In his early youth, Hurtado was involved in the founding of the Christian Democratic Party (1964), later known as the Popular Democracy Party, which he chaired on several occasions. In 1968-1969 he served as an undersecretary at the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor.
Due to his opposition to the military dictatorships that governed Ecuador in the 1970s, in 1974 he was arrested and held in a sordid prison (Retén Sur), and in 1978 his home was the target of a bomb, manufactured by the army intelligence service. Nonetheless, he spoke out on the advisability of a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy through a civilian-military agreement. This proposal was accepted by the military government in 1977 and served as a model for the transitions that later took place in other South American countries.
The fact that Hurtado was simultaneously a scholar of politics and an active politician enabled his proposals aimed at perfecting democratic institutions to take shape in political reforms.
He chaired the commission that prepared the bills on referendums, elections, and political parties that guided Ecuador’s return to democracy, which culminated in the election of President Jaime Roldós, for whom Hurtado served as vice-president. He also influenced the definition of political and economic institutions for the Constitution of 1979 and the Consitution of 1998, which was approved by a referendum, and the Constitution of 1998, which was issued by a constituent assembly, which Hurtado chaired.
Hurtado’s political proposals were geared to improving governance in Ecuador’s democracy; strengthening political parties; promoting political stability; propitiating effective economic performance; and expanding rights, guarantees and freedoms. The Constitution of 1998 was the first in Latin America to recognize the collective rights of indigenous groups, and it also bolstered the protection of women and determined citizens’ civic duties.
While Hurtado was vice-president, he oversaw the drafting of the National Development Plan 1980-1984, implemented during the government of Jaime Roldós, whom he succeeded following that president’s death in 1981. During his administration, democratic institutions were fully in place: the rule of law, the separation of powers (a system of checks and balances), political pluralism, accountability and respect for citizens’ freedoms. He has been a systematic critic of authoritarian and populist governments, and his own presidency was characterized by a tolerant and considered exercise of authority. On the conflict-ridden national political scene, he has taken well-founded and constructive stances.
He had to cope with the 1982 economic crisis brought on the drop-in oil prices, the suspension of foreign credits, a military border dispute and catastrophic flooding caused by El Niño. He managed to overcome the crisis by applying a strict program of austerity, which made it possible to recover stability and boost economic growth. In addition, there was important social progress: widespread extension of electric power lines to rural areas, bilingual (Spanish-Quechua) education and a significant reduction in illiteracy.
When a military confrontation occurred along the southern border in 1981, then vice-president Hurtado called for a peaceful solution that would make it possible to settle the century-old territorial dispute between Ecuador and Peru. With that in mind, when he became president, he implemented a consultation process in order to define a State territorial policy to be enforced by successive administrations. Even though the initiative failed, fourteen years later (in 1998), a national consensus led to the signing of the Brasilia Peace Agreements.
The Latin American Economic Conference, which met in Quito in 1984 at Hurtado’s initiative, produced the first regional response to the external debt problem. The crisis had begun when Mexico stopped honoring its international financial commitments in 1982.
The most highly criticized decision of Hurtado’s government was sucretización (1983), which was a measure similar to the ones taken by the governments of the United States and European countries to prevent banks and companies from going bankrupt during the international economic crisis of 2008-2009. Under this financial operation the debts in dollars of companies, banks and individuals were converted into debts in sucres (the national currency at that time), which avoided the collapse of the economy. There was no detriment to the State because all of the debtors paid off their credits, interests and the commission that protected the Central Bank against future currency devaluations.
He led the group supporting the “NO” position in the 1986 plebiscite called by President León Febres Cordero in order for the people to express backing for his non-democratic procedures. The malicious question subject to consultation was initially supported by opposition parties but eventually rejected by a large majority of voters.
In the early hours of the morning of January 22, 2000, while many remained silent and some justified the coup led by members of the military and indigenous groups, in an improvised television interview, Hurtado spoke out against the budding dictatorship and called for citizens to oust it. His stance contributed to the failure of the junta and to the subsequent constitutional succession.
In 2007, he was the sole opponent that, through a popular consultation and the convocation of a constituent assembly, President Rafael Correa ignored the current constitutional regime. In premonitory form, he warned that he did not seek to improve the quality of democracy but to acquire absolute powers, a position he did not abandon during the decade of his administration. In his book 21st-Century Dictatorships: The Ecuadorian Case, he analyzes the process by which Correa placed under his authority all the powers of the State.
Together with citizens from a variety of political orientations and with ample service to the country, Hurtado founded the civic forum known as the Cauce Democrático (“Democratic Course”) in 2011, to defend the compromised rule of law. When President Correa called a consultation and referendum to approve constitutional and legal reforms that would allow him to further increase his unchecked power, Cauce Democrático supported the “NO” position, which mobilized the discouraged opposition and kept the “YES” vote from attaining 50% of the vote on nine of the ten questions submitted to popular opinion, despite the fact that all of them passed thanks to the electoral mechanism established by the Government.
Due to his opposition to the military dictatorships that governed Ecuador in the 1970s, in 1974 he was arrested and held in a sordid prison (Retén Sur), and in 1978 his home was the target of a bomb, manufactured by the army intelligence service. Nonetheless, he spoke out on the advisability of a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy through a civilian-military agreement. This proposal was accepted by the military government in 1977 and served as a model for the transitions that later took place in other South American countries.
The fact that Hurtado was simultaneously a scholar of politics and an active politician enabled his proposals aimed at perfecting democratic institutions to take shape in political reforms.
He chaired the commission that prepared the bills on referendums, elections, and political parties that guided Ecuador’s return to democracy, which culminated in the election of President Jaime Roldós, for whom Hurtado served as vice-president. He also influenced the definition of political and economic institutions for the Constitution of 1979 and the Consitution of 1998, which was approved by a referendum, and the Constitution of 1998, which was issued by a constituent assembly, which Hurtado chaired.
Hurtado’s political proposals were geared to improving governance in Ecuador’s democracy; strengthening political parties; promoting political stability; propitiating effective economic performance; and expanding rights, guarantees and freedoms. The Constitution of 1998 was the first in Latin America to recognize the collective rights of indigenous groups, and it also bolstered the protection of women and determined citizens’ civic duties.
While Hurtado was vice-president, he oversaw the drafting of the National Development Plan 1980-1984, implemented during the government of Jaime Roldós, whom he succeeded following that president’s death in 1981. During his administration, democratic institutions were fully in place: the rule of law, the separation of powers (a system of checks and balances), political pluralism, accountability and respect for citizens’ freedoms. He has been a systematic critic of authoritarian and populist governments, and his own presidency was characterized by a tolerant and considered exercise of authority. On the conflict-ridden national political scene, he has taken well-founded and constructive stances.
He had to cope with the 1982 economic crisis brought on the drop-in oil prices, the suspension of foreign credits, a military border dispute and catastrophic flooding caused by El Niño. He managed to overcome the crisis by applying a strict program of austerity, which made it possible to recover stability and boost economic growth. In addition, there was important social progress: widespread extension of electric power lines to rural areas, bilingual (Spanish-Quechua) education and a significant reduction in illiteracy.
When a military confrontation occurred along the southern border in 1981, then vice-president Hurtado called for a peaceful solution that would make it possible to settle the century-old territorial dispute between Ecuador and Peru. With that in mind, when he became president, he implemented a consultation process in order to define a State territorial policy to be enforced by successive administrations. Even though the initiative failed, fourteen years later (in 1998), a national consensus led to the signing of the Brasilia Peace Agreements.
The Latin American Economic Conference, which met in Quito in 1984 at Hurtado’s initiative, produced the first regional response to the external debt problem. The crisis had begun when Mexico stopped honoring its international financial commitments in 1982.
The most highly criticized decision of Hurtado’s government was sucretización (1983), which was a measure similar to the ones taken by the governments of the United States and European countries to prevent banks and companies from going bankrupt during the international economic crisis of 2008-2009. Under this financial operation the debts in dollars of companies, banks and individuals were converted into debts in sucres (the national currency at that time), which avoided the collapse of the economy. There was no detriment to the State because all of the debtors paid off their credits, interests and the commission that protected the Central Bank against future currency devaluations.
He led the group supporting the “NO” position in the 1986 plebiscite called by President León Febres Cordero in order for the people to express backing for his non-democratic procedures. The malicious question subject to consultation was initially supported by opposition parties but eventually rejected by a large majority of voters.
In the early hours of the morning of January 22, 2000, while many remained silent and some justified the coup led by members of the military and indigenous groups, in an improvised television interview, Hurtado spoke out against the budding dictatorship and called for citizens to oust it. His stance contributed to the failure of the junta and to the subsequent constitutional succession.
In 2007, he was the sole opponent that, through a popular consultation and the convocation of a constituent assembly, President Rafael Correa ignored the current constitutional regime. In premonitory form, he warned that he did not seek to improve the quality of democracy but to acquire absolute powers, a position he did not abandon during the decade of his administration. In his book 21st-Century Dictatorships: The Ecuadorian Case, he analyzes the process by which Correa placed under his authority all the powers of the State.
Together with citizens from a variety of political orientations and with ample service to the country, Hurtado founded the civic forum known as the Cauce Democrático (“Democratic Course”) in 2011, to defend the compromised rule of law. When President Correa called a consultation and referendum to approve constitutional and legal reforms that would allow him to further increase his unchecked power, Cauce Democrático supported the “NO” position, which mobilized the discouraged opposition and kept the “YES” vote from attaining 50% of the vote on nine of the ten questions submitted to popular opinion, despite the fact that all of them passed thanks to the electoral mechanism established by the Government.