It took a determined leader to set the republic right, and Gabriel García Moreno was the man, quashing the various rebellions with the help of Flores, and seizing power as President in 1861. Although born into a poor family in Guayaquil, García Moreno was educated in Quito and Europe and was both fiercely Conservative and a devout Catholic. He saw the country's salvation in the Church, and quickly set about strengthening its position, establishing it as the state religion, signing control over to the Vatican, founding numerous schools staffed only by Catholics, dedicating the republic to the "Sacred Heart of Jesus" and making Catholicism a prerequisite for citizenship. He was also ruthless with his many opponents, crushing them and several coup attempts with savage efficiency - for example, shooting the son of the Liberal rebel Vallejo before his father, then executing Vallejo himself hours later.

 

His presidency did, however, help foster growth in agriculture and industry, initiating a much-needed programme of road-building and beginning the Quito-Guayaquil railway, as well as creating the first national currency. Nevertheless he was hated by the Liberals for his authoritarianism and for strengthening the Church. One of the most vociferous critics was Juan Montalvo , who wrote extensive criticisms of his policies from the safety of self-imposed exile. In 1875, just after Moreno had been elected to his third term of office, the president was murdered by an assassin with a machete on the steps of the Palacio de Gobierno; when Montalvo heard, he exclaimed, "My pen has killed him!"

After García Moreno's death, Conservative power began to wane and an uprising brought the military dictator General Ignacio de Veintimilla to the presidency, a man who was surprisingly popular, perhaps for his large-scale public works programmes and boisterous public fiestas. From 1884 to 1895, the country returned to constitutional governments, overseen by three progressive Conservative presidents who sought the common ground between radical Conservatism and Liberalism. Yet their success in bridging the divide was limited, and all the while the Liberals were accruing power and influence as the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw phenomenal growth in Ecuador's exports . For a time the country was the world's leading producer of cacao, and coffee, tagua nuts and Panama hats were also doing well - produce all based on the coast around Guayaquil - and much of the money was filling Liberal coffers.