Manuel Muñoz Borrero was born in Cuenca, Ecuador in 1891. In 1931, he began working as a consul in Stockholm, Sweden. After Nazi Germany had invaded most of Europe by 1941, Muñoz Borrero issued around 80 passports to Poles, many of them Jewish. By a presidential decree, the Ecuadorian government relieved him of his duties in January 1942; however, the diplomatic seals and archives remained in Muñoz Borrero's possession, as the Swedish authorities did not confiscate them as requested by the Ecuadorian government. Despite being terminated, Muñoz Borrero continued to issue passports to Jews in occupied Europe.[2]
Some though not all who had received Ecuadorian passports managed to escape the Holocaust. One survivor, who credited her survival in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp due to being issued an Ecuadorian passport and later taking part in a prisoner exchange, wrote "I probably would not have survived if not for the passports issued by Mr. Manuel Muñoz Borrero. I am forever grateful to him."[3] After the war, Muñoz Borrero's work remained relatively unknown, and he died in obscurity in 1976, having never been rehabilitated during his lifetime by the Ecuadorian government for his actions during World War II.
It took 34 years after the death of Manuel that Yad Vashem eventually recognized Muñoz Borrero as a Righteous Among the Nations on 28 February 2011,.[2] Seven years later in 2018, the Ecuadorian government posthumously restored Muñoz Borrero's credentials, made an official apology to the family of Muñoz Borrero's & acknowledging his work of saving of Jewish lives in World War II.[4]
