This concordat was made with President Gabriel Garcia Moreno who a few years later stripped all non-Catholics in the country of their citizenship. It is a “maximal concordat” where the Vatican was able to get almost everything it wanted.
General Ignacio de Veintemilla cancelled the 1862 concordat, but found himself unable to govern without Church support. The result was a new concordat which was very similar to its predecessor. The next year Veintimilla was forced to resign, but his concordat remained.
Eloy Alfaro, Ecuador’s great revolutionary, fought for equal rights for all. Although he was assassinated in 1912, he made a lasting contribution to his country, turning Ecuador into a modern secular state.
