (1891)
  • Seis de Agosto o sea muerte de García Moreno (1896)
  • Pacho Villamar (1900)
  • Olmedo : Un crítico criticado (1900)
  • Tulcán y Cuaspud (1907)
  • Moscas (1907)
  • Campaña de 20 días (estudios históricos) (1908)
  • ¿Quién mató a García Moreno?: autobiografía de un perseguido
  • Historia del Ecuador
  • Espía del Perú (1910)
  • Defensa (1911)
  • íSangre! ¿Quién la derramó? (Historia de los últimos crímenes cometidos en la Nación del Ecuador) (1912)
  • Lecciones de geografía de la República del Ecuador (1910)
  • Vida y muerte de Eloy Alfaro: memorias
  • Miguel Valverde
  • Caín? (1903)
  • Montalvo y García Moreno: ensayos históricos y biográficos
  • La mujer y la guerra (1926)
  • Juan Montalvo: Conferencia en el Lyceum de la Habana el día 6 de agosto de 1932 (1933)
  • Las dos Américas

References

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