Ileana Espinel Cedeño (October 31, 1933 – February 21, 2001) was an Ecuadorian journalist, poet and writer.

In 1953 she found in her home an old, tearing booklet of the celebrated poem “Como el Incensio” (Like Incense) by Aurora Estrada y Ayala, with a dedication made to her mother.

The next day, Espinel went to visit Estrada y Ayala in the small garden of her house, with a notebook of her poems.

She co-founded "Club 7" (1951-1962), a group of seven young poets,[1] which included David Ledesma Vázquez (1934-1961), Gastón Hidalgo Ortega (1929-1973), Carlos Benavides Vega (1931-1999), Sergio Román Armendáriz (1934 - ), Miguel Donoso Pareja (1931 - ), and Carlos Abadíe Silva (??

In 1951, Espinel and David Ledesma each recited a poem in El Telégrafo condemning the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were United States citizens convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war.

Her poetry has been translated into English by Helen Wolh Paterson, into Portuguese by Ilka Sanchez, into French by Henri de Lescoet and Marcel Hennard, into Italian by Gino Rovida and Vicenso Josía, and into Greek by Olga Papastamou.