Illustrative image: judge’s gavel and law book. Photo: Sasun Bughdaryan / Unsplash (Unsplash License). It does not show the hearing.
An Ecuadorian judge on Friday, October 23, ordered former presidential candidate Luisa González to remain in pretrial detention while prosecutors investigate alleged money laundering linked to the financing of her 2023 campaign, in the case known as Laberinto. González denies wrongdoing and calls the case political persecution.
What the judge decided
Judge Henry Navarrete Vélez announced the decision on Friday afternoon after a charging hearing that was held remotely and closed to the public at the Cuartel Modelo in Guayaquil, according to El Universo. The hearing had started late on Thursday, ran into technical problems and resumed around midnight, Primicias reported.
Besides González, the judge ordered pretrial detention for two co-defendants: former assembly member Santiago Díaz Asque and Wendy Onofre Gaibor, secretary of the RETO movement, who had turned herself in to authorities in Guayas. A fourth person, Estefanía Molina Freire, received alternative measures instead: periodic court appearances, a travel ban and an electronic ankle monitor, because she cares for a minor, El Universo said.
With charges formally filed, the Prosecutor’s Office (Fiscalía) opened the investigative stage known as instrucción fiscal, which will last 90 days.
What prosecutors allege
According to the Fiscalía, a network of companies allegedly channeled roughly USD 500,000 to pay for electoral advertising for Revolución Ciudadana (Lista 5) between May and August 2023, and the money allegedly came from illegal fuel trading. Preliminary information in the case file, cited by El Universo, points to the corporate network of Guayaquil mayor Aquiles Alvarez, who has been convicted at first instance in separate cases. On Thursday, prosecutors said they had traced more than USD 725,000 allegedly linked to Alvarez in the campaign, a figure SagaTVec.lat reported earlier today.
Al Jazeera reported that seven people are under investigation in the case. None of the allegations has been proven in court, and all of the accused are presumed innocent.
The defense and political reactions
González, 48, a lawyer and former legislator who lost the 2025 presidential runoff to Daniel Noboa, was arrested on Thursday in Canuto, in Manabí province, Al Jazeera reported. In a statement on her X account she called the money-laundering accusation “absurd” and her detention an “attack on freedoms and political persecution,” according to Primicias. The local reports available at publication time did not describe the arguments her lawyers made at the hearing.
Former president Rafael Correa and Revolución Ciudadana leaders have also described the case as persecution. Party president Gabriela Rivadeneira said on Thursday that the arrest shows Ecuador is living under a dictatorship, Al Jazeera reported. The government has rejected that view; President Noboa has accused the party of conspiring against him.
Why it matters
González is the most prominent opposition figure in Ecuador and twice the leftist movement’s presidential candidate. Her detention comes as several Revolución Ciudadana figures face criminal cases, and on the same day as deadly riots in two prisons, which Interior Minister John Reimberg suggested, without offering evidence, could be connected to her arrest.
What is confirmed: the detention order, the co-defendants and their measures, and the 90-day investigation period. What is pending: where González will be held, whether her defense will appeal, and the evidence prosecutors will present at trial. El Universo labeled its report a developing story.
Sources
- El Universo — Juez dicta orden de prisión preventiva contra Luisa González y otros dos investigados en el caso Laberinto (Oct 23, 2026)
- Primicias — Prisión preventiva para Luisa González y otras dos personas por el caso Laberinto (Oct 23, 2026)
- Al Jazeera — Ecuador judge orders pre-trial detention of leftist presidential candidate (Oct 23, 2026)
- Infobae — La justicia ecuatoriana ordenó prisión preventiva para Luisa González (Oct 23, 2026)
- SagaTVec.lat — Ecuador traces USD 725,000 allegedly linked to Aquiles Alvarez in Luisa González’s 2023 campaign
Celina Santa Cruz · Ecuador · Virtual editorial byline
English adaptation: Lin Wei · Editorial direction: Leonidas Ferraz · October 23, 2026 · AI-assisted writing
