Famous people from Ecuador
Here is a list of famous people from Ecuador. Curious if anybody from Ecuador made it our most famous people in the world list? Read the aformentioned article in order to find out.
Christian Benítez
Soccer
Christian Rogelio Benítez Betancourt, also known as Chucho, was an Ecuadorian footballer who played as a forward for El Jaish of the Qatar Stars League at the time of his death. He began his career with El Nacional in Ecuador and then joined Santos Laguna, with whom he won the award for Best Player of the Clausura 2008. He spent the 2009–10 season on loan to Premier League club Birmingham City. Benitez played 58 times for the Ecuador national football team from his debut in 2005, scoring 24 goals. He played for them at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and two Copa America tournaments. Following his death, the Ecuadorian Football Federation retired Benítez's number 11 jersey from the national team.
Rafael Correa
Politician
Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado is the President of the Republic of Ecuador and the former president pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations. An economist educated in Ecuador, Belgium and the United States, he was elected President in late 2006 and took office in January 2007. In December 2008, he declared Ecuador's national debt illegitimate, based on the argument that it was odious debt contracted by corrupt and despotic prior regimes. He announced that the country would default on over $3 billion worth of bonds; he then pledged to fight creditors in international courts and succeeded in reducing the price of outstanding bonds by more than 60%. He brought Ecuador into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in June 2009. To date, Correa’s administration has succeeded in reducing the high levels of poverty, indigence, and unemployment in Ecuador. Correa's first term in office had been due to end on 15 January 2011, with elections in October 2010, but the new approved constitution written by the new National Assembly mandated general elections for 26 April 2009. In that election, Correa won in the first round with 51.9% of votes counted. In the 2013 general election, Correa was elected President for a third time with 57% of the vote. Correa was a close ally of the late President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and presided over Ecuador’s accession into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.
Antonio Valencia
Soccer
Luis Antonio Valencia Mosquera, commonly known as Antonio Valencia, is an Ecuadorian footballer who currently plays as a winger for Manchester United and the Ecuadorian national team. After progressing through the youth system at El Nacional, Valencia became a first team regular and made over 80 appearances for the club before signing for La Liga side Villarreal CF in 2005. He only made two league appearances for the Spanish side in between successful loan spells at Recreativo de Huelva for the 2005–06 season and later English Premier League club Wigan Athletic from 2006 to 2008. Wigan later signed Valencia on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee in January 2008. His performances for Wigan soon attracted attention from several high profile clubs and he turned down a move to Real Madrid before signing for Manchester United in June 2009. Valencia has since won the 2009–10 Football League Cup, the 2010 FA Community Shield, the 2010–11 Premier League and the 2012–13 Premier League during his time at Manchester United, along with being voted into PFA Team of the Year in his debut season. Valencia made his Ecuador debut in 2005 and scored two goals in the process. He represented his country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2007 Copa América and the 2011 Copa América. Since making his debut, Valencia has won 60 caps and scored eight goals for his country.
Mike Judge
Animator
Michael Craig "Mike" Judge is an American actor, voice actor, animator, writer, director, producer, cartoonist, and musician. He is best known as the creator and star of the animated television series Beavis and Butt-head, King of the Hill, and The Goode Family. He also wrote, directed and in some instances produced the films Beavis and Butt-head Do America, Office Space, Idiocracy and Extract. Judge is also known for his role as Donnagon Giggles in the Spy Kids movie franchise.
Atahualpa
Deceased Person
Atahualpa, Atahuallpa, Atabalipa or Atawallpa was the last Sapa Inca of the Tawantinsuyu before the Spanish conquest. Atahualpa became emperor when he defeated and executed his older half-brother Huáscar in a civil war sparked by the death of their father, Inca Huayna Capac, from an infectious disease. During the Spanish conquest, the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro captured Atahualpa and used him to control the Inca Empire. Eventually, the Spanish executed Atahualpa, effectively ending the empire. Although a succession of several emperors, who led the Inca resistance against the invading Spaniards, claimed the title of Sapa Inca, the empire began to disintegrate after Atahualpa's death.
Andrés Gómez
Tennis Tournament Champion
Andrés Gómez Santos is a former professional tennis player Ecuadorian, best known for winning the Men's Singles title at the French Open in 1990.
Jefferson Montero
Soccer Midfielder
Jefferson Antonio Montero Vite is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays for Monarcas Morelia of Mexico, as a winger.
Felipe Caicedo
Soccer Midfielder
Felipe Salvador Caicedo Corozo is an Ecuadorian association footballer who plays as a striker for Lokomotiv Moscow.
Nicolás Lapentti
Tennis Player
Nicolás Alexander Lapentti Gómez is a former professional tennis player from Ecuador. He is Andrés Gómez's nephew.
Julio Jaramillo
Bolero Artist
Julio Alfredo Jaramillo Laurido was a notable Ecuadorian singer and recording artist who performed throughout Latin America achieving great fame for his renditions of boleros, valses, pasillos, tangos, and rancheras. Having recorded more than 4,000 songs throughout his career, his most famous song was perhaps "Nuestro Juramento" written by Puerto Rican composer, Benito de Jesús. Jaramillo recorded with many other noteworthy Latin American artists including Puerto Rican singer, Daniel Santos; fellow Ecuadorian singer, Olimpo Cárdenas; and Colombian singer, Alci Acosta.
Jefferson Pérez
Olympic athlete
Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada is a retired Ecuadorian race walker. He specializes in the 20 km event, in which he has won the only two medals his country has ever achieved in the Olympic Games. He won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics, becoming the youngest-ever gold medal winner in the 20 km walk event. Following his win he embarked on a 459 km pilgrimage, walking, jogging and running from Quito's Franciscan cathedral to his hometown of Cuenca. In the 2008 Olympics he won the silver medal in the same competition at 34 years of age, before announcing his retirement from the sport. In the 2003 World Championships in Paris, France, Pérez also set the world best performance with 1:17:21 in the 20 km. Pérez had fourth place finishes in the 20 km walk at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Gabriel García Moreno
Politician
Gabriel Gregorio Fernando José María García y Moreno y Morán de Buitrón 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.
Eloy Alfaro
Politician
José Eloy Alfaro Delgado served as President of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911. He became one the strongest opponents of pro-Catholic conservative President Gabriel Garcia Moreno. For his central role in the Liberal Revolution of 1895 and for having fought conservatism for almost 30 years, he is known as the Viejo Luchador. His major legacies are considered to be national unity, and the integrity of Ecuador's borders; the increased secularization of the country; and the modernization of Ecuadorian society through the introduction of new ideas, education, and systems of public transport and communication. He completed the engineering feat of the Transandino railway linking Guayaquil with Quito. The Ecuadorian Army's military college bears his name, as does the flagship of the Ecuadorian Navy. His effigy appeared on the Ecuadorian 50-cent coin from the 2000 issue.
Ulises de la Cruz
Soccer
Ulises Hernán de la Cruz Bernardo is a retired Ecuadorian footballer, who since 2013 has been a member of his country's National Assembly for the governing PAIS Alliance. He played 101 times for the Ecuador national football team between 1995 and 2010, and was selected for two FIFA World Cup tournaments. He spent his club career at Deportivo Quito, Barcelona S.C., Aucas, Cruzeiro, Hibernian, Aston Villa, Reading and Birmingham City. De la Cruz has set up a charity, Friends of FundeCruz, in his home village to fund a number of projects serving the local community.
Joao Rojas
Soccer Midfielder
Joao Robin Rojas Mendoza is an Ecuadorian footballer. He currently plays for Cruz Azul of the Liga MX.
Eugenio Espejo
Philosopher
Francisco Javier Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo was a medical pioneer, writer and lawyer of mestizo origin in colonial Ecuador. Although he was a notable scientist and writer, he stands out as a polemicist who inspired the separatist movement in Quito. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in colonial Ecuador. He was Quito's first journalist and hygienist. As a journalist he spread enlightened ideas in the Royal Audiencia, and as a hygienist he composed an important treatise about sanitary conditions in colonial Ecuador that included interesting remarks about microorganisms and the spreading of disease. Espejo was noted in his time for being a satirist. His satirical works, inspired by the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment, were critical of the lack of education of the Audiencia of Quito, the way the economy was being handled in the Audiencia, the corruption of its authorities, and aspects of its culture in general. Because of these works he was persecuted and finally imprisoned shortly before his death.
Manuela Sáenz
Deceased Person
Doña Manuela Sáenz was born in Quito, Viceroyalty of New Granada, and died in Paita, Peru. She was a revolutionary hero of South America, who also became the mistress of the South American revolutionary leader, Simón Bolívar. She married a wealthy English merchant in 1817 and became an aristocrat and socialite in Lima, Peru. This provided the setting for involvement in political and military affairs, and she became active in support of revolutionary efforts. Leaving her husband in 1822, she soon began an eight-year collaboration and intimate relationship with Bolívar that lasted until his death in 1830. After she prevented an 1828 assassination attempt against him and facilitated his escape, Bolívar began to call her "Libertadora del libertador", and she was celebrated and given many honors. For many years after their deaths, their contributions to the revolutions of South America were suppressed, and although those of Bolívar were revived a decade later, and he was returned to the status of a hero, Manuela's role generally was overlooked until the late twentieth century.
Oswaldo Guayasamín
Painting Artist
Oswaldo Guayasamín was an Ecuadorian master painter and sculptor of Quechua and Criollo heritage.
Segundo Castillo
Soccer Midfielder
Segundo Alejandro Castillo Nazareno is an Ecuadorian international footballer who plays for Saudi club Al-Hilal. Castillo is mostly used as a defensive midfielder but can also play as a central midfielder.
Frederick Ashton
Ballet Master
Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH, CBE was a dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer, despite the opposition of his conventional middle-class family, Ashton was accepted as a pupil by Leonide Massine and then by Marie Rambert. In 1926 Rambert encouraged him to try his hand at choreography, and though he continued to dance professionally, with success, it was as a choreographer that he became famous. Ashton was chief choreographer to Ninette de Valois, from 1935 until her retirement in 1963, in the company known successively as the Vic-Wells Ballet, the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Royal Ballet. He succeeded de Valois as director of the company, serving until his own retirement in 1970. Ashton is widely credited with the creation of a specifically English genre of ballet. Among his best-known works are Façade, Symphonic Variations, Cinderella, La fille mal gardée, Monotones I and II, Enigma Variations and the feature film ballet The Tales of Beatrix Potter.
Walter Ayoví
Soccer Midfielder
Walter Orlando Ayoví Corozo, nicknamed Macaco is an Ecuadorian footballer. He currently plays for Pachuca of the Liga MX. He previously played left wing midfielder for Club Deportivo El Nacional in the Ecuadorian league as and plays in the Ecuadorian national team.
José Joaquín de Olmedo
Politician
José Joaquín de Olmedo y Maruri Patriot and poet, son of the Spanish Captain Don Miguel de Olmedo y Troyano and the Guayaquilean Ana Francisca de Maruri y Salavarría. On October 9, 1820, Olmedo and others declared the city of Guayaquil independent from Spain. He was President of the Free Province of Guayaquil until it was united to Gran Colombia by Simón Bolívar against Olmedo's will. He was also twice mayor of Guayaquil. He was Vice President of Ecuador from 1830 to 1831. He was President of Ecuador from June 6, 1845, to December 8, 1845, surviving an attempted coup on June 18 of that year. He was also a noted poet who emphasized patriotic themes. His best known work is La victoria de Junin, which pictures the Latin American fighters for independence from Spain as the legitimate heirs of the Incas. Olmedo devoted his life to Guayaquil, he created the Guayaquilean flag and shield, and in 1821 he composed the Song to the October Ninth, which would become the Guayaquil Anthem. The José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil is named after him.
Abdalá Bucaram
Politician
Abdalá Jaime Bucaram Ortiz is an Ecuadorian politician and lawyer who was President of Ecuador from 10 August 1996 to 6 February 1997. As President, Abdalá Bucaram was nicknamed "El Loco" and was removed from office after being declared mentally unfit to rule by the National Congress of Ecuador. Bucaram and his followers claim that all cases against him have been dismissed. He lives in Panama and his political asylum was recently renewed.
Álex Aguinaga
Soccer Midfielder
Álex Dario Aguinaga Garzón is an Ecuadorian retired football midfielder and mananger of Ecuadorian Serie A team LDU Loja. As a player, he is one of the all-time cap leaders for Ecuador with 109 matches, scoring 23 goals. Aguinaga is known as one of the best Ecuadorian footballers of all time. On the club level, Aguinaga has played for Deportivo Quito, Necaxa, Cruz Azul and LDU Quito.
Agustín Delgado
Soccer
Agustín Javier Delgado Chalá is a retired Ecuadorian footballer. Nicknamed Tín, Delgado is the all-time top scorer for the Ecuadorian national team with 31 goals in 71 games. He played professional club football in Ecuador, Mexico and England.
Narciso Mina
Soccer
Arrinton Narciso Mina Villalba is an Ecuadorian football striker who currently plays for Liga Bancomer MX club América
Irina Falconi
Tennis Player
Irina Falconi is a professional American tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is World No. 73, which she reached on October 10, 2011. Her career high in doubles is World No. 71, which she reached on May 27, 2013.
Iván Kaviedes
Soccer
Jaime Iván Kaviedes Llorenty is an Ecuadorian retired footballer.
Lucio Gutiérrez
Politician
Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa served as President of Ecuador from January 15, 2003 to April 20, 2005.
Édison Méndez
Soccer Midfielder
Édison Vicente Méndez Méndez is an Ecuadorian football attacking midfielder who plays for LDU Quito and the Ecuadorian national team.
José María Velasco Ibarra
Politician
José María Velasco Ibarra was an Ecuadorian political figure. He was elected five times to the post of president of Ecuador: 1934–1935, 1944–1947, 1952–1956, 1960–1961, and 1968–1972. But only once did he complete the constitutional mandate.
Carlos Tenorio
Soccer
Carlos Vicente Tenorio Medina is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays for Brazilian club Vasco da Gama. Tenorio is an experienced striker known for his heading ability.
Christian Noboa
Soccer Midfielder
Christian Fernando Noboa Tello is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays midfielder for FC Dynamo Moscow in the Russian Premier League, and for the Ecuadorian national team.
León Febres Cordero
Politician
León Esteban Febres-Cordero Ribadeneyra, known in the Ecuadorian media as LFC or by his surname, was President of Ecuador for a four-year term from 10 August 1984 to 10 August 1988. During his Presidency he sought to introduce market-oriented reforms, and also led a security crackdown on a guerrilla group, ¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!.
Joffre Guerrón
Soccer Midfielder
Joffre David Guerrón Méndez, popularly nicknamed Dinamita, is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays for Chinese Super League side Beijing Guoan.
Pancho Segura
Tennis Tournament Champion
Pancho "Segoo" Segura, born Francisco Olegario Segura on June 20, 1921, is a former leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. In 1950 and 1952, as a professional, he was the World Co-No. 1 player. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but moved to the United States in the late 1930s and is a citizen of both countries. He is the only player to have won the US Pro title on three different surfaces.
Juan León Mera
Politician
Juan León Mera Martínez . Additionally in his political career he was a functionary of president Gabriel García Moreno.
María Elisa Camargo
Woman
María Elisa Camargo is an Ecuadorian actress. She played the character of María Alegría Pimiento in the Colombian telenovela "La Marca del Deseo". She also appeared in the Verano de amor. Her TV debut was during the first season of the reality show The X Factor in Colombia.
Jaime Ayoví
Soccer
Jaime Javier Ayoví Corozo is an Ecuadorian footballer. He currently plays for LDU Quito on loan from Tijuana.
Juan Montalvo
Deceased Person
Juan María Montalvo Fiallos was an Ecuadorian author and essayist. Born in Ambato to José Marcos Montalvo and Josefa Fiallos, he studied philosophy and law in Quito before returning to his hometown in 1854. He held diplomatic posts in Italy and France from 1857 to 1859. A political liberal, Montalvo's beliefs were marked by anti-clericalism and a keen hatred for the two caudillos that ruled Ecuador during his life: Gabriel García Moreno and Ignacio de Veintemilla. After an issue of El Cosmopolita viciously attacked Moreno, Montalvo was exiled to Colombia for seven years. Moreno's assassination was attributed to Montalvo's writings. He was a dedicated champion of democracy and an enemy of the writer Juan León Mera. In the late seventies Juan Montalvo was twice exiled to France, remaining there from 1879, as punishment for Las catilinarias, the work that made him famous throughout intellectual circles in the United States, Europe and the rest of Latin America. Alongside full length books, Montalvo was an accomplished essayist, and his Siete Tratados and Geometría Moral were popular in Ecuador and were banned by Veintemilla.
Fidel Martínez
Soccer Midfielder
Fidel Martínez is an Ecuadorian soccer player who plays midfield for Club Tijuana.
Jamil Mahuad
Politician
Jorge Jamil Mahuad Witt is an Ecuadorian lawyer and politician, he was the 51st President of Ecuador from August 10, 1998 to January 21, 2000.
Patricio Urrutia
Soccer Midfielder
Patricio Javier Urrutia Espinoza, nicknamed Pato, is a retired Ecuadorian footballer.
Juan Fernando Velasco
Latin American Artist
Juan Fernando Velasco is an Ecuadorian musician.
José de la Mar
Soldier
José de la Mar was a Peruvian military leader, politician and the third President of Peru. He was born in Cuenca in what today is Ecuador. He spent his early childhood in Spain, where he started his military career as a sub-lieutenant in the regiment of Saboya. In 1815, Ferdinand VII promoted him to Brigadier, awarded him the Saint Hermenegildo's Cross and appointed him Sub-Inspector of the Viceroyalty of Peru, with the title of Governor of Callao. He arrived at the city in 1816. In 1819, he was promoted to Field Marshal.
Vicente Rocafuerte
Politician
Vicente Rocafuerte y Bejarano was an influential figure in Ecuadorian politics and President of Ecuador from September 10, 1834 to January 31, 1839. He was born into an aristocratic family in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and as a youth, was sent to Madrid to finish his education. He returned to Ecuador in 1807, and committed himself to freeing his land, first from Spanish rule, and later from the Republic of Gran Colombia. After Ecuadorian independence, Rocafuerte was elected a member of the National Congress for Pichincha Province. He led the opposition to President Juan José Flores, who exiled him to Peru. Rocafuerte returned, and on September 20, 1833, became Governor of Guayas Province. He revolted against Flores, but was defeated and imprisoned. Because of the respect he was held in by his many supporters, Rocafuerte negotiated a settlement with Flores, and was released from prison. The settlement allowed Flores to finish his term in office, and promised Rocafuerte would become president afterwards, with Flores to head the army. During his presidency, Rocafuerte passed a new constitution in 1835, and gave greater protection to Native Americans in Ecuador. In 1839, after Rocafuerte had left office, Flores was again elected president, and for some time there were no difficulties between the two men. However, after electoral irregularities in 1843, Flores annulled the 1835 constitution and passed a new one, called by Rocafuerte 'The Letter of Slavery'. When Flores took up a third term as president in 1843, Rocafuerte left Ecuador in protest. After a short rebellion, Rocafuerte and Vicente Ramón Roca overthrew Flores on March 6, 1845, and Roca became president of Ecuador later that year.
Iván Hurtado
Soccer Defender
Iván Jacinto Hurtado Angulo is an Ecuadorian professional football centre back for Barcelona as well as captaining the Ecuadorian national team. He is currently one of the most capped male footballers of all time.
Jorge Icaza Coronel
Author
Jorge Icaza Coronel was a writer from Ecuador, best known for his novel Huasipungo, which brought attention to the exploitation of Ecuador's indigenous people by Ecuadorian whites. He was born in Quito in 1906 and died of cancer in the same city in 1978.
Álvaro Noboa
Politician
Álvaro Fernando Noboa Pontón is an Ecuadorian businessman and politician. Noboa has been actively involved in politics, unsuccessfully running for the office of President of Ecuador in 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2009. In 2007, however, he was elected national assemblyman. Noboa announced on May 2, 2012, that he would be running for a fifth time to become the President of Ecuador in the upcoming 2013 Ecuadorian Presidential Elections In 1997, already owning 24% of Bonita Bananas, Noboa purchased another 25% of the shares, the holding company for the family business. Presently, he runs the Noboa Group of Companies and Noboa Corporation, with more than 110 companies in Ecuador and around the world, including branch offices in United States, Antwerp, Rome, Japan, Argentina, and New Zealand. Some of Noboa's Ecuadorian companies have faced lawsuits and Servicio de Rentas Internas claims. The banana exporting company also has been audited by international organisations due to child labor issues and strike conflicts. Noboa's major company in Ecuador, Exportadora Bananera Noboa, faced as of February 2009, an assessment of three hundred million dollars imposed by the governmental revenue service of Ecuador, the SRI. A representative of TP Consulting, an independent audit firm, stated that what is in question is the price for a crate of bananas: that which the SRI has fixed is a number above that determined by other parts of the government. The representatives of Bananera Noboa have stated that exportation prices were within the range of prices of exportation of other exporters, according to information from the Central Bank of Ecuador. The audit, undertaken by TP Consulting, revealed an amount to be paid of US $139,949.00. As of 2011, Bananera Noboa is still facing charges from the SRI, but the legal representatives of the Company state that the company ‘Is not Bankrupt’.
Carlo Alban
Actor
Carlo Alban is an Ecuadorian actor. He is known as Carlo from Sesame Street, appearing in the telefilm Elmo Saves Christmas. He grew up in Sayreville, New Jersey and attended Rutgers University, majoring in visual arts.
Byron Moreno
Referee
Byron Aldemar Moreno Ruales is a former Ecuadorian football referee.
Alberto Spencer
Soccer Forward
Alberto Pedro Spencer Herrera was an Ecuadorian football player, regarded as the best of his country. He is probably best known for his still-standing record for scoring the most goals in the Copa Libertadores, the most important club tournament in South America. He was elected the 20th best South American footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the IFFHS in 2004. He was known as "Cabeza Mágica".
Jorge Guagua
Soccer
Jorge Daniel Guagua Tamayo is an Ecuador international football defender who plays for Deportivo Quito. A central defender, Guagua had a promising start to his career. His quick, technical abilities meant he was included in Ecuador’s squad for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. In the same year, he made his debut for Ecuador’s senior side and he was named in his country’s squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He also played in the 2007 Copa America held in Venezuela. However, Guagua, who captained Club Deportivo El Nacional to the 2005 league championship, is generally used as a substitute behind record appearance maker Ivan Hurtado in Ecuador’s current side. He has 16 international caps and one goal as at May 19, 2006 against Mexico. He was transferred to Colón de Santa Fe of Argentina right after the 2006 FIFA World Cup. After a year of steady performances there he returned to Ecuador to play for Club Sport Emelec. In December 2007 Guagua agreed to join Emelec's city rivals Barcelona SC For the 2009 season he will make his return to the team that made him famous, El Nacional. On December 1, 2011 his transfer to Mexican club Atlante FC was confirmed.
Carlos Mortensen
Man
Juan Carlos Mortensen is a Spanish professional poker player of Danish descent and the only Hispanic Main Event winner of the World Series of Poker. Mortensen is known for his loose play, bluffing tactics, and interesting chip-stacking style.
Hugo Savinovich
Man
Hugo Savinovich is a former Ecuadorian professional wrestler, formerly employed with WWE, where he was one half of the Spanish announce team for the company's TV shows and pay-per-view events. He was a color commentator and partner of Carlos Cabrera and occasionally Marcelo Rodríguez. When he worked with Rodriguez, he was the play-by-play announcer. Their audio can be accessed in the United States via the SAP feature on most TV sets. He was married to the famous former female wrestler Wendi Richter. He is married to wife Diana and has two sons: Jovannie and Genaro.
Diego Serrano
Actor
Diego Serrano is an Ecuadorian-born American actor.
Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco
Politician
Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco — born Alfredo Pareja y Diez Canseco — was a prominent Ecuadorian novelist, essayist, journalist, historian and diplomat. An innovator of the 20th-century Latin American novel, he was a founding member of the literary Grupo de Guayaquil. The government of President Jaime Roldós Aguilera appointed him Chancellor of the Republic and he served as Foreign Minister of Ecuador and Ambassador to France.
Rodrigo Borja Cevallos
Politician
Rodrigo Borja Cevallos was President of Ecuador from 10 August 1988 to 10 August 1992. Borja was born in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. He helped to found the Party of the Democratic Left, a socialist political party which quickly gained strength. He served several terms in Congress, leaving it in 1982. Borja first ran for President of Ecuador in 1978, coming in fourth place. He again ran for president in 1984, receiving the most votes in the first round, 36%, but he was defeated in the runoff. He succeeded in winning the 1988 presidential election, and focused on Ecuador's economic problems during his presidency. Like all Ecuadorian presidents, he was not allowed to seek a second term. After his presidency, he remained the leader of the Party of the Democratic Left. He ran for President again in 1998, receiving 12% of the vote and coming in third place, and again ran for president in 2002, receiving 14% of the vote and fourth place. It is claimed that he is a direct descendant of Pope Alexander VI.
Cléber Chalá
Soccer Midfielder
Cléber Manuel Chalá Herrón is an Ecuadorian football midfielder who played 86 games for the Ecuador national team between 1992 and 2004. Chalá played for Ecuador at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and in the 1993 Copa América, 1997 Copa América and 2001 Copa América At club level he has played mostly for Nacional Quito where he has made over 450 appearances and participated in 4 Ecuadorian league championship winning campaigns. He has also played club football for Deportivo Quito and Universidad San Martín de Porres in Peru. He also had a spell in England with Southampton F.C. but never played in the first team. He was signed along with fellow countryman Agustín Delgado, but neither made an impact in English football
Michael Arroyo
Soccer Midfielder
Michael Antonio Arroyo Mina is an Ecuadorian footballer who currently plays for Serie A club Barcelona Sporting Club as an attacking midfielder.
Lenín Moreno
Politician
Lenín Voltaire Moreno Garcés was Vice President of Ecuador from 2007 to 2013, serving under President Rafael Correa. His election as Vice President was notable because as a paraplegic, Moreno was one of the world’s few disabled national leaders. This paralysis gives him insight into the needs and concerns of disabled people, especially those in Ecuador and other developing countries. Once in office, Moreno initiated important changes that improved the lives of disabled people throughout the country, and increasingly, in other countries as well. For his work providing respect and dignity to handicapped people he was nominated for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.
Gustavo Noboa
Politician
Gustavo José Joaquín Noboa Bejarano is an Ecuadorian politician, former President of Ecuador and Vice President during Jamil Mahuad's government.
José Francisco Cevallos
Soccer
José Francisco Cevallos Villavicencio is an Ecuadorian retired football goalkeeper and current Minister of Sports in Ecuador. Nicknamed Las Manos del Ecuador, Cevallos is considered by many to be the greatest goalkeeper in the history of Ecuadorian football. He has won three national titles with Guayaquil based club Barcelona, with whom he has spent the majority of his professional career. As the goalkeeper for LDU Quito, he was a key figure in the team's 2008 Copa Libertadores title, where he saved three penalties in the deciding penalty shoot-out. That same year, he was voted as the Best Goalkeeper in South America by Montevideo based newspaper El País. As a member of the national team, he has participated in four Copa Américas and Ecuador's first World Cup participation. Having represented his national team 89 times, he is the highest capped goalkeeper in the history of the team.
Alfredo Palacio
Politician
Luis Alfredo Palacio González served as President of Ecuador from April 2005 to January 2007. From January 15, 2003 to April 20, 2005, he served as vice president, after which he was appointed to the presidency when the Ecuadorian Congress removed President Lucio Gutiérrez from power following a week of growing unrest with his government. Born in Guayaquil, Palacio is a physician by profession, specializing in cardiology. He studied in his home town and, later, at Cleveland, Ohio, doing residency at Case Western Reserve University, followed by a two-year cardiology fellowship at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States. He later lectured in cardiology and public health at Guayaquil University's faculty of medicine. Palacio was chosen as Lucio Gutiérrez's running mate in the 2002 election. It was a common sight during the campaign to see Gutiérrez, dressed in his army fatigues, accompanied by Palacio, wearing surgical scrubs. Palacio had previously served as the minister for health during the administration of Sixto Durán Ballén. Many of the ministers he chose were from the Democratic Left.
Mariana de Jesús de Paredes
Deceased Person
Saint Maryann of Jesus de Paredes, O.F.S., — in Spanish Mariana de Jesús de Paredes y Flores — is a Roman Catholic saint and is the first person to be canonized from Ecuador. She was a hermit who is said to have sacrificed herself for the salvation of Quito. She was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1853 and canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950. She is the patron saint of Ecuador and venerated at the La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús in Quito. Her feast day is May 26.
Christian Lara
Soccer Midfielder
Christian Rolando Lara Anangonó, nicknamed Diablito, is an Ecuadorian footballer.
Félix Borja
Soccer
Félix Alexander Borja Valencia is an Ecuadorian footballer, who currently plays for Puebla in the Primera División Mexicana.
Narcisa de Jesús
Deceased Person
Narcisa de Jesús Martillo y Morán is a Roman Catholic saint from Nobol, Ecuador. She was a laywoman known for her charitable giving and strict devotion, becoming a consecrated virgin. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 25, 1992 and canonized on October 12, 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI. Today her body lies in repose at the Santuario de Santa Narcisa de Jesús Martillo y Morán in Nobol, Ecuador. Her feast day is August 30.
Osvaldo Hurtado
Politician
Luis Osvaldo Hurtado Larrea is an Ecuadorian author and politician who served as President of Ecuador from 1981 to 1984. 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. 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. 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. In 1979, Hurtado was chosen as running mate of presidential candidate Jaime Roldós Aguilera of the populist Concentration of People's Forces. Roldós was successful and Hurtado became vice-president. On May 24, 1981, Jaime Roldós Aguilera died in a plane crash. Hurtado succeeded Roldós Aguilera as President of Ecuador and served out the rest of his term.
Giovanni Lapentti
Tennis Player
Giovanni Lapentti Gómez is an Ecuadorian tennis player. His brother is Nicolás Lapentti, another professional tennis player, while a third brother, Leonardo, has also been active at the lower levels of professional tennis. Lapentti announced his ATP debut in 2002, but he actually had his first tour match in 2003, at the Franklin Templeton Classic in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. Lapentti obtained his first professional victory at that tournament's first round, defeating Paradorn Srichaphan, 7–6, 6–2. He lost in the tournament's second round to David Sánchez. He participated in 2003's Italian and French Open, losing in the first round both times. During the French Open, he was tied at 2 sets apiece with Tommy Robredo but had to retire in the fifth set due to an injury, which did not allow him to return to the professional men's tennis tour until 2004. Lapentti did not obtain a single victory during his second year as a professional, but he participated in tournaments held in Argentina, Mexico, Spain and Indian Wells, California. Lapentti had better results in 2005, losing in the Davis Cup playoffs to Jürgen Melzer, advancing to the second round of the Legg Mason Classic, where he was defeated by Andy Roddick, getting to an ATP's tournament's third round for the first time in his career when he participated at the RCA Championships, making the second round of the Campbell's Hall of Fame Championship and the third round of the Tennis Channel Open. The only tournament that he participated in and failed to reach the second round during 2005 was the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, where he lost to Kevin Kim.
Joao Plata
Soccer Midfielder
Joao Jimmy Plata Cotera is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer.
Paúl Ambrosi
Soccer Defender
Vicente Paúl Ambrosi Zambrano, commonly known as Paúl Ambrosi, is an Ecuadorian football player who plays as a defender for LDU Quito and the Ecuadorian national team. He has spent the vast majority of his professional career at LDU Quito. He is of Italian descent from his grandparents.
Luis Saritama
Soccer Midfielder
Luis Fernando Saritama Padilla is a footballer who currently plays for LDU Quito.
Jorge Carrera Andrade
Poet
Jorge Carrera Andrade was an Ecuadorian poet, historian, author, and diplomat during the 20th century. He was born in Quito, Ecuador in 1902. He died in 1978. During his life and after his death he has been recognized with Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz and Cesar Vallejo as one of the most important Latin American poets of the twentieth century.
Oswaldo Minda
Soccer Midfielder
Tilson Oswaldo Minda is an Ecuadorian footballer currently playing for Chivas USA in Major League Soccer.
Otilino Tenorio
Soccer
Otilino Tenorio was an Ecuadorian footballer.
Medardo Ángel Silva
Poet
Medardo Ángel Silva was a renowend Ecuadorian poet and a member of the Generación decapitada. The Generación Decapitada was a literary group formed by four young Ecuadorian poets in the first decades of the 20th century. Two men from Guayaquil, Medardo Ángel Silva and Ernesto Noboa y Caamaño, and two men from Quito, Arturo Borja and Humberto Fierro, were the precursors of modernismo in Ecuador. These four writers were greatly influenced by the modernist movement of Rubén Darío and by 19th-century French romantic poetry. They all read this poetry in the original language, by authors including Baudelaire, Hugo, Rimbaud, and Verlaine. This group is called "decapitada", or decapitated, because all of them committed suicide at a young age. Though they knew each other and dedicated poems to each other, they never met together to create a true literary group. The term "generación decapitada" originated in the middle of the 20th century, when Ecuadorian journalists and historians decided to name them, noting similarities in the authors' poetry.
Juan Luis Anangonó
Soccer
Juan Anangonó is an Ecuadorian football striker currently playing for Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer.
Franklin Salas
Soccer
Franklin Agustín Salas Narváez is an Ecuadorian football forward who currently plays for Olmedo. His nickname is Mago, meaning wizard or magician.
José Francisco Cevallos, Jr.
Soccer Midfielder
José Francisco Cevallos Enríquez, commonly referred to as José Francisco Cevallos, Jr., is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Juventus. He is the son of famed Ecuadorian goalkeeper José Francisco Cevallos.
Fernando Guerrero
Soccer Midfielder
Fernando Alexander Guerrero Vásquez is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays for Independiente José Terán.
Sebastián Cordero
Screenwriter
Sebastián Cordero is an Ecuadorian film director, screenwriter and editor, often recognized for his work in Ratas, Ratones, Rateros, Crónicas, and Europa Report. His films have been exhibited in festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival among others.
Vicente Ramón Roca
Politician
Vicente Ramón Roca Rodríguez was President of Ecuador from 8 December 1845 to 15 October 1849. He was a member of the Liberal Party. He led the revolution that overthrew Juan José Flores, along with José Joaquín de Olmedo and Diego Noboa. He ruled under the Constitution of 1845.
Antonio Villavicencio
Politician
Antonio Villavicencio y Verástegui was a Neogranadine Lieutenant statesman and soldier, born in Quito, and educated in Spain. He served in the Battle of Trafalgar as an office in the Spanish Navy. He was sent as a representative of the Crown to the New Granada, and his arrival was used as an excuse in Santafé de Bogotá to start a revolt, this was known as the Florero de Llorente which culminated with the proclamation of Independence from Spain. After this incident he resigned his office and joined the Independence cause. He was later captured and became the first martyr executed during the reign of terror of Pablo Morillo.
Leónidas Plaza
Politician
Leónidas Plaza Gutiérrez was president of Ecuador for two separate occasions: From September 1, 1901 to August 31, 1905 and from September 1, 1912 to August 31, 1916. He was the son of José Buenaventura Plaza, a school teacher and, Alegría Gutiérrez de Caviedes Sevillano, an attractive tall woman with arostocratic features and exquisite social manners of Colombian descendancy . He married María Avelina Lasso Ascázubi, with whom he had eight children. One of them, Galo Plaza, was also president of Ecuador.
Julio César Campozano
Tennis Player
Julio César Campozano is an Ecuadorian tennis player. He sweeped seven singles and five doubles Futures titles, but these aren't his biggest achievements. He won doubles title in 2009 Guayaquil Challenger, competing with his compatriot Emilio Gómez. They defeated Andreas Haider-Maurer and Lars Pörschke 6–7, 6–3, [10–8] in the final. He is a member of the Ecuador Davis Cup team. His coaches are Alejandro Fabri and Matias Rizzo.
Jayro Campos
Soccer Defender
Jayro Rolando Campos León is an Ecuadorian Defender who plays for Barcelona Sporting Club, which purchased the rights to the Brazilian club Atlético Mineiro.
Bayron Piedra
Olympic athlete
Byron Efrén Piedra Avilés is an Ecuadorian middle distance and long-distance runner. He won the 2007 edition of the Guayaquil Marathon. He also competed at the 2004 Olympic Games, the 2005 Summer Universiade, the 2007 World Championships and the 2008 Olympic Games without reaching the final round. He demonstrated his regional strength with a double gold in the 1500 metres and 5000 metres at the 2009 South American Championships in Athletics. He decided to run in both the 1500 m and 5000 m races at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics but he did not succeed in either event, finishing third last in the heats of the 1500 m and failing to finish at all in the 5000 m He has medalled at regional competitions a number of times. He took part in the 2003 Pan American Games and reached the 1500 m final, finishing in eighth. In 2004, he came within a second of scoring a long race/short race double at the South American Cross Country Championships, but Juan Suárez of Argentina just finished ahead of him in the short competition. He won a bronze in the long race in 2006. He improved upon his past performance by taking a bronze in the 2007 Pan American Games.
Frickson Erazo
Soccer Defender
Frickson Rafael Erazo Vivero is an Ecuadorian football defender who plays for Barcelona SC and the Ecuadorian national team.
Juan Cazares
Soccer Midfielder
Juan Ramon Cazares Sevillano is an Ecuadorian football midfielder who plays for Argentine club Banfield on loan from River Plate.
Néicer Reasco
Soccer Defender
Néicer Reasco Yano is an Ecuadorian footballer. He is a defender who plays for LDU Quito in Ecuador, and has won four league titles with them Reasco began his professional club career playing for LDU Quito for seven years. After the 2006 World Cup, he joined São Paulo in Brazil for a two-year contract, the only non-Brazilian on the team. In mid-2008, he rejoined his first club. He was part of the Ecuadorian national team that competed at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He was named as part of Ecuador's squad for the 2007 and 2011 Copa América.
Rosalía Arteaga
Politician
Lupe Rosalía Arteaga Serrano de Fernández de Córdova is an Ecuadorian politician who served as the country's first female president for only two days in 1997. She was born in Cuenca, Ecuador. She became Vice President in 1996, following the election of Abdalá Bucaram as President. On February 6, 1997, however, President Bucaram was declared unfit to govern by Congress. Arteaga and congressional leader Fabián Alarcón became locked in a dispute over who should succeed Bucaram since the constitution was vague on the issue. Initially, Alarcón was sworn in with the support of Congress. On February 9, however, Arteaga, who had insisted that as vice president she should become president, was sworn in instead as Ecuador's first female president. Two days later, however, on February 11, with the support of Congress and the army, Alarcón was sworn in again, and Arteaga resigned. Arteaga continued to clash with Alarcón and resigned from her post as vice president in March 1998. She then ran for president in the elections that were held in May 1998 but received only 3% of the vote. Arteaga was secretary-general of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization until 2007 and is a member of the editorial board of the Encyclopædia Britannica.
Eduardo Kingman
Painting Artist
Eduardo Kingman Riofrío was one of Ecuador's greatest artists of the 20th century, among the art circles of other master artists such as Oswaldo Guayasamin and Camilo Egas.
Fabián Alarcón
Politician
Fabián Ernesto Alarcón Rivera was President of Ecuador from 6 February 1997 to 9 February 1997 and from February 11, 1997 to August 10, 1998. Alarcón was born in Quito. He was head of the Congress from 1991 to 1992 and then again from August 1995 to February 1997, when he was made acting president due to the impeachment of President Abdalá Bucaram. This deepened the political crisis in Ecuador as vice-president Rosalía Arteaga challenged Alarcón's assumption of the presidency. Arteaga then became president for two days but Alarcón was then restored. He gave up the presidency after early elections were held in 1998, in which he did not run. In 1999 he was arrested on corruption charges, but was later released. Alarcón is a member of the Alfarista Radical Front.
Jorge Enrique Adoum
Man
Jorge Enrique Adoum was an Ecuadorian writer, poet, politician, and diplomat. He was one of the major exponents of Latin American poetry. Social concerns were always present in his work.
Rolando Vera
Olympic athlete
Rolando Patricio Vera Rodas is a retired long-distance runner from Ecuador, who represented his native country at three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1988. He reached the top ten of the 10,000 metres at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics. He enjoyed much championship success at the regional level: he was a two-time South American Champion on the track and won gold medals at the South American Games and Bolivarian Games, as well as reaching the podium at the Ibero-American Championships and the 1987 Pan American Games. He won road running competitions on four continents and was tenth at the 1994 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. Vera won the Saint Silvester Road Race four times consecutively in the 1980s. In 1995 he won both the Los Angeles Marathon and the Chuncheon Marathon, and he won the Beppu-Ōita Marathon two years later. At Olympic level he competed in the marathon on two occasions. He remains the Ecuadorian record holder over 20 km and the half marathon. His personal best in the marathon is 2:10:46 – a time which brought him third at the 1990 Boston Marathon.