Between Speculation and Diplomacy: Francisco de Paula Pastor, a Representative of Ecuador in Mexico (1832-1864)

In this article, Ana Buriano Castro and Araceli Medina Chávez take Francisco de Paula Pastor, Ecuadorian consul and later chargé d’affaires in Mexico, as illustrative of how business concerns frequently became tied in with diplomatic functions in Latin America of the post-Independence period. These connections have been amply studied in the case of European diplomats, but the tendency here has been to extol Latin American solidarity of the deep-rooted liberal type coined in Cadiz, to the detriment of other parallel or coexisting relations that have proven even more resilient in some cases. By focusing on this aspect, historiographers have practically relegated Francisco de Paula Pastor to oblivion and thwarted research into the prototype he incarnates: historical figures that represented another country on their own soil, who were able to successfully combine the exigencies of diplomacy with their business interests and who forged long-lasting relationships at both ends of their diplomatic circles that were strong enough to weather all manner of political vicissitudes. During this initial phase of their research, the authors have chosen to focus on sources in Mexico rather than sources in Ecuador: the Genaro Estrada Diplomatic Archives kept by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Historic Notaries Archive, the Reserve Section of the National Newspaper and Periodicals Library and church records.