Guayaquil Group
The Guayaquil Group (Grupo de Guayaquil, "Cinco como un puño") was a literary group from the 1930s - mid 1940s, that emerged as a response to a chaotic social and political climate where the Ecuadorian "montubio" and mestizo were oppressed by the elite class, priests, and the police. It was composed of five main writers: Joaquín Gallegos Lara, Enrique Gil Gilbert, Demetrio Aguilera Malta, José de la Cuadra, and Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco. Their works aimed to portray "social realism" as a form of displaying the real Ecuadorian montubio and cholo. The group eventually disintegrates after the death of two of their writers, José de la Cuadra and Joaquín Gallegos Lara, the inactivity in literature by Enrique Gil Gilbert, and the long trips away from Ecuador by Demetrio Aguilera Malta and Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco in the mid 1940s. Origins Historical Context Stemming from an economy impacted by the liberalization of markets, the exploitation of the lower class became a prominent consequence of the open market economy of the pre-1930s. Clashes between classes resulted in the formation of two groups, the conservatives and the liberals. For the Ecuadorian mestizo in northern Ecuador, a main concern was the declining textile industry severely affected