ECUADOR: The Brothers

No patriots of Ecuador are more courageous, more gallant or more troublesome than the three rich and handsome sons of the late President General Don Leonidas Plaza.* Last week the eldest son, Galo Plaza, onetime Minister of Defense, was in exile in California. Once urged to declare himself dictator, he is now willing to be “drafted” as President if Ecuadorian politics will only settle down. The second son, Captain Leonidas Plaza, who earned a captain’s commission in a bayonet charge during the war with Peru, was in Garcia Moreno penitentiary under 16 years’ sentence for participation in an abortive revolt protesting the Peru-Ecuador border settlement. The youngest son. Lieut. José Maria (“Pepe”), 32, banned from his homeland, risked his life in a Mexico City bull ring in a benefit appearance (gross gate: 16,000 pesos) for Ecuadorians made homeless in last spring’s earthquake.

Pepe’s Kill. Handsome in his olive vestido de corte, his sideburns shadowed by his flat-crowned sombrero, José Maria proved himself a good novillero. His verónicas were trim and clean-cut. He bravely ventured a few faroles, swirling his cape overhead in the pass. Greatest applause and the bull’s ear went to a comedian, who arduously dispatched a bull calf with toothpick horns to the accompaniment of a conga. The greatest burst of catcalls and jeers rose at the eviction of a teenage boy who leaped the arena fence and had beginner’s luck passing José Maria’s small (250 kilos) but tough bull. During this interruption José Maria stepped aside, then came back to capture the crowd with his kill—an estocada in which his glittering sword pierced the bull cleanly from shoulder through belly.

Pepe’s Chill. Pepe, like his two older brothers, learned bull fighting on the huge rancho granted his family 300 years ago by the King of Spain. He dispatched his first bull in Quito’s Plaza Belmonte (named for the famed Spanish matador, Juan Belmonte) when he was 13. From his father and brothers he learned a deep love for Ecuador, the U.S. and liberty. As provocative as his verónicas are his attempts to get Ecuador to become the first South American nation to declare war on the Axis. As fierce as a toro is his anger at the Peru-Ecuador border settlement, which the Brothers Plaza describe as an “American Munich.”

Once stout supporters of President Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Rio, the brothers have subsequently decided that Arroyo, a good friend of the U.S., was a Ferdinand-the-bull in the Peruvian war, is now showing signs of timidity in the war against the Axis. With other ins and outs in Ecuadorian politics, they are awaiting a possible blowup this week. Congressional elections will test the strength of Arroyo and goat-bearded old Julio Moreno, President of the Senate, who hopes to succeed him. The elections may also bring to a head the almost continuous political crisis following the peace pact with Peru.

Planning to get home in time to make a few passes in the political arena, José Maria had priority on a Pan American Clipper, but canceled it for his bull fight. Last week he was told that Ecuador would not allow him to return. In the English he learned as a San Francisco high-school student, and later polished at Virginia Military Institute, José Maria snorted: “A government can’t go around keeping its own citizens out of the country.” From his bride, lovely blonde Mignon Summers, onetime Powers model, he received consolation. She had seen him in the bull ring for the first time, gnawed the polish off her fingernails, almost cried with excitement and suspense. “Never mind, dear,” said she. “You were wonderful.”

* Onetime Minister to the U.S., twice a “strong man” President of Ecuador. Exiled to the U.S. in 1926, General Plaza returned in 1932. The Ecuadorian Navy (one tugboat, one gunboat) revolted, tried to prevent his landing. General Plaza landed, lunched, returned to the U.S., where he died the same year.