Ecuador marks 1810 Quito massacre that fueled independence

On 2 August 1810, Spanish royalist troops in Quito carried out a massacre that killed between 200 and 300 people, including key leaders of the Quito autonomy movement. The violence followed an attempted rescue of imprisoned patriots after the First Cry of Independence on 10 August 1809. Soldiers entered the prison, shouted “Fire on the prisoners,” and shot the captives, among them Juan de Salinas, Manuel Rodríguez de Quiroga, Juan de Dios Morales and others.

The event is commemorated each year in Ecuador as a turning point that hardened the resolve for full independence. It later inspired Simón Bolívar to issue his famous “Guerra a Muerte” decree against Spanish rule, linking the massacre to the broader struggle for liberation across South America.