Coup Atlas Research Database
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13012111952AttemptedDissident coup

Ecuador, 1952 — dissident coup attempt

Ecuador (ECU)South America, AmericasDecember 11, 1952

Event Summary

The dataset records an attempted dissident coup in Ecuador on 11 December 1952, in the opening months of Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra's third presidency, which he had begun on 1 September 1952. Velasco Ibarra was Ecuador's dominant caudillo, a spellbinding populist orator who reached the presidency five times but was forced from office in all his other terms, three of them cut short by military coups and one by his own overreach. This third term, however, coincided with the banana boom and a rare stretch of Ecuadorian stability, and he completed the full four years to 1956, the only one of his presidencies to run its constitutional course.

Whatever challenge arose in December 1952, it did not unseat him, and his government went on to build hundreds of schools and thousands of kilometers of roads before he handed power to his elected successor.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra survived and completed his third term, his only full presidency, in 1956
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra (president of Ecuador, target)
Dissident opponents (recurrent challengers of Velasco governments)

Sources

Velasco Ibarra began his third term on September 1, 1952 and this time served his entire term, which ended on August 31, 1956, a period of progress with hundreds of schools and more than a thousand kilometers of roads constructed.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra open source ↗
Velasco Ibarra was president five non-consecutive times from 1934 to 1972 but only in 1952 to 1956 completed a full term, being removed by military force in his four other terms.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra open source ↗
Although he censored the press, he spurred the construction of new schools and roads, the country prospered, and he managed to complete his term before being reelected in 1960.
SOURCE REVIEWED FactMonster, Velasco Ibarra open source ↗
The 1948 to 1960 span gave Ecuador 12 years of peaceful presidential transitions, a stability underpinned by the banana boom, within which Velasco's third term ran its full constitutional course.
SOURCE REVIEWED Xavier Journal of Politics, Comparative Analysis of Velasco Ibarra open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete documentation of an 11 December 1952 Ecuadorian coup attempt was found in accessible English sources this session; the entry records the dataset's dissident coup coding and the verified context of Velasco Ibarra's uniquely completed third term, with plotter identity for this specific date unconfirmed, flagged. Pairs with the Ecuador 1952-03-03 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
13012111952

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra survived and completed his third term, his only full presidency, in 1956.

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

South China Morning Post

“Attempted Revolt in Ecuador: Former Ally of President Held,” December 13, 1952

The Times of India

“Coup Bid Fails,” December 13, 1952

Washington Post

“Troops Crush Coup Attempt, Ecuador Reports,” December 12, 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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