Quito, Oct 22 (EFE).- Luisa González, a former presidential candidate for the Ecuadorian opposition in the 2023 and 2025 elections, was arrested on Thursday by the National Police.
The arrest was made in Canuto, a rural town in Manabí province where González grew up, according to local police, who were unable to provide further details as the operation was carried out by officers sent from Quito.
González, whose candidacy in the November local elections was invalidated for failing to meet several requirements, is under investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office for the alleged irregular financing of her campaigns.
Her party, Citizen Revolution, aligned with former President Rafael Correa (2007–2017), has been suspended and barred from participating.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office said on social media that early Thursday morning, it executed three arrest warrants for money laundering in the provinces of Manabí and Pichincha without specifying whether former candidate González was among those arrested.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office noted that, as part of the “Labyrinth” case, it is investigating “alleged irregularities in political financing and electoral spending on advertising during the 2023 presidential campaign, due to inconsistencies in contributions and the lawful origin of the funds.”
Former President Correa sounded the alarm on social media over González arrest.
“They arrested Luisa González. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!! Ecuador Will Prevail,” Correa wrote, without providing further details.
Citizen Revolution denounced persecution and demanded Gonzalez’s “immediate release.”
At a press conference in Quito, the party’s president, Gabriela Rivadeneira, claimed that González had been “kidnapped by the government,” asserting that “there are no grounds” for the arrest.
She added that the case over which González was arrested is «a matter that has already been adjudicated» and questioned the Public Prosecutor’s Office for reopening it five weeks before the local elections.
Earlier this year, González was charged in the so-called “Caja Chica” case, in which the Prosecutor’s Office alleges an organized crime offense involving money laundering for allegedly financing the 2023 special presidential election campaign with cash brought in from Venezuela.
Consequently, Citizen Revolution was suspended in March at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office by the Contentious-Electoral Tribunal (TCE).
Correa’s supporters said the ruling was political persecution by the government of President Daniel Noboa to exclude them from the local elections scheduled for 29 November.
González unsuccessfully attempted to register his candidacy for the Prefecture of Manabí, backed by the indigenous party Pachakutik, the political arm of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie). EFE
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