An Ecuadorian scholar sketches a short but intense study of his country's society and politics, centered on the long career of José Velasco Ibarra. Velasco Ibarra, with his five electoral victories and his insurrectionary movement, fulfilled the role of prophet, priest and father of the lowliest of the lumpenproletariat. Through this symbolic, tutelary figure, they have maintained the illusion of participation in national life; in reality, after 40 years, they are still marginal.