page_title: Gabriel García Moreno
section_title: Political climate and assassination
hierarchical_section_title: Gabriel García Moreno / Political climate and assassination
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Une des gravures du document de Léo Taxil, Les Mystères de la Franc-Maçonnerie, Paris, 1886.
context_page_description: Gabriel Gregorio Fernando José María García Moreno y Morán de Butrón was an Ecuadorian politician who twice served as President of Ecuador and was assassinated during his second term, after being elected to a third. He is noted for his conservatism, Catholic religious perspective and rivalry with liberal strongman Eloy Alfaro. Under his administration, Ecuador became a leader in science and higher education within Latin America. In addition to the advances in education and science, he was noted for economically and agriculturally advancing the country, as well as for his staunch opposition to corruption, even giving his own salary to charity. However, a contemporary account from a consortium of London publishers, The Annual Register for 1875, reports, "the deceased President was a ruler more feared than loved in the Republic whose destinies he had guided for nearly fifteen years, having governed it rather as a military dictator than as the head authority of a Liberal Constitution.”
context_section_description: The Liberals hated García Moreno, due to the authoritarian and ultraconservative nature of his rule, as well as the fact that he frequently used secret police to silence leftist dissent. In the minds of radicals, Garcia Moreno was a dictator, and the liberals also were enraged that his policies remained after 1865 when friends of his were elected, and winning the presidency again in 1869. Meanwhile, other politicians, who previously had been free to exert their influence over government for their own personal gain, now were opposed by a man determined to stamp out all corruption within Ecuador. This opposition from the more radical left compelled Juan Montalvo to write the pamphlet La dictadura perpetua (The Perpetual Dictatorship), which inspired the movement to assassinate Garcia Moreno. Therefore, when he was elected a third time in 1875, it was considered to be his death warrant. He wrote immediately to Pope Pius IX asking for his blessing before inauguration day on August 30: 
  I wish to obtain your blessing before that day, so that I may have the strength and light which I need so much in order to be unto the end a faithful son of our Redeemer, and a loyal and obedient servant of His Infallible Vicar. Now that the Masonic Lodges of the neighboring countries, instigated by Germany, are vomiting against me all sorts of atrocious insults and horrible calumnies, now that the Lodges are secretly arranging for my assassination, I have more need than ever of the divine protection so that I may live and die in defense of our holy religion and the beloved republic which I am called once more to rule.
  García Moreno's prediction was correct; he was assassinated in the steps of the National Palace in Quito, struck down with knives and revolvers, his last words being: "¡Dios no muere!" ("God does not die!").  Faustino Rayo assaulted him with several blows of a machete, while three or four others fired their revolvers.
  On August 5, shortly before his assassination, a priest visited García Moreno and warned him, "You have been warned that your death was decreed by the Freemasons; but you have not been told when. I have just heard that the assassins are going to try and carry out their plot at once.  For God's sake, take your measures accordingly!"   García Moreno replied that he had already received similar warnings and after calm reflection concluded that the only measure he could take was to prepare himself to appear before God.
  "It appears he was assassinated by members of a secret society," observed a contemporary review of public events.
  Gabriel Garcia Moreno received Last Rites just before he died. Pope Pius IX declared that Gabriel Garcia Moreno "died a victim for the Faith and Christian Charity for his beloved country."
caption: Assassination of Gabriel García Moreno, as seen by Pierre Méjanel
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "E-520", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "3048", "Image YResolution": "3048", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.8.2", "Image DateTime": "2014:06:09 10:48:40", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2338", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5290", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9127", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:06:08 12:03:08", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:06:08 12:03:08", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "925/256", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Fine weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "42", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2513", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3300", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5166", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Hard", "EXIF Saturation": "Hard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}