1922 Guayaquil general strike

Workers made demands such as pay increases, shorter hours, safer working conditions, and government control of foreign currency exchange rates.

In the early 1920s, Ecuador suffered an economic crisis due to a drop in the global price of the cocoa bean, which was the main export of the country.

Guayaquil had experienced rapid economic growth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century due to its location in the Guayas River basin—a region with near-ideal conditions for growing cocoa.

[2] Following World War I, the price of the cocoa bean fell as countries such as Ghana, São Tomé, and Brazil began growing the crop.

[3] In 1914, the Ecuadorian government passed the "Ley Moratoria," which froze exchange rates and allowed banks to issue currency not backed by gold or silver.

The workers based in the town of Durán, across the river from Guayaquil made relatively modest demands such as the payment of wages on time, the establishment of medical auxiliary posts, payment in United States dollars or gold rather than the Sucre, fifteen days notice before lay-offs and the re-hiring of fired union organizers.

The company planned to offset increased wages by raising fares on the trains, but rate hikes were cancelled by president José Luis Tamayo.

As negotiations neared completion, the strikers made new demands, such as artificial exchange rate controls by the government in order to prop up the value of the Sucre.