José María Urbina
(Quito, 1808-Guayaquil, 1891) Ecuadorian military and politician, president of the Republic between 1851 and 1858.When he was just thirteen years old, he left school and went to Guayaquil to place himself under General Illingworth.
José María Urbina
He remained for some time in the Naval Academy, from where he left to enter the Command of the Apostadero; later he served again under Illingworth at the siege of El Callao and with General Wright aboard the schooner Guayaquileña, in which he was wounded in naval combat on August 31, 1828 and promoted to lieutenant.
He participated in the campaign against Urdaneta, and was later sent to Bogotá as a member of a diplomatic mission.He remained in this city until 1837, the date on which he was removed by President Rocafuerte.Back in Ecuador, and disgusted by his dismissal, he forged a conspiracy with Otamendi that was discovered, which earned him exile to New Granada.
In 1839 he returned to his country and was elected Governor of the Manabi province.From this position, he participated in the revolution of March 6, 1845 at the head of the troops that stopped the counterrevolution.After the overthrow of Juan José Flores and the rise to power of Vicente Ramón Roca, Urbina was appointed as general minister of Guayas and alternate senator for Manasí.
In 1850 he led a new revolt that deposed Manuel Ascásubi.He was then elected as supreme head of the Republic between 1851 and 1856.During his presidential mandate, slavery was abolished; the invasion of Flores in 1852 was rejected; an equitable agreement was made on the country's foreign debt with Great Britain and freedom of the press was respected.
When Gabriel García Moreno was elected President of the Republic in 1861, Urbino had to go into exile in Peru.From there he tried unsuccessfully to invade Ecuador in 1865, so he had to return to Peru, where he remained until a year after the death of García Moreno, in 1875.Under the presidency of Ignacio de Veintemilla Urbina he was appointed chief general and director of the War, and took command of the revolutionary army of Veintemilla.
In 1878 he was elected deputy for the Constituent Assembly and president of the same.In 1882 Veintemilla had himself proclaimed dictator, which caused the rejection of Urbina, who in protest withdrew from political life.Almost a decade later he died in Guayaquil.
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