Eugenio Espejo

Espejo died on December 28, 1795 of complications arising due to dysentery.

Espejo was born in 1747 to Luis de la Cruz Chuzhig, a Quichua Indian from Cajamarca, and Maria Catalina Aldás, a mulatta native to Quito. Espejo had two younger siblings, Juan Pablo and María Manuela.

Despite his family’s unstable economic condition, Espejo had a good education and acquired medical knowledge by working alongside his father at de la Misericordia hospital.

He was spared from racial discrimination as his family was considered of white race. He graduated from medical school on July 10, 1767, and later went on to study canon law and jurisprudence under Dr. Ramón Yépez from 1780 to 1793.

On August 14, 1772 he asked for permission to practice medicine and was granted the same on November 28, 1772. After that, there is no information about his whereabouts until 1778, when he wrote a polemical sermon.

In 1779, Espejo wrote a satirical manuscript in the style of the Greek satirist, Lucian. The manuscript, called the El nuevo Luciano de Quito, was written in dialogues so that it could be understood by the common man. This work was written by Espejo under a pseudonym and criticized the corruption of the colonial authorities and the lack of education among the people of the Audencia.

In 1781, he wrote La cienciablancardina, a second part to his first satirical manuscript, as an answer to the criticism of a Mercedarian priest from Quito.

In an attempt to get rid of him, the authorities named him head physician for the scientific expedition of Francisco de Requena to the Pará and Marañon rivers to set the limits of the Audiencia. Espejo tried to decline the appointment but wasn’t spared. He then tried to flee but was unsuccessful and was captured and brought back as a criminal of serious offense.

In 1785, Espejo was asked to write about smallpox by the town council, and he wrote a detailed work, criticizing the hygiene conditions in the Audencia. In this work, he severely criticized the physicians and priests who were in charge of public health in the Audencia. This work won him a lot of enemies and he was forced to leave Quito.

On his way to Lima, he stopped in Riobamba, where a group of priests asked him to write a reply to a report written by Ignacio Barreto, chief tax collector. Espejo took up the task and wrote Defensa de loscuras de Riobamba (Defense of the clergy of Riobamba), a detailed study of the way of life of the Indians from Riobamba and a powerful attack on Barreto's report.