Ana Lucía Armijos Hidalgo (born October 13, 1947) is an

Ecuadorian Ecuadorians () are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source o ...

politician and economist. She was the first female Ecuadorian Minister of the Interior.

Education and career

Ana Lucía Armijos was born on October 13, 1947, to former Colonel and conservative politician Rafael Armijos in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

. She completed her high school studies at Spellman High School, where she achieved one of the best academic careers in that school's history. She graduated from the Catholic University of Ecuador as an economist and completed a Master's degree in economics at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

and then her graduate studies in economic theory and development at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

. Armijos worked for some years as a professor at the Catholic University of Ecuador and held positions in the

Central Bank of Ecuador The Central Bank of Ecuador (; BCE) is the central bank of the country, and an institution of the Executive Function, which has institutional, administrative, financial, and technical autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, poli ...

such as analyst and numerous directorial and managerial positions. She was also a

macroeconomist Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output/GDP ( ...

for the operational division of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

's West African department.

Presidency of Sixto Durán Ballén

On August 25, 1992, she was inaugurated President of the

Sixto Durán Ballén Sixto Alfonso Durán-Ballén Cordovez (14 July 1921 – 15 November 2016) was an Ecuadorian political figure and architect who served as the 37th president of Ecuador from 1992 to 1996. He previously served as Mayor of Quito between 1970 and 197 ...

. However, she began to experience difficulties with the president of the Ecuadorian Monetary Board, Roberto Baquerizo, which made the future of either organization uncertain until the departure of Baquerizo and appointment of Armijos to his post on July 15, 1993. During the impeachment of

Alberto Dahik Alberto Dahik Garzozi (born 27 August 1953) is an Ecuadorian politician of Lebanon, Lebanese ancestry. He was Vice President of Ecuador from 10 August 1992 to 11 October 1995 during the Sixto Durán Ballén administration. In 1995, he was forc ...

over trials of

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

, Armijos became a vocal defender of Dahik and caused some controversy when she said "a loss for the country, where there are not many smart men" after his flight from

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. Later, it would be indicated that she was one of many possible aspirants to the office of

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

. On May 30, 1997, Carlos Solórzano, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice of Ecuador, issued an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a jud ...

for Armijos in the case of Banco Continental on accusations that she as president of the Monetary Board approved a 200 million dollar bailout of Continental. Armijos went into hiding for exactly a year, as the new Chief Justice, Héctor Romero Parducci, declared her innocent of the charges leveled against her in May 1998.

Presidency of Jamil Mahuad

In August 1998,

Jamil Mahuad Jorge Jamil Mahuad Witt (born 29 July 1949) is an Ecuadorian lawyer, academic and former politician who served the 41st president of Ecuador from 1998 until he was deposed in a coup in 2000. He previously served as the 17th mayor of Quito from ...

appointed Armijos

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

, making her the first woman to hold this position. During her term, she proposed the creation of a national council of governors. On February 15, 1999, Armijos was appointed Minister of Economy and Finance to replace Fidel Jaramillo, who had resigned in protest to the Capital Movement Tax, also known as the "1% Tax." On March 11, Armijos and President Mahuad made the decision to declare a bank holiday that would freeze the deposits of everyone in

in response to the financial crisis then facing the country. This provoked the incineration of the alliance between the Social Christian Party and the ruling Democracia Popular party and calls were made to impeach Armijos, with Víctor Hugo Sicouret raising a lawsuit over the holiday and Jaime Nebot requesting the Constitutional Congress place sanctions on Armijos. By the end of August, she resigned after securing the support of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

for Ecuador's foreign debts. She was soon sent out of the country, being appointed the Ecuadorian Ambassador to Spain, and her former position passed to Alfredo Arízaga.

Later life and persecution

In July 2000, she and former president

were accused by Víctor Granda and Napoleón Gómez Real of violating the constitution and, days later, had arrest warrants issued on them by the Supreme Court of Justice of Ecuador. Armijos fled to the United States and was granted

political asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

there. In June 2006, Armijos and Mahuad had their charges lifted by the second chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, who asserted that they did not have enough evidence to actually arrest them, but they would disregard this decision and reopen the case in December 2012.

Citations

Bibliography

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Armijos, Ana Lucia 1947 births Living people Ecuadorian women economists People from Quito Interior ministers of Ecuador Ministers of finance of Ecuador General managers of Central Bank of Ecuador Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador alumni Ambassadors of Ecuador to Spain Ecuadorian women ambassadors 20th-century Ecuadorian women politicians 20th-century Ecuadorian politicians 20th-century Ecuadorian economists Women government ministers of Ecuador Female finance ministers 21st-century Ecuadorian women politicians 21st-century Ecuadorian politicians