Coup Atlas Research Database
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13008231947SuccessfulPalace coup

Ecuador, 1947 — palace coup

Ecuador (ECU)South America, AmericasAugust 23, 1947

Event Summary

On August 23, 1947, Ecuadorian President Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra was overthrown by his own Minister of National Defense, Colonel Carlos Mancheno Cajas, in a palace coup known as the Manchenazo. Troops under Mancheno's command stormed the presidential palace in Quito, arrested Velasco Ibarra, and forced his resignation and exile. Mancheno assumed supreme command and installed himself as de facto president, but his rule lasted only about ten days: a constitutionalist counter-coup by military officers loyal to the 1946 constitution removed him in early September and restored civilian succession through Vice President Mariano Suarez Veintimilla.

This was one of several times Velasco Ibarra, who was elected president of Ecuador five times, was removed from office by military force.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra, President of Ecuador (deposed, exiled)
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra (deposed president)
Carlos Mancheno Cajas (Defense Minister who led the coup, briefly de facto president)
Mariano Suarez Veintimilla (Vice President, restored to the presidency after Mancheno fell)

Sources

In August 1947 Velasco Ibarra was deposed by a military coup; defense minister Mancheno perpetrated the coup and briefly became his successor.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra" open source ↗
On August 23, 1947, Velasco Ibarra was overthrown by his minister of national defense, Colonel Carlos Mancheno.
SOURCE REVIEWED Encyclopedia.com, "Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra" open source ↗
Ecuador's president Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra was deposed by coup on August 23 and succeeded by Colonel Carlos Mancheno; when Velasco was ousted by his defense minister, nobody rose to defend him.
SOURCE REVIEWED OnWar, "Military Coup in Ecuador 1947" open source ↗
Mancheno served as president of Ecuador from 23 August to 2 September 1947, assuming control after the coup that deposed Velasco Ibarra, who left the country.
SOURCE REVIEWED Simple English Wikipedia, "Carlos Mancheno Cajas" open source ↗

Editorial Note

Sources consistently identify this as a palace coup led by Defense Minister Mancheno against Velasco Ibarra on 23 August 1947 (the Manchenazo). Wikipedia, Encyclopedia.com, OnWar, and Simple English Wikipedia were read directly and agree on date, actor, and outcome. Mancheno's own brief rule was reversed within about ten days (see the separate September 1947 record).

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
13008231947

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra, President of Ecuador (deposed, exiled).

Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; exiled. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Wikipedia

New York Times

“ECUADOR GETS CABINET; Five Members Are Sworn In by Leader of Bloodless Coup,” August 28, 1947

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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