Coup Atlas Research Database
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13003031952AttemptedMilitary coup

Ecuador, 1952 — military coup attempt

Ecuador (ECU)South America, AmericasMarch 3, 1952

Event Summary

The dataset records an attempted military coup in Ecuador on 3 March 1952, in the final months of the transitional period before Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra returned to the presidency for his third term on 1 September 1952. The episode falls at the close of the constitutional era opened by Galo Plaza, whose 1948 to 1952 presidency was the first in decades to reach a peaceful handover and which was itself repeatedly targeted by plots that his government put down. Whatever the specifics of the March 1952 attempt, it did not derail the succession: elections proceeded and Velasco Ibarra, the perennial caudillo who had been forced from office in each of his earlier terms, won and this time completed a full four year term to 1956, the only one of his five presidencies to run its constitutional course during a period of banana boom stability.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: The transitional government survived and Velasco Ibarra took office on 1 September 1952, completing his only full term
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
The Ecuadorian government in the 1952 transition (target)
Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra (president elect who took office September 1952)

Sources

Velasco Ibarra won the 1952 presidential election and began his third term on September 1, 1952, the only one of his five terms he completed, ending on August 31, 1956.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra open source ↗
From 1948 to 1960 Ecuador experienced 12 years of peaceful presidential transitions, opened by Galo Plaza, the first of three presidents to complete a term and peacefully transfer power, the first such handover in more than 25 years.
SOURCE REVIEWED Xavier Journal of Politics, Comparative Analysis of Velasco Ibarra open source ↗
Only Velasco Ibarra's third presidency of 1952 to 1956 was completed in accordance with constitutional provisions, out of five terms in which he was forcibly removed on four occasions.
SOURCE REVIEWED Encyclopedia.com, Velasco Ibarra open source ↗
The 1952 to 1956 period brought a prospering economy and relative social satisfaction during Ecuador's banana boom, with strong GDP growth and infrastructure expansion.
SOURCE REVIEWED Xavier Journal of Politics, Comparative Analysis of Velasco Ibarra open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete documentation of a 3 March 1952 Ecuadorian coup attempt was found in accessible English sources this session; the entry records the dataset's coding and the verified transitional context around the 1952 succession, with plotter identity for this specific date unconfirmed, flagged. Pairs with the Ecuador 1952-12-11 record in this batch.

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
13003031952

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The transitional government survived and Velasco Ibarra took office on 1 September 1952, completing his only full term.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. 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

Powell and Thyne

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

New York Times

“ECUADOR QUELLS REVOLT: 7 Naval Officers and 10 Civilians Are Seized in Guayaquil,” March 4, 1952

Washington Post

“Naval Revolt Is Put Down, Ecuador Says,” March 4, 1952

The Sun

“17 IN ECUADOR HELD IN REVOLT: Plot Laid To Political Party Is Crushed By Army,” March 4, 1952

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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