Assad Bucaram Elmhalin (24 December 1916 – 5 November 1981) was 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 who occupied positions as city Councilor and later of Mayor of

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

(1962–1963, 1967–1970). He was elected a Deputy for the province of Guayaquil and was later appointed President of the National Assembly of Ecuador.

Political career

The son of Lebanese immigrants Abdalá Bucaram Abi Karam and Martha Elmhalin, Bucaram had little formal education but had a highly successful business career as a result of which he became very wealthy.Phil Gunson, Andrew Thompson & Greg Chamberlain, ''The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of South America'', London: Routledge, 1990, p. 49 In 1961 he took over the ailing

Concentración de Fuerzas Populares The Concentration of People's Forces (, CFP) was a populist political party in Ecuador. It was founded in 1949 and played a major role in Ecuadorian politics of the 1960s and 1970s, with its stronghold being in Guayaquil. Jaime Roldós Aguilera, ...

party (CFP), a party that up to that point had presented an anti-oligarchic but anti-communist ideology in a similar vein to

Peronism Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, P ...

, and turned it into a personal vehicle for his populist appeals. He threw his weight behind the Democratic Left Front for the 1968 elections, although this put him at odds with the

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 ...

regime and from 1970 to 1972 he was exiled to

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. He was equally at odds with the military regime that followed and was both exiled and briefly imprisoned for his outspoken opposition to the government. Bucaram had intended to run for the presidency in the election of 1978-9 but was banned by the military government, ostensibly for his parents' nationality. The candidacy instead went to his niece's husband

Jaime Roldós Aguilera Jaime Roldós Aguilera (November 5, 1940 – May 24, 1981) was an Ecuadorian politician who was the 33rd President of Ecuador from August 10, 1979 until his death on May 24, 1981. In his short tenure, he became known for his firm stance on h ...

and, with Bucaram's active support, the CFP carried the election after more than 18 years of '' de facto'' regimes. As a deputy and leader of the Congress however Bucaram became estranged from Roldós as he did not support the President's moves towards

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

. He died in 1981.

Personal life

He married Olfa Perpetua Záccida in 1948 when she was sixteen years old and fathered eight children with her: Omar (deceased), Olfa, Avicena,

Averroes Ibn Rushd (14 April 112611 December 1198), archaically Latinization of names, Latinized as Averroes, was an Arab Muslim polymath and Faqīh, jurist from Al-Andalus who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astron ...

(deceased), Jorge, Cecilia, Juan and Teresa. Averroes Bucaram followed his father as both a CFP deputy and President of the National Congress. He was an uncle of

Abdalá Bucaram Abdalá Jaime Bucaram Ortiz ( ; ; born 4 February 1952) is an Ecuadorian politician and lawyer who was the 38th president of Ecuador from 1996 until his removal from office in 1997. As president, Bucaram was nicknamed "El Loco Que Ama" ("The Madm ...

who would become President of Ecuador after Assad's death. Abdalá's sister

Martha Bucaram Martha Bucaram Ortiz (12 October 1941 – 24 May 1981) was an Ecuadorian lawyer and feminist who was First Lady of Ecuador to President Jaime Roldós Aguilera, with whom she was killed in a plane crash. Biography Martha Bucaram Ortiz was the ...

was the wife of President Roldós.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucaram, Assad 1916 births 1981 deaths Mayors of Guayaquil Members of the National Congress (Ecuador) Presidents of the National Congress (Ecuador) Concentration of People's Forces politicians Ecuadorian people of Lebanese descent Bucaram family