Juan Montalvo

Juan María Montalvo Fiallos was born in Ambato on April 13, 1832. Possessing incomparable mastery of classical Castilian prose, Montalvo dedicated his fiery pen to fighting dictatorial power, publishing journals such as El Cosmopolita and El Regenerador.

When conservative president Gabriel García Moreno was assassinated in 1875, Montalvo famously proclaimed: 'My pen killed him.' In Parisian exile, he wrote his literary masterworks: Siete Tratados (Seven Treatises) and Capítulos que se le olvidaron a Cervantes, a brilliant continuation of Don Quixote. His birthday, April 13, is celebrated as National Teacher's Day in Ecuador.