Abdalá Bucaram

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Bucaram and the second or maternal family name is Ortiz.

Abdalá Jaime Bucaram Ortiz (/ɑːbdəˈlɑː bʊkəˈrɑːm/ ^ⓘ ahb-də-LAH buu-kə-RAHM; Arabic: عبد الله خايمي بوكرم أورتيز; born 20 February 1952) is an Ecuadorian politician and lawyer who was President of Ecuador from 10 August 1996 to 6 February 1997.^[2] As President, Bucaram was nicknamed "El Loco Que Ama" ("The Madman Who Loves", a nickname he championed).^[3] He was removed from office after being declared mentally unfit to rule by the National Congress of Ecuador on 12 February 1997.^[4] He lived in exile in Panama under political asylum laws, then returned to Ecuador in 2017 when the charges against him expired. He started the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party, named after his brother in law Jaime Roldos.^[1]

Abdalá Bucaram
عبد الله بوكرم
38th President of Ecuador
In office 10 August 1996 – 6 February 1997
Vice President	Rosalía Arteaga
Preceded by	Sixto Durán Ballén
Succeeded by	Rosalía Arteaga
Mayor of Guayaquil
In office 10 August 1984 – September 1985
Preceded by	Bolívar Cali Bajaña
Succeeded by	Jorge Norero González
Personal details
Born	Abdalá Jaime Bucaram Ortiz (1952-02-20) 20 February 1952 (age 72) Guayaquil, Ecuador[1]
Political party	Ecuadorian Roldosist Party (1983–2014) Fuerza Ecuador (2017–2021)
Height	1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Spouse	María Rosa Pulley Vergara ​ ​ (m. 1977)​
Alma mater	University of Guayaquil

Personal life

Born in Guayaquil, Bucaram is the son of Jacobo Bucaram Elmhalin, the son of Lebanese immigrants, and Rina Ortiz Caicedo.^[5] Bucaram was the nephew of the politician Assad Bucaram, who was the mayor of Guayaquil. His sister, Martha Bucaram, was married to former President Jaime Roldós Aguilera, both of whom were killed in a mysterious air crash.^[6]

He lived in Kennedy Norte, a neighborhood next to the José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport, prior to fleeing for Panama after the deposition of his government.^[7]

Sporting career

Bucaram grew up playing football in the streets of Guayaquil and later went on to become a successful athlete and earn a degree in physical education. He was also a hurdler. He was the flag bearer for Ecuador at the 1972 Summer Olympics but did not compete in the Games due to injury.^[8] He was the police chief of Guayas and the president of Barcelona Sporting Club, a football team from his hometown.^[9]

Early political career

While working as a gym teacher, Bucaram earned a law degree and soon began his political career.^[7]

He became the mayor of Guayaquil, and the founder and member of the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party (PRE). He then competed unsuccessfully for the presidency of Ecuador in 1988 and 1992.

Main article: 1996 Ecuadorian general election

In the 1996 Ecuadorian general election, Bucaram defeated Social Christian Party (PSC) candidate Jaime Nebot by winning in all but one of the 21 provinces, becoming the first to do so.

Presidency

Bucaram was president from 10 August 1996 to 6 February 1997. His cabinet was put together by Vice President Rosalia Arteaga. Shortly after taking office, the press criticized Bucaram for his behavior which was described as flamboyant and sometimes even rude.^[10] Within months, Bucaram was accused of embezzling millions of dollars of public funds.^[11] He was described as a "messianic personality and unconventional that attracted criticism from his critics and the media" by Anadolu Agency, a Turkish state news agency.^[12]

Impeachment

In February 1997, Bucaram was impeached by the National Congress because of concerns about his capacity to act in the office of the presidency.^[2] While the initial charge was for mental incapacity, the details of the impeachment specifically cited economic mismanagement, undignified behavior, deliberate oversight of crimes, and betrayal of campaign promises.^[13]

Life after impeachment

Bucaram received political asylum in Panama after several corruption charges were laid against him.^[14] He returned on Saturday, 2 April 2005, after the corruption charges were lifted the previous day. He stayed in Guayaquil for about two and a half weeks. The corruption charges against him were reinstated after Lucio Gutiérrez was forced to leave to avoid the charges.

On 1 December 2014, Bucaram's son Abdalá "Dalo" Bucarám Jr. renounced his seat in the Ecuadorian National Assembly.^[15]

On 3 June 2020, Attorney General Diana Salazar Méndez announced that a stock of 5,000 masks and 2,000 COVID-19 tests had been found at Bucaram's residence preventing their use in combatting a large outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[16][17]

He was accused of several crimes including stealing from the Central Bank and Customs and mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic and barred from entering the United States.^[11] After he took office, Bucaram tried to reorganize the state which led to a culture of bribery and favoritism.^[12][18]

In August 2020, Bucaram was arrested and released at his home in Guayaquil as part of an organized crime investigation.^[19][20] The investigation centered on the murder of an Israeli citizen, Tomer Sheinman (also known as Shy Dahan), a few days earlier in the Guayaquil jail.^[20] Bucaram was implicated because an audio conversation between Bucaram and the murdered Sheinman (Dahan) was found.^[21] Sheinman (Dahan) was involved in trading medical supplies with Bucaram's son, Jacobo.^[22]

On 9 March 2022, the United States announced that, "due to his involvement in significant corruption, including misappropriation of public funds, accepting bribes, and interfering with public processes," Bucaram would be barred from entering the country.^[23]

As of December 2023, Bucaram has started to stream his political speeches in the video game Grand Theft Auto V on role-play servers, which he streams live on Twitch.tv.^[24]

References

1. Conniff, Michael L. (31 July 2012). Populism in Latin America: Second Edition. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 978-0-8173-5709-2.
2. "Abdalá Bucaram". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
3. "Loco vs Bobo". 22 November 2000. Archived from the original on 18 September 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
4. Gerlach, Allen (1 February 2003). Indians, Oil, and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4616-6554-0.
5. "FamilySearch: Sign In". ident.familysearch.org. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
6. "FamilySearch: Sign In". ident.familysearch.org. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
7. "Abdalá Bucaram: "Agradezco a mis tres presidentes"". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011.
8. Sports Reference
9. Abdalá Bucaram Ortiz Archived 21 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine (Spanish)
10. Pérez Liñan, Aníbal S. (2007). Presidential impeachment and the new political instability in Latin America. Cambridge studies in comparative politics. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. pp. 25–26. ISBN 978-0-521-86942-3. OCLC 74987704.
11. "¿Por qué Estados Unidos le prohíbe la entrada a Abdalá Bucaram y su familia?: Estos fueron los casos de corrupción durante el mandato del expresidente que solo duró 6 meses" [Why did the United States prohibit Abdala Bucaram and his family from entering? These are the corruption cases during the rule of the expresident that only lasted six months]. Qué Noticias (in Spanish). 9 March 2022. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
12. "Quién es Abdalá Bucaram, el expresidente ecuatoriano detenido por delincuencia organizada". www.aa.com.tr. Anadolu Agency. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
13. Palamone, Gustavo (29 December 2023). Presidential Impeachment in Latin America: A Matter of Law or Politics?. Springer Nature. p. 265. ISBN 978-3-031-44188-2.
14. "¿Quién es Adbalá Bucaram y por qué regresará a Ecuador tras 20 años de exilio?". CNN (in Spanish). 27 April 2017. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
15. Zamora, Paúl (1 December 2014). "Dalo Bucaram renunció a la Asamblea". El Comercio. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
16. "En casa de expresidente Abdalá Bucaram se encontraron 5.000 mascarillas y otros insumos". El Telégrafo (in Spanish). 3 June 2020. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
17. Alarcón, Daniel (7 March 2022). "A Pandemic Tragedy in Guayaquil". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 11 March 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
18. Admin, Codigo Vidrio (23 August 2020). "Los bailes y piruetas de Bucaram con el poder". Código Vidrio (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
19. "Ex-Ecuadorian President Detained in New Criminal Probe". VOA. 13 August 2020. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
20. "Expresidente de Ecuador Abdalá Bucaram es detenido para investigaciones". CNN (in Spanish). 12 August 2020. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
21. "In the middle of a fraud and now murder scandal, Abdalá Bucaram announces his candidacy for President". The Cuenca Dispatch. 10 August 2020. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
22. "Israelí asesinado dijo que conocía a Sonnenholzner y dos ministros más". La República (in Spanish). 11 August 2020. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
23. "Designation of Former Ecuadorian President Bucaram for Involvement in Significant Corruption". Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
24. "El expresidente Abdalá Bucaram hace su entrada a Twitch". www.expreso.ec (in Spanish). 4 December 2023. Archived from the original on 24 December 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2024.

External links

• Biography portal

• Abdalá Bucaram – YouTube
• Caida de Abdala Bucaram 5 de Febrero de 1997
• AUGE Y CAÍDA DE BUCARAM, EN RESUMEN
• CORRUPCIÓN EN ECUADOR: ¡PROHIBIDO OLVIDAR!
• Extended biography (in Spanish) by CIDOB Foundation Archived 21 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
• Official Website of the Ecuadorian Government about the country President's History^{[permanent dead link‍]}
• Dalo y Gaby Asambleistas, PRE la nueva Era
• Biography by CIDOB (in Spanish)

Political offices
Preceded by Bolívar Cali Bajaña	Mayor of Guayaquil 1984–1985	Succeeded by Jorge Norero
Preceded by Sixto Durán Ballén	President of Ecuador 1996–1997	Succeeded by Fabian Alarcon
Party political offices
Preceded by New creation	Supreme Director of the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party 1982–1989	Succeeded by María Rosa Pulley
Preceded by María Rosa Pulley	Supreme Director of the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party 1991–2008	Succeeded by Dalo Bucaram
Olympic Games
Preceded by Fernando González	Flag bearer for  Ecuador Munich 1972	Succeeded by Nelson Suárez