Nela Martínez Espinosa (November 24, 1912 – July 30, 2004) was an Ecuadorian communist, political militant, activist, and writer. For four days in 1944 she was the leader of Ecuador.
Early life
Nela Martinez was born in Cañar, Ecuador. Her baptismal name was Mariana de Jesús Martínez Espinosa. Her parents were Cesar Martínez Borrero and Enriqueta Espinoza, and they were part of the landowning class. Her father was conservative, but her mother was more liberal and educated and encouraged her children to get involved in cultural activity. Nela was the eighth of thirteen children. Her brothers and sisters were Sofía, Paquita, Aurora, Julio Cesar, Enriqueta, Lola Guillermo, Ricardo, Magdalena, Gerardo and Estela. Her brother Cornelio died at the age of seventeen, and two other siblings died at a younger age.
Martinez enjoyed writing from childhood. She joined the Communist Party of Ecuador at a young age, eventually becoming part of its leadership.
Political life
On May 28, 1944, Martinez took an active role in the
Glorious May Revolution
Glorious may refer to:
Music
* Glorious (music group), a French Christian rock and worship band
Albums
* Glorious (Arty album), ''Glorious'' (Arty album) or the title song, 2015
* Glorious (Bonfire album), ''Glorious'' (Bonfire album), 2015
* Glo ...
, which toppled the dictatorship of Carlos Arroyo del Río. She orchestrated the takeover of the Government Palace, and for four days she was in charge of the Ecuadorian government. This made her the second woman leader of the Ecuadorian government in its history. (The first was Marieta de Veintemilla, niece of Ignacio de Veintimilla in 1883).Enciclopedia del Ecuador. Grupo Editorial Océano, 1999. Madrid, España. Marieta de Veintimilla, pp. 771. However, Martinez was never officially named president. In 1945, she became the first female congresswoman of the National Assembly of Ecuador during the second term of President
José María Velasco Ibarra
José María Velasco Ibarra (19 March 1893 – 30 March 1979) was an Ecuadorian politician. He became president of Ecuador five times, in 1934–1935, 1944–1947, 1952–1956, 1960–1961, and 1968–1972, and only in 1952–1956 he complete ...
.
Martínez founded several notable publications, including: the ''Yucanchi Galpa'', the first Quechua-language newspaper in Ecuador, and ''Nuestra Palabra'' in the 1960s, the first feminist newspaper in Ecuador.
Martínez had been the director of the Communist Party of Ecuador, founder of the Ecuadorian Female Alliance, and founder of the Revolutionary Union of Women of Ecuador. Together with Dolores Cacuango she founded the Ecuadorian Federation of Indians, which established the first indigenous schools that taught in Quechua.
The building of the National Assembly in January 2024
Martínez was an anti-interventionist, anti-imperialist, and opposed many U.S. government policies. She was a supporter and advocate of the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...
and admirer of
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
until her final days.
Personal life
Martínez married her mentor, fellow communist and celebrated novelist Joaquín Gallegos Lara (1909–1947) of the Guayaquil Group, who had had disabilities since birth. At the age of 21, she told her father: "I intend to marry Joaquín, who is disabled". When her father remarked "Why don’t you become a charity nun?" she said "I want to fight against injustice, and if nature was unjust with him, then I will fight against nature". Sadly their marriage was brief and ended in divorce. Joaquín Lara left an unfinished novel titled ''Guandos'' when he died in 1947; Nela Martinez completed the book and it was published in 1982. Both writers are credited as the authors of ''Guandos''.
Later Martínez had a relationship with Ricardo Paredes, the "Apostle of Ecuadorian Communism" and the founder of the Socialist Party-Broad Front in 1926. (The organisation later changed its name to the
Communist Party of Ecuador
The Communist Party of Ecuador ( Spanish: ''Partido Comunista del Ecuador'') is a communist party in Ecuador that split from the Socialist Party in 1930, after having been a part of the PSE since the party's inception in 1926. The party still m ...
in 1931). Martínez and Paredes had a son named Leonardo Paredes Martínez.
In 1951 she married the French revolutionary and antifascist Raymond Mériguet (1910–1988), with whom she remained until his death. They had three children: Juan Cristóbal, Mauricio and Nela Meriguet Martínez.
Martínez died at the age of 91 in
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
Selected works
* "El Azote" (circa 1930), poem
* ''Guandos'' (1982), unfinished novel by Joaquín Gallegos Lara, completed after his death by Nela Martinez.
* ''Cuentos de la tortura''