Ecuador: national heroes on coins (1995-2000)

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Antonio José de Sucre.

From Wikipedia:

Antonio José de Sucre was born in 1795 in New Granada , now Venezuela.

The liberator of Ecuador and Peru from Spain, he served as Simón Bolívar's chief lieutenant.

He eventually became the first constitutionally elected leader of Bolivia.

See also: Ecuador: Antonio José de Sucre, national hero.

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Ecuador, 100 sucres, 1995. 

This bimetallic coin commemorated Antonio José de Sucre.

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Ecuador, 100 sucres, 1997. 

A different version of the coin appeared in 1997.

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Isidoro Ayora.

From Wikipedia:

Isidro Ramon Antonio Ayora Cueva (1879 – 1978) was an Ecuadorian political figure.

He served as the president of Ecuador from 1926 to 1931.

Isidro Ayora, a town in Guayas, and Puerto Ayora, are named after him.

Some people name coins ayora because they were introduced by him.

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Ecuador, 500 sucres, 1995. 

This bimetallic coin commemorated Isidoro Ayora.

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Ecuador, 500 sucres, 1997. 

A different version of the coin appeared in 1997.

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Eugenio Espejo.

From Wikipedia:

Francisco Javier Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo (Royal Audiencia of Quito, 1747–95) was a medical pioneer, writer and lawyer of mestizo origin in colonial Ecuador. Although he was a notable scientist and writer, he stands out as a polemicist who inspired the separatist movement in Quito. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in colonial Ecuador. He was Quito's first journalist and hygienist.

As a journalist he spread enlightened ideas in the Royal Audiencia, and as a hygienist he composed an important treatise about sanitary conditions in colonial Ecuador that included interesting remarks about microorganisms and the spreading of disease.

Espejo was noted in his time for being a satirist. His satirical works, inspired by the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment, were critical of the lack of education of the Audiencia of Quito, the way the economy was being handled in the Audiencia, the corruption of its authorities, and aspects of its culture in general. Because of these works he was persecuted and finally imprisoned shortly before his death.

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Ecuador, 1000 sucres, 1996. 

This bimetallic coin commemorated Eugenio Espejo.

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Ecuador, 1000 sucres, 1997. 

A different version of the coin appeared in 1997.

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Juan Montalvo.

Ecuador issued a new design series in the year 2000. It was a one-year set only.

From Wikipedia:

Juan María Montalvo Fiallos (April 13, 1832 in Ambato – January 17, 1889 in Paris) was an Ecuadorian author and essayist.

Born in Ambato to José Marcos Montalvo and Josefa Fiallos, he studied philosophy and law in Quito before returning to his hometown in 1854. He held diplomatic posts in Italy and France from 1857 to 1859. A political liberal, Montalvo's beliefs were marked by anti-clericalism and a keen hatred for the two caudillos that ruled Ecuador during his life: Gabriel García Moreno and Ignacio de Veintemilla. After an issue of El Cosmopolita viciously attacked Moreno, Montalvo was exiled to Colombia for seven years. Moreno's assassination was attributed to Montalvo's writings. He was a dedicated champion of democracy and an enemy of the writer Juan León Mera.

In the late seventies Juan Montalvo was twice exiled to France, remaining there from 1879, as punishment for Las catilinarias (1880), the work that made him famous throughout intellectual circles in the United States, Europe and the rest of Latin America. Alongside full length books, Montalvo was an accomplished essayist, and his Siete Tratados (1882) and Geometría Moral (published in 1902, after his death) were popular in Ecuador and were banned by Veintemilla.

He also wrote a witty sequel to Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote, called Capítulos que se le Olvidaron a Cervantes ("Chapters Cervantes Forgot"), published posthumously in 1895. He died of tuberculosis in Paris. His mummified body now rests in a mausoleum in his birthplace of Ambato.

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Ecuador, 5 centavos, 2000.

Juan Montalvo.

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Ecuador, 10 centavos, 2000. 

Eugenio Espejo.

See reply #6.

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José Joaquín de Olmedo.

From Wikipedia:

José Joaquín de Olmedo y Maruri (March 20, 1780 – February 19, 1847) was President of Ecuador from March 6, 1845 to December 8, 1845. A patriot and poet, he was the son of the Spanish Captain Don Miguel de Olmedo y Troyano and the Guayaquilean Ana Francisca de Maruri y Salavarría.

On October 9, 1820, Olmedo and others declared the city of Guayaquil independent from Spain. He was President of the Free Province of Guayaquil until it was united to Gran Colombia by Simón Bolívar against Olmedo's will. He was also twice mayor of Guayaquil.

He was Vice President of Ecuador from 1830 to 1831, and became President of Ecuador from March 6, 1845, to December 8, 1845, surviving an attempted coup on June 18 of that year.

He was also a noted poet who emphasized patriotic themes. His best-known work is La victoria de Junin, which pictures the Latin American fighters for independence from Spain as the legitimate heirs of the Incas.

Olmedo devoted his life to Guayaquil, he created the Guayaquilean flag and shield, and in 1821 he composed the Song to the October Ninth, which would become the Guayaquil Anthem.

He is quoted as saying "He who does not hope to win has already lost."

The José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil is named after him.

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Ecuador, 25 centavos, 2000.    José Joaquín de Olmedo.

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Eloy Alfaro.

From Wikipedia:

Eloy Alfaro.

José Eloy Alfaro Delgado (June 25, 1842 – January 28, 1912) served as President of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911. He became one of the strongest opponents of pro-Catholic conservative President Gabriel Garcia Moreno (1821–1875). For his central role in the Liberal Revolution of 1895 and for having fought conservatism for almost 30 years, he is known as the Viejo Luchador ("Old Warrior").

His major legacies are considered to be national unity, and the integrity of Ecuador's borders; the increased secularization of the country; and the modernization of Ecuadorian society through the introduction of new ideas, education, and systems of public transport and communication. He completed the engineering feat of the Transandino railway linking Guayaquil with Quito. The Ecuadorian Army's military college bears his name, as does the flagship of the Ecuadorian Navy.