The Ecuadorian lawyer and statesman José María Velasco Ibarra (1893-1979) was five times president of the republic and Ecuador's outstanding political figure of the 20th century.

José María Velasco Ibarra was born in Quito on March 19, 1893. His father, Alejandrino Velasco, was an engineer. His mother, Doña Delia Ibarra, had a very deep and lasting impact on the intellectual and moral formation of her son. He completed his schooling in his native city, except for postdoctoral studies in Paris, at the Sorbonne and at the Collège de France.

Velasco Ibarra started his public career in administrative posts. For 12 years he wrote a column under the pseudonym "Labriolle" in El Comercio, the principal newspaper of Quito. In his columns he fought against electoral fraud and for effective democracy. He was elected to Congress as a Liberal; but in 1932 he voted...