Ecuador judge orders pre-trial detention of leftist presidential candidate

A judge in Ecuador has ordered former presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez to remain in detention ahead of trial, escalating a legal crackdown on the country's left-wing opposition. The order, issued Friday, came a day after the 48-year-old was arrested in the rural town of Canuto on money-laundering allegations, according to AFP.

Prosecutors say Gonzalez is one of seven people under investigation over the financing of the 2023 presidential campaign, with the probe focusing on $500,000 poured into advertising during the race. Gonzalez, a lawyer and former member of Ecuador's National Assembly who lost the election to right-wing President Daniel Noboa, has denied any wrongdoing and called the charges "absurd."

Her Citizen Revolution (RC) party and its close ally, former President Rafael Correa, have denounced the arrest as political persecution. Party president Gabriela Rivadeneira told a news conference Thursday that the detention "confirms or makes visible what we have been saying lately: Ecuador is living under a dictatorship."

Gonzalez is not the only opposition figure facing prosecution. Guayaquil Mayor Aquiles Alvarez was convicted of illegally selling subsidized fuel, while former Vice President Jorge Glas is serving a sentence for corruption.

Noboa, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has accused Citizen Revolution of conspiring to attack him, and the party has since been banned from running in local elections next month. Gonzalez also rejected the result of the April 2025 run-off, which she lost to Noboa, as fraudulent.