Republic of Ecuador

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Ecuador (ⁱ/ˈɛkwədɔr/ e-kwə-dawr), officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador [reˈpuβlika ðel ekwaˈðor], which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator") is a representative democratic republic inSouth America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. Sony VAIO PCG-3B1M Battery
It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) west of the mainland.
The main spoken language in Ecuador is Spanish (94% of the population). Sony VAIO PCG-3C1T Battery
Languages of official use in native communities include Quichua, Shuar, and 11 other languages. Ecuador has an area of 258,238 km² (99,706 sq mi). Its capital city is Quito, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1970s for having the best preserved and least altered historic center in Latin America.^[7] Sony VAIO PCG-3D1M Battery
The country's largest city is Guayaquil. The historic center ofCuenca, the third largest city in the country in size and economically ^[8], was also declared a World Heritage Site in 1999, for being an outstanding example of a planned inland Spanish style colonial city in the Americas.^[9] Sony VAIO PCG-3G2M Battery
Ecuador is also home to a great variety of species, many of them endemic, like those of the Galápagos islands. This species diversity makes Ecuador one of the 17 megadiverse countries in the world.^[10] The new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.^[11] Sony VAIO PCG-5R1M Battery
Ecuador is a presidential republic and became independent in 1830, after having been part of the Spanish colonial empire, and for a much shorter time of the republic of Gran Colombia. It is a medium-income country with an HDI score of 0.720 (2011).
Before the arrival of the Incas, a variety of different families of Native American peoples settled in Ecuador, Sony VAIO PCG-7141M Battery
who had different languages due to the fact they came from different places. Some sailed to Ecuador on rafts from Central America, others came to Ecuador via the Amazon tributaries, others descended from northern South America, while others ascended from the southern part of South America through the Andes or by sailing on rafts. Sony VAIO PCG-7143M Battery
Eventually these groups developed similar cultures because they lived in the same environment even though their languages were unrelated. The people of the coast developed a fishing, hunting, and gathering culture; the people of the highland Andes developed a sedentary agricultural way of life, and the people of the Amazon basin developed a nomadic hunting and gathering way of life. Sony VAIO PCG-7151M Battery
Over time these groups began to interact and intermingle with each other so that groups of families in one area became one community or tribe with a similar language and culture. Many civilizations rose throughout Ecuador, such as the Valdivia Culture and Machalilla Culture on the coast, the Quitus (near present day Quito) and theCañari (near present day Cuenca).Sony VAIO PCG-7154M Battery
Each civilization developed its own distinctive architecture, pottery, and religious interests.
In the highland Andes mountains, where life was more sedentary, groups of tribes decided to co-operate and form villages; thus the first nations based on agricultural resources and the domestication of animals were formed. Eventually, through wars and marriage alliances of their leaders, a group of nations formed confederations. Sony VAIO PCG-7162M Battery
One region was consolidated under a confederation called the Shyris which exercised organized trading and bartering between the different regions and whose political and military power was under the rule of the Duchicela blood line.
When the Incas arrived they found that these confederations were so developed, Sony VAIO PCG-7181M Battery
that it took the Incas two generations of rulers – Topa Inca Yupanqui and Huayna Capac – to absorb these confederations into the Inca Empire. The native confederations that gave them the most problem were deported to far away areas of Peru and Bolivia, and north Argentina. Sony VAIO PCG-41112M Battery
Similarly, a number of loyal Inca subjects from Peru and Bolivia were deported to Ecuador to prevent rebellion. Thus, the region of highland Ecuador became part of the Inca Empire in 1463 sharing the same language. In contrast, when the Incas made incursions into coastal Ecuador and the eastern amazon jungles of Ecuador, they found both the environment and natives more hostile. Sony VAIO PCG-7153M Battery
Moreover, when the Incas tried to subdue them, these natives withdrew to the interior and resorted to guerrilla tactics. As a result, this hampered any kind of Inca expansion into the Amazon basin and the Pacific coast of Ecuador. The natives of the Amazon jungle and coastal Ecuador remained relatively autonomous until the Spanish soldiers and missionaries arrived. Sony VAIO PCG-71312M Battery
Be that as it may, the Amazonian natives and the Cayapas of Coastal Ecuador were the only groups to resist Inca and Spanish domination, maintaining their language and culture well into the 21st century.
Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Inca Empire was involved in a civil war. Sony VAIO PCG-7144M Battery
The untimely death of both the heir Ninan Cuchi and the Emperor Huayna Capac from a European disease that spread into Ecuador, created a power vacuum between two factions. The northern faction headed by Atahualpa claims that Huayna Capac before his death gave a verbal decree about how the empire should be divided. Sony VAIO PCG-7191L Battery
He gave the territories pertaining to present day Ecuador and northern Peru to his favorite son Atahualpa, who was to rule from Quito; and he gave the rest to Huascar who was to rule from Cuzco. He willed that his heart was to be buried in his favourite city Quito and his body to be tranported to be buried with his ancestors in Cuzco. Sony VAIO PCG-3C1M Battery
Huascar did not recognize his fathers will since it did not follow Inca traditions of naming an Inca through the priests. Atahualpa was ordered by Huascar to attend his father's burial in Cuzco and pay homage to him as the new Inca ruler. Atahualpa, with a large number of his father's veteran soldiers, decided to ignore Huascar and a civil war ensued. Sony VAIO PCG-3F1M Battery
A number of bloody battles took place until finally Huascar was captured and Atahualpa marched south to Cuzco and massacred the royal family associated with Huascar.
A small band of Spaniards headed by Francisco Pizarro landed in Tumbez and marched over the Andes Mountains until they reached Cajamarca Sony VAIO PCG-3H1M Battery
where the new Inca Atahualpa was to hold an interview with them. Valverde the priest tried to convince Atahualpa that he should join the Catholic Church and declare himself a vassal of Spain. This infuriated Atahualpa so much that he threw the Bible to the ground. At this point the enraged Spaniards, Sony VAIO PCG-3J1M Battery
with orders from Valverde, attacked and massacred unarmed escorts of the Inca and captured Atahualpa. Pizarro promised to release Atahualpa if he made good his promise of filling a room full of gold. However, after a mock trial, the Spaniards executed Atahualpa by strangulation. Sony VAIO PCG-8141M Battery
Disease plagued the indigenous population during the first decades of Spanish rule — a time when the natives also were forced into the encomienda labor system for the Spanish. In 1563, Quito became the seat of a real audiencia(administrative district) of Spain and part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, and later the Viceroyalty of New Granada. Sony VAIO PCG-8161M Battery
After nearly 300 years of Spanish colonization, Quito was still a small city of only 10,000 inhabitants. It was here, on August 10, 1809, that the first call for independence from Spain was made in Latin America, under the leadership of the city's criollos like Juan Pío Montúfar, Quiroga, Salinas, and Bishop Cuero y Caicedo. Sony VAIO PCG-3C2M Battery
Quito's nickname, "Luz de América" ("Light of America"), comes from the fact that this was the first successful attempt to produce an independent and local government. Although it lasted no more than two months, it had important repercussions and was an inspiration for the independence movement of the rest of Spanish America. Sony VAIO PCG-5N2M Battery
On October 9, 1820, Guayaquil became the first city in Ecuador to gain its independence from Spain. On May 24, 1822, the rest of Ecuador gained its independence after Antonio José de Sucre defeated the Spanish Royalist forces at the Battle of Pichincha, nearQuito. Following the battle, Sony VAIO PCG-5P1M Battery
Ecuador joined Simón Bolívar's Republic of Gran Colombia – joining with modern day Colombia and Venezuela – only to become a republic in 1830.
The 19th century for Ecuador was marked by instability, with a rapid succession of rulers. The first president of Ecuador was the Venezuelan-born Juan José Flores, Sony VAIO PCG-5S1M Battery
who was ultimately deposed, followed by many authoritarian leaders such as Vicente Rocafuerte;José Joaquín de Olmedo; José María Urbina; Diego Noboa; Pedro José de Arteta; Manuel de Ascásubi; and Flores's own son, Antonio Flores Jijón, among others. The conservativeGabriel Garcia Moreno unified the country in the 1860s with the support of the Roman Catholic Church. Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1M Battery
In the late 19th century, world demand for cocoa tied the economy to commodity exports and led to migrations from the highlands to the agricultural frontier on the coast.
The coast-based Liberal Revolution of 1895 under Eloy Alfaro reduced the power of the clergy and the conservative land owners of the highlands, and this liberal wing retained power until the military "Julian Revolution" of 1925. Sony VAIO PCG-7171M Battery
The 1930s and 1940s were marked by instability and emergence of populist politicians, such as five-time President José María Velasco Ibarra.
Since Ecuador's separation from Colombia in 1830, it had claimed all Amazonian Basin lands between the Caqueta River and the Marañon-Amazon River. Sony VAIO PCG-7186M Battery
Ecuador also had de jure claims to a small piece of land beside the Pacific Ocean known as Tumbez, which lay between the Zarumilla and Tumbez Rivers. In the Andes Mountain range Ecuador had claims to an area of land it called Jaén de Bracamoros, which lay between the border in the Andes Mountains and the Marañon River. Sony VAIO PCG-81112M Battery
Be that as it may, Ecuador during its long and turbulent history had lost most of its claimed territory to each of its more powerful neighbors like Colombia in 1832 and 1916, and Brazil in 1904 through a series of peaceful treaties.
During the struggle for independence, before Peru or Ecuador became an independent nation, Sony VAIO PCG-31311M Battery
a few areas of the former Vice Royalty of New Granada – Guayaquil, Tumbez, and Jaén – declared themselves independent from Spain. A few months later a part of the Peruvian liberation army of San Martin decided to occupy Tumbez and Jaén with the intention of using these towns as springboards to liberate Guayaquil and the rest of the Audiencia de Quito (Ecuador). Sony VAIO PCG-8152M Battery
It was common knowledge among the top officers of the liberation army from the south that their leader San Martin wished to liberate present-day Ecuador and add it to the a future republic of Peru, since it had been part of the Inca Empire before the Spaniards conquered it. However, Bolivar's intention was to form a new republic known as the Gran Colombia, Sony VAIO PCG-31111M Battery
out of the liberated Spanish territory of New Granada which consisted of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. San Martin's plans were thwarted whenBolívar with the help of Marshal Antonio José de Sucre and the Gran Colombian liberation force descended upon the Andes mountains and occupied Guayaquil and annexed the newly liberated Audiencia de Quito to the Republic of Gran Colombia. Sony VAIO PCG-61111M Battery
This happened a few days before San Martin's Peruvian forces could arrive and occupy Guayaquil with the intention of annexing Guayaquil with the rest of Audiencia of Quito (Ecuador) to the future republic of Peru. This can be proved from accounts that repeatedly stated San Martin saying to Bolivar that he came to Guayaquil to liberate the land of the Incas from Spain. Sony VAIO PCG-51112M Battery
Bolivar countered his statement when he sent a message from Guayaquil welcoming San Martin and his troops to Colombian soil.
After the last Spanish royalist troops were defeated in Peru by the liberation armies of Bolivar, some Peruvian Generals without any legal titles backing them up, began occupying Tumbez, Sony VAIO PCG-51211M Battery
Jaén, and Guayaquil in the early 1820s, while Ecuador was still federated with the Gran Colombia. The intention of these Peruvian Generals was to annex Ecuador to the Republic of Peru at the expense of the Gran Colombia. One of these Peruvian Generals was the Ecuadorian born José de La Mar, who became one of Peru's presidents. Sony VAIO PCG-51212M Battery
La Mar, with a Peruvian force, invaded and occupied a few cities in southern Ecuador on November 28, 1828. The Battle of Tarqui on February 27, 1829 was won by Gran Colombia, lead by Antonio José de Sucre. According to the peace negotiations Peru agreed to return Guayaquil, Sony VAIO PCG-41111M Battery
Tumbez, and Jaén and set the border in the eastern Amazon basin as the Marañon and Amazon rivers as the most natural border between Peru and the Gran Colombia. However, Peru returned Guayaquil, but failed to return Tumbez and Jaén after the Gran Colombia divided itself into three different nations – Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. Sony VAIO PCG-41111V Battery
After Ecuadors' separation from the Gran Colombian federation of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador in 1830, Ecuador had a brief war with Colombia over the Department of Cauca which was briefly annexed to Ecuador (1830–1832). Ecuador lost this war and agreed to a provisional border which Ecuador claimed ran along the Caqueta River, Sony VAIO PCG-61412V Battery
while Colombia disputed that claiming that the new border ran along the Napo River. While that was going on, Peru began its de facto occupation of disputed Amazonian territories, after it signed a secret 1853 peace treaty in favor of Brazil. Sony VAIO PCG-71112M Battery
This treaty disregarded Spanish rights that were confirmed during colonial times by a Spanish-Portuguese treaty over the Amazon regarding territories held by illegal Portuguese settlers. During its negotiations with Brazil, Peru stated that based on the royal cedula of 1802, Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery
it claimed Amazonian Basin territories up to Caqueta River in the north and toward the Andes Mountain range, depriving Ecuador and Colombia of all their claims to the Amazon Basin. Colombia protested stating that its claims extended south toward the Napo and Amazon Rivers. Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery
Ecuador protested that it claimed the Amazon Basin between the Caqueta river and the Marañon-Amazon river. Peru ignored these protests and created the Department of Loreto with its capital in Iquitos which it had recently invaded and systematically began to occupy using the river systems in all the territories claimed by both Colombia and Ecuador. Sony VAIO PCG-81212M Battery
Peru briefly occupied Guayaquil again in 1860, since Peru thought that Ecuador was selling some of the disputed land for development to British bond holders, but returned Guayaquil after a few months. The border dispute was then submitted to Spain for arbitration from 1880 to 1910, but to no avail. Sony VAIO PCG-81212V Battery
Then the dispute was submitted to the United States for arbitration in the late 1930s; this failed also. In 1941, amid fast-growing tensions within disputed territories around the Zarumilla River, war broke out with Peru. Peru claimed that Ecuador's military presence in Peruvian-claimed territory was an invasion; Sony VAIO PCG-51111M Battery
Ecuador, for its part, claimed that Peru had recently invaded Ecuador around the Zarumilla River and that Peru since Ecuador's independence from Spain has systematically occupied Tumbez, Jaen, and most of the disputed territories in the Amazonian Basin between the Putomayo and Marañon Rivers. In July 1941, troops were mobilized in both countries. Sony VAIO VPCS13X9E/B battery
Peru had an army of 11,681 troops who faced a poorly supplied and inadequately armed Ecuadorian force of 2,300, of which only 1,300 were deployed in the southern provinces. Hostilities erupted on July 5, 1941, when Peruvian forces crossed the Zarumilla river at several locations, testing the strength and resolve of the Ecuadorian border troops. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery
Finally, on July 23, 1941, the Peruvians launched a major invasion, crossing the Zarumilla river in force and advancing into the Ecuadorian province of El Oro.During the course of the war, Peru gained control over part of the disputed territory and some parts of the province of El Oro, and some parts of the province of Loja, demanding that the Ecuadorian government give up its territorial claims. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery
The Peruvian Navy blocked the port of Guayaquil, almost cutting all supplies to the Ecuadorian troops. After a few weeks of war and under pressure by the United States and several Latin American nations, all fighting came to a stop. Ecuador and Peru came to an accord formalized in the Rio Protocol, signed on January 29, 1942, Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery
in favor of hemispheric unity against the Axis Powers in World War II favoring Peru with the territory they occupied at the time the war came to an end.
The 1944 Glorious May Revolution followed a military-civilian rebellion and a subsequent civic strike which successfully removed Carlos Arroyo del Río as a dictator from Ecuador's government. Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B battery
However a post-Second World War recession and popular unrest led to a return to populist politics and domestic military interventions in the 1960s, while foreign companies developed oil resources in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In 1972, construction of the Andean pipeline was completed. Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/L battery
The pipeline brought oil from the east side of the Andes to the coast, making Ecuador South America's second largest oil exporter. The pipeline in southern Ecuador did nothing to resolve tensions between Ecuador and Peru, however.
The Rio Protocol failed to precisely resolve the border along a little river in the remote Cordillera del Cóndor region in southern Ecuador. Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/W battery
This caused a long-simmering dispute between Ecuador and Peru, which ultimately led to fighting between the two countries; first a border skirmish in January–February 1981 known as the Paquisha Incident, and ultimately full-scale warfare in January 1995 where the Ecuadorian military shot down Peruvian aircraft and helicopters and Peruvian infantry marched into southern Ecuador. Sony VAIO VPCF22M1E battery
Each country blamed the other for the onset of hostilities, known as the Cenepa War. Sixto Durán Ballén, the Ecuadorian president, famously declared that he would not give up a single centimeter of Ecuador. Popular sentiment in Ecuador became strongly nationalistic against Peru: Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H battery
graffiti could be seen on the walls of Quito referring to Peru as the "Cain de Latinoamérica", a reference to the murder of Abel by his brother Cain in the Book of Genesis.^[12]
Ecuador and Peru reached a tentative peace agreement in October 1998, which ended hostilities, Sony VAIO VPCF13M0E/B battery
and the Guarantors of the Rio Protocol ruled that the border of the undelineated zone was set the line of the Cordillera del Cóndor. While Ecuador had to give up its decades-old territorial claims to the eastern slopes of the Cordillera, as well as to the entire western area of Cenepa headwaters, Sony VAIO VPCYB2M1E battery
Peru was compelled to give to Ecuador, in perpetual lease but without sovereignty, one square kilometre of its territory, in the area where the Ecuadorian base of Tiwinza – focal point of the war – had been located within Peruvian soil and which the Ecuadorian Army held during the conflict. The final border demarcation came into effect on May 13, 1999. Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E battery
In 1972, a "revolutionary and nationalist" military junta overthrew the government of Velasco Ibarra. The coup d'état was led by General Guillermo Rodríguez and executed by navy commander Jorge Queirolo G. The new president exiled José María Velasco to Argentina. He remained in power until 1976, when he was removed by another military government. Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E battery
That military junta was led by Admiral Alfredo Poveda, who was declared chairman of the Supreme Council. The Supreme Council included two other members: General Guillermo Durán Arcentales and General Luis Leoro Franco. The civil society more and more insistently called for democratic elections. Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B battery
Colonel Richelieu Levoyer, Government Minister, proposed and implemented a Plan to return to the constitutional system through universal elections. This Plan enabled the new democratically elected president to assume the duties of the executive office. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B battery
Elections were held on April 29, 1979, under a new constitution. Jaime Roldós Aguilera was elected president, garnering over one million votes, the most in Ecuadorian history. He took office on August 10, as the first constitutionally elected president after nearly a decade of civilian and military dictatorships. Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E/R Battery
In 1980, he founded the Partido Pueblo, Cambio y Democracia (People, Change and Democracy Party) after withdrawing from the Concentracion de Fuerzas Populares(Popular Forces Concentration) and governed until May 24, 1981, when he died along with his wife and the minister of defense, Sony VAIO VPCF23P1E Battery
Marco Subia Martinez, when his Air Force plane crashed in heavy rain near the Peruvian border. Many people believe that he was assassinated,given the multiple death threats leveled against him because of his reformist agenda, deaths in automobile crashes of two key witnesses before they could testify during the investigation and the sometimes contradictory accounts of the incident. Sony VAIO VPCF23N1E Battery
Roldos was immediately succeeded by Vice President Osvaldo Hurtado who was followed in 1984 by León Febres Cordero from the Social Christian Party. Rodrigo Borja Cevallos of the Democratic Left (Izquierda Democrática or ID) party won the presidency in 1988, running in the runoff election against Abdalá Bucaram(brother in law of Jaime Roldos and founder of the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party). Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery
His government was committed to improving human rights protection and carried out some reforms, notably an opening of Ecuador to foreign trade. The Borja government concluded an accord leading to the disbanding of the small terrorist group, "¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!" ("Alfaro Lives, Dammit!") named after Eloy Alfaro. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/G battery
However, continuing economic problems undermined the popularity of the ID, and opposition parties gained control of Congress in 1999.
The emergence of the indigenous population (approximately 25%) as an active constituency has added to the democratic volatility of the country in recent years. Sony VAIO VPCF24M1E battery
The population has been motivated by government failures to deliver on promises of land reform, lower unemployment and provision of social services, and historical exploitation by the land-holding elite. Their movement, along with the continuing destabilizing efforts by both the elite and leftist movements, has led to a deterioration of the executive office. Sony VAIO VGN-AW110J/H Battery
The populace and the other branches of government give the president very little political capital, as illustrated by the most recent removal of President Lucio Gutiérrez from office by Congress in April 2005. Vice President Alfredo Palacio took his place and remained in office until the presidential election of 2006, in which Rafael Correa gained the presidency.^{[13] Sony VAIO VGN-AW11M/H Battery}
On September 30, 2010, in a police revolt, several police officers were killed after a military intervention in a police hospital. President Rafael Correa alleged that he was taken hostage in the hospital by police officers as part of a series of protests against cuts to the benefits of public service workers that were part of a financial austerity package. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW11S/B Battery}
What angered police and elements of the army was a law to end the practice of giving medals and bonuses with each promotion. It would also extend from five to seven years the usual period required for promotions. The government called the revolt a coup and declared a one-week state of emergency which put the military in charge of public order and suspended civil liberties. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW11XU/Q Battery}
Peru shut its border with Ecuador.
The current state of Ecuador consists of five state functions: the Executive Function, the Legislative Function, the Judicial Function, the Electoral Function and the Transparency and Social Control. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW11Z/B Battery}
Ecuador is governed by a democratically elected President, for a four-year term. The current president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, exercises his power from the presidential Palacio de Carondelet in Quito. The current constitution was written by the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly elected in 2007, and was approved by referendum in 2008. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW120J/H Battery}
Since 1936, voting is compulsory for all literate persons aged 18–65, optional for all other citizens.^[14]
The executive branch includes 25 ministries. Provincial governors and councilors (mayors, aldermen, and parish boards) are directly elected. The National Assembly of Ecuador meets throughout the year except for recesses in July and December. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW150Y/H Battery
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There are thirteen permanent committees. Members of the National Court of Justice are appointed by the National Judicial Council for nine-year terms.
The Executive Function is delegated to the President, currently exercised by Rafael Correa. It is accompanied by his vice president, currently Lenin Moreno, elected for four years (with the ability to be re-elected only once). ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW170Y/Q Battery}
As Head of State and Head of Government, he is responsible for public administration. Appointing National Coordinators, Ministers, Ministers of State and Public Servants. The executive branch defines foreign policy, appoints the Chancellor of the Republic, as well as Ambassadors and Consuls, ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW180Y/Q Battery}
being the ultimate authority over theArmed Forces of Ecuador, National Police of Ecuador, and appointing authorities. The acting president's wife receives the title of First Lady of Ecuador.
The legislative function is exercised by the National Assembly, which is headquartered in the city of Quito in the Legislative Palace, and consists of 130 Assemblymen, ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW190JAH Battery}
divided into ten committees, elected for a four-year period. Fifteen national constituency elected assembly, two Assembly members elected from each province and one for every hundred thousand inhabitants or fraction exceeding one hundred fifty thousand, according to the latest national census of population. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW190NAB Battery}
Unaware of this, the law will determine the election of assembly of regions, and metropolitan districts.
The judiciary system of the country is made by the Judicial Council as its main body, and the National Court of Justice, Provincial Courts, and tribunes. Legal representation is made by the Judicial Council. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW190NBB Battery}
The National Court of Justice is composed of 21 judges elected for a term of nine years. Judges are renewed by thirds every three years, as stipulated in the Organic Code of the Judiciary System. These are elected by the Judicial Council pursuant to opposition proceedings and merits. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW190NCB Battery}
As independent organisms of the judiciary system are the Attorney General and the Public Defender. Auxiliary organizations are as follows: the notarial service, the judicial auctioneer, and the receivers. Also there is a special regime of indigenous justice.
The Electoral system functions by authorities which enter only every four years or when elections or referendums occur. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YAB Battery}
Its main functions are to organize, control elections, and punish the infringement of electoral rules. Its main body is theNational Electoral Council, which is based in the city of Quito, and consists of seven members of the political partiesmost voted, enjoying complete financial and administrative autonomy. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YBB Battery}
This body next to Electoral Tribunal, forms theElectoral Function which is one of the five branches of government Ecuador.
The Transparency and Social Control consists of the Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control, an ombudsman, the General Comptroller of the State, and the superintendents. Its authorities shall exercise their posts for five years. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YCB Battery}
This power is responsible for promoting transparency and control plans publicly, as well as plans to design mechanisms to combat corruption, as also designate certain authorities, and be the regulatory mechanism of accountability in the country. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YDB Battery}
Ecuador's principal foreign policy objectives have traditionally included defense of its territory from external aggression and support for the objectives of the United Nations and the OAS. Ecuador's membership in the OPEC in the 1970s and 1980s allowed Ecuadorian leaders to exercise somewhat greater foreign policy autonomy. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW220J/B Battery}
In Antarctica, Ecuador has maintained a peaceful research station for scientific study as a member nation of the Antarctica Treaty. Ecuador has often placed great emphasis on multilateral approaches to international issues. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW230J/H Battery}
Ecuador is a member of the United Nations (and most of its specialized agencies) and a member of many regional groups, including the Rio Group, the Latin American Economic System, theLatin American Energy Organization, the Latin American Integration Association, ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW235J/B Battery}
the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, the Andean Community of Nations, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), and The Bank of the South (Spanish: Banco del Sur or BancoSur).
The Ecuadorian Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas del Ecuador), consists of the Army, ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW290JFQ Battery}
Air Force and Navy, and have the stated responsibility for the preservation of the integrity and national sovereignty of the national territory.
The military tradition starts in the Gran Colombia, where a sizeable army was stationed in Ecuador due to border disputes with Peru, which claimed territories under its political control when it was a Spanish vicerroyalty. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW41JF Battery}
Once the Gran Colombia was dissolved after the death of Simón Bolívar in 1830, Ecuador inherited the same border disputes and had the need of creating its own professional military force. So influential was the military in Ecuador in the early republican period, that its first decade was under the control of Gral. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW41JF/H Battery}
Juan Jose Flores, first president of Ecuador of Venezuelan origin. The Gral. Jose Ma. Urbina and Gral. Robles are examples of military figures who became president of the country in the early republican period.
Due to the continuous border disputes with Peru, finally settled in the early 2000s, ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW41MF Battery}
and due to the ongoing problem with the Colombian guerrilla insurgency infiltrating Amazonian provinces, the Ecuadorian Armed Forces has gone through a series of changes. In 2009, the new administration at the Defense Ministry launched a deep restructuring within the forces, increasing spending budget to $1,691,776,803, an increase of 25%.^{[17] Sony VAIO VGN-AW41MF/H Battery}
The icons of the Ecuadorian military forces are the Marshall Antonio José de Sucre and Gral. Eloy Alfaro. The Military Academy "Gral. Eloy Alfaro" (c. 1838) graduates the army officers and is located in Quito.^[18] The Ecuadorian Navy Academy (c. 1837) located in Salinas graduates the navy officers,^{[19] Sony VAIO VGN-AW41XH Battery}
and the Air Academy "Cosme Rennella" (c.1920) located in Salinas, graduates the air force officers.^[20] Other training academies for different military specialties are found across the country.
There is great variety in the climate, largely determined by altitude. ^{Sony VAIO VGN-AW41XH/Q Battery}