León Roldós Aguilera

León Roldós Aguilera (born July 21, 1942) is an Ecuadorian politician.

He was born in Guayaquil in 1942. His mother died during delivery. He studied law at the state University of Guayaquil (Universidad de Guayaquil). He was the Secretary of the Municipality of Guayaquil, under Mayor Asaad Bucaram, of the populist party Concentración de Fuerzas Populares. He practiced law, became a University Professor, and also worked as a lawyer and adviser in the banking system. He later became Dean of the Law School of the Universidad Laica Vicente Rocafuerte.

In 1979, his brother, Jaime Roldós was elected President of Ecuador, under an alliance between the Concentración de Fuerzas Populares and the Christian Democrat Party Democracia Popular. León Roldós was named Chairman of the Monetary Board.

President Jaime Roldós died in an airplane crash while in office; the National Congress elected León Roldós to serve out the term (1981-84) as Vice-President, with President Osvaldo Hurtado, of Democracia Popular. León Roldós did not enjoy a good relationship with President Hurtado, having opposed the assumption of the private external debt by the government (known as the "sucretización"), among other economic policies.

On 31 October 1994, León Roldós was elected Rector (President) of the Universidad de Guayaquil, and served two terms, which were acknowledged to have revitalized this higher education institution.

León Roldos ran for President in 1992 and 2002 (the first time under the banner of the Socialist Party of Ecuador, Partido Socialista Ecuatoriano; and the second time as an independent (in 2002 he placed third, barely missing the second round runoff), receiving 15.4% of the vote. He was also elected Congressman (Diputado) for the Province of Guayas.

He ran for President under the alliance of the "Ethics and Democracy Network" (Red Etica y Democracia), and the Democratic Left Party, a social-democrat party. He was defeated by Álvaro Noboa and Rafael Correa. Roldós received 14.8% of the vote, coming in fourth place.

Note: Roldós does not belong to the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party, which is named after his brother, former President Jaime Roldós.

External links

* [http://www.leonroldos.com Official web site]
* [http://www.izquierdademocratica.org Democratic Left Party web site]