Francisco Robles (5 May 1811 – 7 March 1893) was President of Ecuador from 15 October 1856 to 31 August 1859, succeeding Jose Maria Urvina and preceding Gabriel Garcia Moreno.
Biography[]
Francisco Robles was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1811. He served in the Peruvian Navy during the Gran Colombian-Peruvian War before supporting the Marcista Revolution of 1845, overthrowing the dictator Juan Jose Flores. Robles became head of the Guayaquil garrison under Vicente Ramon Roca and helped Jose Maria Urvina overthrow Manuel de Ascasubi in 1849 and Diego Noboa in 1850. He was chosen as Urvina's successor as President in 1856. He pardoned the previous regime's exiles, including conservative journalist Gabriel Garcia Moreno, and he also founded several schools, abolished corporal punishment in schools, ordered that lawyers defend Indians free of charge, and favored coastal plantations over mountain landowners. In 1858, he moved the capital from Quito to Riobamba as conservative opposition mounted, resulting in a civil war. With Urvina's help, Robles defeated Garcia Moreno at the Battle of Tumbuco, but Garcia Moreno returned with Peruvian aid and forced Robles to resign in August 1859. He was exiled to Chile and Peru, and his nephew Jose Maria Robles y Canelos was murdered by Garcia Moreno in 1865. Robles returned to the country in 1876 and became a divisional commander, and he died in 1893.