On March 29, 1966 the military junta that had ruled Ecuador since 1963 collapsed under a week of nationwide labor strikes and student rioting, and Rear Admiral Ramon Castro Jijon and his fellow junta members resigned, handing the country to a provisional civilian president. The junta, which had taken power in July 1963, faced mounting unrest over economic policy; as strikes and riots spread, the ruling officers quietly left the Government Palace in Quito and took refuge at a farm outside the city. Castro Jijon resigned as president along with the other two junta members, generals Marcos Gandara and Luis Cabrera.
After word of their departure spread, municipal and provincial officials quit and police walked off the job, while remaining military commanders deployed troops as a show of force in the largest cities until a successor could be chosen. Former presidents Galo Plaza Lasso and Camilo Ponce proposed the economics professor Clemente Yerovi, who was sworn in the next day.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Rear Admiral Ramon Castro Jijon, president of the ruling military junta, who resigned on March 29, 1966 along with junta members Marcos Gandara and Luis Cabrera under pressure of strikes and riots, and was not physically harmed.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Ramon Castro Jijon (junta president who resigned)
Marcos Gandara and Luis Cabrera (fellow junta members who resigned)
Clemente Yerovi (economics professor sworn in as provisional president)
Galo Plaza Lasso and Camilo Ponce (former presidents who proposed Yerovi)
Sources
After a week of nationwide labor strikes and rioting by students, the ruling military junta quietly departed the Government Palace in Quito and took refuge at a farm outside town, and Rear Admiral Ramon Castro Jijon resigned as President of Ecuador along with the other two junta members, General Marcos Gandara and General Luis Cabrera, who had ruled since 1963.
After word of the junta's departure spread, municipal and provincial officials quit and police walked off the job, while the remaining military commanders sent troops as a show of force in the nation's largest cities until a new president could be selected.
Former Presidents Galo Plaza Lasso and Camilo Ponce suggested economics professor Clemente Yerovi for the job, and Professor Yerovi was sworn into office the next day at 12:30 p.m., a day and a half after the presidency had been vacant.
Days before its fall, President Ramon Castro Jijon of Ecuador and other members of his junta met President Guillermo Leon Valencia of Colombia at the Rumichaca Bridge and signed the Treaty on Integration of the Borderland of Colombia and Ecuador, confirming Castro Jijon as the junta's head of state up to the final days of the regime.
Coding note: the dataset classifies this a popular revolt rather than a military coup because civilian strikes and student riots, not a rival officer faction, forced the junta's resignation; the deposed junta president was not harmed and power passed to a civilian caretaker. Date note: the resignations and the junta's withdrawal are dated March 29, 1966 (the dataset's date), with Yerovi sworn in the following day. Distinct event: this closes the 1963 to 1966 Ecuadorian junta that took power in the July 1963 coup (a separate dataset event) and precedes the return to elected civilian rule; it should not be conflated with Ecuador's earlier or later coups.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Rear Admiral Ramon Castro Jijon, president of the ruling military junta, who resigned on March 29, 1966 along with junta members Marcos Gandara and Luis Cabrera under pressure of strikes and riots, and was not physically harmed..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; 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
“CALM IS RESTORED IN 2 ECUADOR TOWNS,” April 1, 1966
Chicago Tribune
“Three men Junta Yields Rule over Ecuador,” March 30, 1966
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 →