Zarumilla, Battle of

Battle of Zarumilla (also known as the battle of Zarumilla-Chacras), 25 July 1941, was fought between Ecuadorian and invading Peruvian troops over disputed border territory in the Ecuadorian coastal province of El Oro. Border skirmishes flared up in 1941 and rapidly escalated into a serious engagement. Ecuadorian President Carlos Alberto Arroyo Del Río nevertheless kept the nation's better units of troops stationed in Quito, choosing to guard his beleaguered presidency against internal enemies. Peru's attack overwhelmed Ecuador's meager defenses. Ecuador suffered some 500 killed; Peru, 80 to 100. Peru seized El Oro and began to move on the important port city of Guayaquil. As Peru advanced and bombed coastal towns, troops in Guayaquil mutinied. In January 1942 the two nations agreed to the Rio Protocol, whereby Ecuador yielded to demands for 80,000 square miles in exchange for Peru's withdrawal from El Oro. In August 1960 populist Ecuadorian president José María Velasco Ibarra declared the treaty null and void.

See alsoYelasco Ibarra, José María.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

For the most evenhanded treatment of competing boundary claims, see David Hartzler Zook, Jr., Zarumilla-Marañón: The Ecuador-Peru Dispute (1964). A brief overview can be found in John D. Martz, Ecuador: Conflicting Political Culture and the Quest for Progress (1972).

George I. Blanksten, Ecuador: Constitutions and Caudillos (1964).

Additional Bibliography

Gándara Enríquez, Marcos. El Ecuador del año 1941 y el Protocolo de Río: antecedentes, hechos subsiguientes: Arroyo y su tiempo. Quito, Ecuador: Centro de Estudios Históricos del Ejército, 2000.

Yepes, Ernesto. Tres días de guerra, ciento ochenta de negociaciones: Perú, Ecuador 1941–1942. Lima: Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina; Universidad del Pacífico, Centro de Investigación, 1996.

                                             Ronn F. Pineo