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Ecuador Prosecutors Seek Preventive Detention for Leftist Leader Luisa Gonzalez
The former presidential candidate was arrested over alleged irregularities in the handling of funds during the 2023 campaign.
On Friday, Prosecutor General’s Office requested preventive detention for leftist former presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who was arrested on Thursday over the alleged irregular handling of funds from the 2023 election campaign.
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Luisa Gonzalez Denounces Political Persecution After Detention in Ecuador
Prosecutors requested that she be provisionally held in prison while proceedings against Gonzalez continue. She is accused of the alleged crime of money laundering.
The case comes five weeks before subnational elections in Ecuador, an Andean country where Citizens Revolution, the main opposition force to the U.S.-backed President Daniel Noboa, has denounced judicial persecution of progressive politicians and activists.
The hearing to present charges against Gonzalez is taking place while the leftist leader remains detained at Model Barracks in Guayaquil. She was transferred there after being arrested in the early hours of Thursday at her home in Canuto, a rural locality in the province of Manabi.
During the same hearing, the Public Prosecutor’s Office also requested preventive detention for two other defendants in the case: former lawmaker Santiago Diaz, a Correista whose testimony prompted the investigation, and Wendy Onofre, a former official with the Municipality of Guayaquil under the administration of now-imprisoned Mayor Aquiles Alvarez.
The initial investigation into Gonzalez gained momentum in March following unsubstantiated testimony from Diaz, who was arrested and accused of raping a minor. He was sentenced to 29 years in prison in that case.
Diaz said he had allegedly brought cash from Venezuela on the orders of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) to finance Gonzalez’s campaign in the 2023 snap presidential election.
The Prosecutor General’s Office is seeking to establish whether the campaign also received money from a company owned by Aquiles Alvarez, another opponent of Noboa who became mayor of Guayaquil in 2023 with the support of Citizens Revolution, Correa’s party.
Alvarez is currently imprisoned and faces two convictions, one of them for the illegal sale of fuel through service stations he owns with his family.
Luisa Gonzalez was the Correismo candidate in the 2023 and 2025 presidential elections, losing to Noboa in the runoff in both contests.
Investigations targeting Citizens Revolution have led to the party’s suspension, barring it from participating in local elections scheduled for Nov. 29.
The US-backed right-wing narco-dictatorship in Ecuador has arrested presidential candidate Luisa González, from the leftist Correísta movement, on fabricated charges.
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) October 23, 2026
This came after Ecuador's narco-regime banned the main left-wing opposition party.
Ecuador is run by dictator… pic.twitter.com/h4Hzkmc2aX
FDIM Demands Gonzalez’s Release
On Thursday night, the Women’s International Democratic Federation (FDIM) demanded the immediate release of Ecuadorian former presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez.
“We denounce before the international community the kidnapping of our comrade Luisa Gonzalez, former candidate for the Presidency of Ecuador, by the fascist regime of Daniel Noboa,” the FDIM said.
“The capture of Luisa is part of the repressive plans of the Ecuadorian government, which intends to subdue, through repression, imprisonment, and kidnapping, all those who demonstrate against corruption and the government’s submission to Trump’s dictates.
“We demand respect for their physical and moral integrity. We demand the immediate release of Luisa Gonzalez, Jorge Glass, and all political prisoners,” the FDIM stated.
The legal proceedings against Gonzalez come weeks after the Electoral Disputes Tribunal upheld her political disqualification, preventing her from registering as a candidate for the Manabi provincial prefecture.
Before these events, the former presidential candidate herself had denounced foreign pressure and the recurring use of lawfare as methods to silence progressive social and political leaders.
Following her arrest, Gonzalez addressed the public, rejecting the allegations made by the Prosecutor General’s Office, describing the accusation against her as absurd and asserting that her case was part of a political persecution campaign driven by the Noboa administration.
In her statement, the opposition leader called on progressive organizations and the Citizens Revolution movement to unite to restore democracy in the country. She also thanked those who had expressed support for her nationwide.
“Sooner or later, the silence will explode in every corner of the country, and we will achieve the long-awaited democracy,” she said.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE – FDIM
