Sixto Durán Ballén

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Sixto Durán-Ballén
37th President of Ecuador
In office
August 10, 1992 – August 10, 1996
Vice PresidentAlberto Dahik (1992–1995)
Eduardo Peña (1995–1996)
Preceded byRodrigo Borja
Succeeded byAbdalá Bucaram
12th Mayor of Quito
In office
August 1, 1970 – February 16, 1978
Preceded byJaime del Castillo
Succeeded byÁlvaro Pérez
Personal details
Born(1921-07-14)July 14, 1921
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedNovember 15, 2016(2016-11-15) (aged 95)
Quito, Ecuador
NationalityEcuadorian
Political partyRepublican Union Party[1] (1991–2016)
Social Christian Party (1951–1991)
Spouse(s)
Josefina Villalobos
(m. 1945; his death 2016)

Sixto Alfonso Durán-Ballén Cordovez (July 14, 1921 – November 15, 2016) was an American-born Ecuadorian political figure and architect. He served as Mayor of Quito between 1970 and 1978, and as President of Ecuador between 1992 and 1996. He served as congressman in 1984 and again in 1998.

Early life[change | change source]

Ballén was born Sixto Alfonso Durán-Ballén Cordovez on July 14, 1921 in Boston, Massachusetts.[2] He married Josefina Villalobos in 1948.

Career[change | change source]

He was elected mayor of Quito in 1970 and re-elected in 1974. In 1979 he ran as the PSC's presidential candidate, but was defeated by the populist Jaime Roldós Aguilera. In 1988 he ran again, but was eliminated in the first round.

After León Febres Cordero's faction inside the PSC succeeded in appointing Jaime Nebot as the party's presidential candidate in 1992, Durán Ballén and his supporters left the party to form the more right-wing Republican Union Party. Eventually, Durán defeated Nebot in the second round of the presidential election.

Personal life[change | change source]

Ballén has two children. He was married to Josefina Villalobos. He lived in Quito. He was the oldest living former Ecuadorian president.

Ballén died on the night of November 15, 2016 at his home in Quito, aged 95.[3][4]

References[change | change source]

  1. Morrisson, Christian, ed. (1994), The Political Feasability of Adjustment in Ecuador and Venezuela, OECD Publications Centre, p. 44
  2. Sixto Duran Ballen Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine at hipecuador.htm (in Spanish)
  3. "Falleció en Quito el expresidente Sixto Durán Ballén". El Universo. 15 November 2016.
  4. Press, The Associated (18 November 2016). "Sixto Durán Ballén, Ecuador President in Border Clash With Peru, Dies at 95". The New York Times.

Other websites[change | change source]

Media related to Sixto Durán Ballén at Wikimedia Commons