Luis Cordero Crespo

Luis Benjamín Cordero y Crespo
President of Ecuador
In office July 1, 1892 – April 16, 1895
Preceded by	Antonio Flores Jijón
Succeeded by	Vicente Lucio Salazar
Personal details
Born	(1833-04-06)April 6, 1833 Ecuador
Died	January 30, 1912(1912-01-30) (aged 78)
Nationality	Ecuadorian
Political party	Progresistas

Luis Benjamín Cordero y Crespo (6 April 1833 – 30 January 1912) was President of Ecuador 1 July 1892 to 16 April 1895. Corder was born April 6, 1833 in the Cañar province of Ecuador to parents Gregorio Cordero and Josefa Crespo. Cordero Studied at the Seminary High School in Cuenca, and later the Central University of Ecuador in Quito. In 1865 Crespo became a lawyer, arguing cases before the Supreme Court of Cuenca. After his career in law, Crespo began publishing poetry and in 1892 published the first Quicha-Spanish dictionary.

Political career

Luis Cordero was also a politician, serving as a member of the Progresistas, a liberal Catholic political party, and was a member of the provisional governing junta which led the Progresistas to power in 1883.

In 1892 Corder became president of Ecuador. Despite being a popular leader, Luis Cordero was forced to leave office following an international political scandal known as La venta de la bandera, or the sale of the flag. During the first Sino-Japanese war, the Ecuadorian ambassador to Chile sold weapons to Japan on behalf of the Chilean businessmen, despite Chile's declared neutrality in the war. The shipment was detained and because it was flying the Ecuadorian flag to cover for Chile's involvement, the public blamed Cordero who was forced to resign. In 1898 the Ecuadorian Supreme Court dropped all charges against Cordero after the Ecuadorian ambassador's involvement came to light.

Luis Cordero wrote poems in Spanish and Kichwa and published the first Kichwa-Spanish-Kichwa dictionary in Ecuador in 1892.

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  Luis Cordero Crespo on a 2014 stamp of Ecuador

Works

• Dos cantos a la Raza Latina
• Elogio de Malo y Solano
• Poesías Jocosas
• Poesías Serias
• El Rimini llacta y el Cuchiquillca
• El Adios
• Luis Cordero (1892): Quichua Shimiyuc Panca: Quichua-Castilla, Castilla-Quichua = Diccionario Quichua Quichua-Castellano, Castellano-Quichua. Coleccion Kashcanchicracmi, 1, 427 pankakuna, 4th edition, January 1989, ISBN 9978-84-042-7

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luis Cordero Crespo.

• Official Website of the Ecuadorian Government about the country President's History
• ¡Rinimi, Llacta! – Poems of Luis Cordero Crespo in Quichua, with Spanish translation

Presidents of Ecuador
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