Luis Osvaldo Hurtado Larrea (born 26 June 1939) is an Ecuadorian author and politician who served as President of Ecuador from 24 May 1981 to 10 August 1984.
Hurtado was born in Chambo, Chimborazo Province. During his studies at the Catholic University in the 1960s, Hurtado became a student leader. Afterwards, he lectured political sociology at his alma mater and at the Centro Andino of the University of New Mexico.[1] He became one of the most widely read political scientists of his home country. In 1977, he authored an influential book on Ecuadorian politics titled El Poder Político en el Ecuador (English: "Political Power in Ecuador").[1]
Hurtado drew progressive Catholics and younger professionals away from the Social Christian Party and into the Christian Democrats movement which was inspired by Christian communitarianism and Liberation theology and criticized capitalist exploitation. At the time, it was the most radical among Ecuador's non-Marxist parties and Hurtado was suspected by his right-wing opponents of being a "closet Marxist". In 1978, he merged his Christian Democrats with the progressive wing of the Conservative Party to form the Popular Democracy party.[2]
^Handelman, Howard (1981), "A New Political Direction?", Military Government and the Movement Toward Democracy in South America, American Universities Field Staff, p. 37
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