Luis Osvaldo Hurtado Larrea is a former president of Ecuador (1981-1984) and within Ecuador he is one of the most widely read political scientists. He was born in Chambo, a city in the Chimborazo Province of Ecuador, on June 26, 1939. He is the author of an influential book on Ecuadorian politics entitled El Poder Político en el Ecuador (English: “Political Power in Ecuador”). In 1979, Hurtado was chosen as the running mate of presidential candidate Jaime Roldós Aguilera, a member of the populist political party Concentración de Fuerzas Populares (English: “Concentration of People’s Forces”). Roldós won the election, becoming the first freely-elected president of Ecuador after the rule of the military juntas in the 1970s, with Hurtado as his Vice President. On Sunday, May 24, 1981, Roldós died in a plane crash and therefore Hurtado became the 34th President of Ecuador, serving out the rest of Roldós’ term.
Continue reading “Osvaldo Hurtado”