Evening star., 1932-08-28
BY GASTON NERVAL.

uCRkCoSlOh anu POLhASoA Noef
a President -elect is no safe posi-
i ton in Latin America. In fact.
to be a President is not much
safer, but at least a chief executive IN
office has some facilities Of self-defenSe.
1t is not very long ago that President
elect Julio PreSteS OF Brazil, after
goodwill visit to the United States, in
which he was hailed and entertained as
the next first citizen" of the largest
South American republic, returned to
Rio de Janeiro only to find his country
men aligned in bitter political contest
which. finally degenerating into an open
civil war; did not stop until the existing
government had been overthrown and
a new order Of things established. This
change, of course. cost Senor Prestes the
presidency, even before he had Savored
the prerogatives Of power. Automatic
ally he was converted from a President
elect into a former President.
Senor Prestes was not, however, the
first elected chief executive in Latin
America who had been halted at the
waiting room of the presidential cham
Der. Neither was he to be the last one.
Last week, Senor Neptali Bonifaz,
since late in 1881 President-elect Of
Ecuador, went through similar expert
ence, although this time an armed revo-
luton was not the medium employed to
prevent his Inauguration. 1t was merely
a congressional resolution. passed by
large majority of the Ecuadorean Parlia-
ment, that barred Senor Bonifaz from
the high post to which he had been
selected last year by the votes OF his
| countrymen.
Had Not Ended Troubles.
The elimination of Senor Bonifaz has
| not come as surprise to close observers
of Ecuadorean internal politics. Ever
since his election last Fall-Which was
due only to the division of the dominant
Liberal party in three different factions
and to the natural Conservative reaction
following radical agitation all over Latin
| America-it had been apparent that
Senor Bonifaz's election had not ended
| the domestic troubles of Ecuador.
The majority of the Ecuadorean
people was Liberal. 1t had been Liberal
for decades. The organized forces Of
| the nation-which IS even more impor-
| tant in our present-day democracies-
we're Overwhelmingly Liberal. The gov
ernment in power was Liberal. And to
| complete the picture, the army had not
concealed its Liberal sympathies.
| How a Conservative candidate, having
unexpectedly won at the polls over three
weakened, rival branches of the Liberal
party, was to arrive safely in the presi-
Dental chair, whole year after the
| elections, was almost mystery to stu
dents Of Latin American politics and
Latin American political psychology.
| Soon after Senor BonifaZ had received
| the popular mandate at the polls,
commented thus, in these same columns
| upon the darkening clouds which could
be seen in the Ecuadorean political
| horizon:
| Another President who must
wait some time before he is formally
| inaugurated is Senor BonifaZ who re-
Gently won the highest position in his
native land, Ecuador. The delay in this
case Is particularly dangerous, due tC
| the fact that the election of Senor Boni-
| faz was chiefly secured with the support
of the Conservative elements, who are
in opposition to the present authorities
The present provisional regime ol
Ecuador. although presided over by 6
man of great prestige, finds itself in the
peculiar position of having to keep order
and preserve the stability of the govern
ment for a period of eight months, 81
that, at the end of 1t, the man selected
by its political enemies may take charge
| The dangers of such a situation ovel
such a long term are obvious. Tht
more so, when one considers that fol
several decades the Liberals have beer
in power, and that the chances OF the
Conservatives to get hold Of the govern
ment were, until soon before the elec-
tions, not even taken seriously"
Nationality Pretext.
The events in Ecuador last week have
confirmed those fears. The nationality
| 1Io; Iovyf TnoCrocc ar O11ifF
has evidently been only the pretext. The
method was a secondary problem. The
main question was the elimination ol
the Conservative President-elect.
AS explained in cable dispatches
printed in the last few days, the Ecua-
dorean Congress declared null and void
the election of Senor BonifaZ, on the
ground that his Ecuadorean national
ity had been contested. The conStitu-
ton of Ecuador like those of all re-
publican states, requires that aspirants
to the presidency must be native-borTl
citizens of Ecuador. 1t so happens
that Senior Bonifaz was born in Ecua-
dor, but not under the Jurisdiction OF
the Ecuadorean government, for his
father was a member of the Peruvian
legation in Quito, the Ecuadorean cap
ital. Senor Bonifaz was born in the
| legat1On OF feru, ana tnuS, ny IHt
practices of international law, was con-
sidered, at his birth, a citizen of Peru
Although, later on, he registered as
an Ecuadorean subject, and has been
acting as such all his life, his position
was made more embarrassing by the
| fact that two of his sons had also been
registered as Peruvian citizens, at their
christening. If to all this you add that
for a number of years there has been
considerable animosity in Ecuador
| against Peru on account of boundary
disputes still unsettled, it becomes easy
| To understand how easy q task II has