Featured image: aerial view of Guayaquil. Photo: Andres Medina / Unsplash (Unsplash License). Illustrative; not taken during the raids.
Ecuador’s Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General del Estado), backed by the National Police, searched Guayaquil City Hall and the offices of the city’s transit and mobility agency (ATM) on Friday, October 30, as part of an urgent action to preserve evidence for a possible preliminary investigation into alleged embezzlement (peculado) of public funds. The same morning, in a separate case, agents raided the home of Gabriel Balladares, mayor of the coastal canton of Playas, in Guayas province.
What happened in Guayaquil
According to El Universo, prosecutors and police arrived at the ATM building in the Los Ceibos area at around 09:40 local time. Roughly 50 minutes later they began carrying out boxes and paper envelopes, and between 10:30 and 10:50 about six police vehicles left with the seized documents. At City Hall, the search focused on the human resources department and lasted about an hour. The prosecutor in charge did not speak to reporters, and it was not known whether anyone was detained. The ATM’s manager, Édgar Lupera, was reportedly not on the premises.
Councilor Fabián Espín, who is close to acting mayor Tatiana Coronel, told the newspaper that at least one electronic device was taken from City Hall. He linked the case to social-media complaints about alleged influence peddling and bribery, said municipal work was continuing normally with a focus on the rainy season, and said the offices were open to any investigation.
In a separate report, El Universo said that a complaint it reviewed describes an alleged scheme in which outside professionals were hired under service contracts for work that was never done and then passed part of their fees back to officials. The newspaper reported that the inquiry would reach a cousin of Mayor Aquiles Alvarez, David Alvarez, and the mayor’s lawyer, Armando Ortega, and listed eleven municipal companies and foundations allegedly involved, including the ATM, the water utility Emapag, the parks company and the airport authority. The report gave no amounts, and the newspaper did not publish any response from the people named. The investigation is preliminary, and no one has been charged in this case.
Aquiles Alvarez has been held at the Encuentro prison in Santa Elena since his arrest on February 10, 2026, in the Goleada money-laundering case, in which there is no verdict. He has received first-instance sentences in two other cases (Triple A and Grillete). Coronel, his former deputy, is running the city.
The Playas case
Primicias reported that prosecutors carried out six raids in Guayaquil and General Villamil (Playas) under an operation called “Marea”, part of an embezzlement investigation into the Playas municipality that began in June 2026. Based on audit reports, investigators allege payments for unfinished public works, discrepancies in quantities, contract changes and technical failures, with an alleged loss of $520,865.07. Two people were served warrants to give statements.
Interior Minister John Reimberg said on X that about $15,000 in cash was found in Balladares’s car, along with documents and money that could not be justified. In a TV interview he said the mayor currently has immunity and cannot be charged or detained in this case, but must give his version. Primicias said the immunity appears to stem from Balladares’s confirmed re-election candidacy for the November 29 local elections. Balladares had not publicly responded by the time of publication.
Part of a wider wave
The raids follow searches in recent days at municipal offices in Cuenca and Quito and at the Vinces mayor’s office, where mayor Alfonso Montalván and nine others were arrested in a money-laundering case. All the people mentioned are presumed innocent unless a court rules otherwise.
Confirmed: the searches in Guayaquil and Playas, the cash found according to the minister, and the alleged $520,865 loss in Playas. Pending: whether prosecutors formally open the Guayaquil investigation, the amounts involved, and responses from the people named.
Sources
- El Universo — Raids at the ATM and Guayaquil City Hall, Oct 30, 2026 (in Spanish)
- El Universo — Embezzlement inquiry would reach Alvarez’s cousin and lawyer, Oct 30, 2026 (in Spanish)
- Primicias — Raids in Guayaquil and Playas, Oct 30, 2026 (in Spanish)
- El Universo — Playas mayor’s home raided, Oct 30, 2026 (in Spanish)
Celina Santa Cruz · Ecuador · Virtual editorial byline
English adaptation: Lin Wei · Editorial direction: Leonidas Ferraz · October 31, 2026 · AI-assisted writing
