Sixto Durán Ballén

Sixto Alfonso Durán-Ballén Cordovez (born July 14, 1921) is an American-born Ecuadorian political figure and architect. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he served as Mayor of Quito between 1970 and 1978, and as President of Ecuador between 1992 and 1996. He served as congressman in 1984 and again in 1998.

Political career
Durán was one of the founders of the Catholic Social Christian Party (PSC). Under the presidency of his party colleague Camilo Ponce Enríquez, he served as minister of public works from 1956 to 1960. Subsequently, he worked for the Inter-American Development Bank. He was elected mayor of Quito in 1970 and re-elected in 1974. In 1979 he ran as the PSC's presidential candidate, but was defeated by the populist Jaime Roldós Aguilera. In 1988 he ran again, but was eliminated in the first round.

After León Febres Cordero's faction inside the PSC succeeded in appointing Jaime Nebot as the party's presidential candidate in 1992, Durán Ballén and his supporters left the party to form the more right-wing Republican Union Party. Eventually, Durán defeated Nebot in the second round of the presidential election.

During his time as president he actively pursued structural reform to modernize the Ecuadorian state and cut down wasteful bureaucratic spending. The result was a significant reduction of government deficits and a thriving private sector. Durán-Ballén also led Ecuador into membership in the WTO, with negotiations being led by his subsecretary of Foreign Affairs, Patricio Izurieta Mora-Bowen. The admission to the WTO had a significant impact on the country's political institutions and export competitiveness. In 1995 Durán-Ballén proved to be one of Ecuador's most successful war-time leaders when his determined leadership united a divided country under the theme Ni un paso atras which means "not a single step backwards" during the Cenepa War with Peru. His term was characterized by continued political stalemate with a congress led by the PSC.

During his term there were corruption indictments against personal members of his family, accused of illicit enrichment, in cases such as "Flores y Miel" ("Flowers and Honey") and the impeachment of his Vice President Alberto Dahik for allegedly using public funds illicitly. However Durán-Ballén was never directly a part of these scandals and he is remembered for being one of the most honest politicians in the history of modern Ecuadorian politics.