Alberto Dahik

Who is Alberto Dahik?

Alberto Dahik Garzozi is an Ecuadorian politician of Lebanese ancestry.

Dahik was educated in economics in Princeton University. He served as Finance Minister during 1986 and member of Congress from 1988 to 1992. It was during this tenure that he was involved in a highly publicized October 1990 incident while a congressional fight was taking place: he was hit by an ashtray tossed by a Roldosist congressman.

At the end of 1991, Dahik's Conservative Party established an alliance with Sixto Durán Ballén's Republican Union Party and chose Dahik as his running mate for the 1992 presidential election, which he won against Jaime Nebot. As Vice President in Durán Ballén's administration, Dahik was responsible in designing economic policies. He was important member of Conservative Party.

In 1995, the Supreme Court announced that it had enough evidence to arrest Dahik on charges of embezzlement, but Dahik managed to flee to Costa Rica where he was granted political assylum by that country on March 30, 1996. Dahik briefly returned to Ecuador in April 2005 after his process was annulled by the so-called Pichicorte, unconstitutionally set by Lucio Gutierrez's government.