August 2 in Ecuadorian History | Society | Magazine

Events of August 10, 1809with the installation Sovereign Government Council of Quito, loyal to the exiled Spanish monarch Ferdinand VIIwhich immediately aroused the royal reaction. At the time, the monarch of Spain was Joseph I Bonaparte.a persona non grata in the American colonies, where he was not recognized as the legitimate king.

Antonio Amar, the governor of Santa Fe, ordered 300 infantrymen to march on Quito. José Abascal, the governor of Lima, gave similar orders. The military governors of Guayaquil, Cuenca, and Popayan prepared their armies to march on the city that had launched the movement.

The Quito attack is traditionally known as The first cry of independence He did not delay due to the disloyalty and fear of some members and leaders. The movement failed and Juan Pio de Montúfar, Marquis of Selva Alegre II, restored the presidency of Quito to Juan José Guerrero, who had handed it over to Manuel Ruiz y Uris, Count of Ruiz in Castile. He promised to preserve the council and not to carry out any kind of reprisals against the people of Quito.

When an attempt was made to free the Guido leaders and conspirators, the Count changed his mind and led a frenzied reaction among the royalists. He even warned both sides that anyone who knew the whereabouts of the rebels but did not report it would be sentenced to death, detailing encyclopedia From Ecuador, Efrén Avilés Pino.

August 2, 1810 Juan Salinas, Juan de Dios Morales, Manuel Rodríguez de Quiroga, Antonio and Juan Pablo Arenas, José Riofrío and other staunch protagonists of the Augustinian Proclamation drawn up a year earlier were killed by the royalist soldiers stationed in the city.

Part of the massacre took place in the Central Barracks, occupied by soldiers from the Royal Battalion of Lima, which had arrived in Quito from Peru to reinforce the square and completely undermine the organization of the movement’s administrators. There were also painful moments on the streets, as the army respected no one to satisfy their vengeance..

As of that afternoon, the death toll had exceeded 300. Thanks to Bishop José Cuero Caicedo’s courageous surrender to the authorities, the killing and destruction were stopped. (Yo)