QUITO — Ecuadorian authorities detained Luisa González, the Revolución Ciudadana politician who twice lost the presidency to Daniel Noboa, in the early hours of Thursday as part of a money laundering investigation into the financing of her 2023 campaign. Her party calls the case political persecution, and prosecutors have said her guilt has not been determined by a court.

The Arrest

González was detained at her home in Canuto, a parish in the Chone canton of Manabí province, in a joint operation by police and the Fiscalía General del Estado on Thursday.

Arrest warrants were executed in Manabí and Pichincha against three people, with the stated purpose of formulating charges for alleged money laundering.

The Fiscalía confirmed the operation after former president Rafael Correa announced on X, “They arrested Luisa González. Enough!”

The Fiscalía said it would formally present charges in the coming hours.

Prosecutors say the case, known as Caso Laberinto, examines possible irregularities in political financing and electoral advertising spending during the 2023 presidential campaign, including inconsistencies in contributions and whether the funds had a lawful origin.

About seven people are under investigation in total, according to the Fiscalía’s account, and the three warrants identify the subjects only by initials.

What the Case is Built On

The case appears to stem from a campaign-finance dispute that was already heard by Ecuador’s electoral court. A technical report cited in the court file flagged $174,930 in undeclared electoral advertising and $6,400 in contributions without accounting support.

The court fined González, her 2023 running mate Andrés Arauz and Estefanía Molina, the campaign’s financial manager, a joint $18,000 in April, ratified the sanction in May, and the fine was paid in June, closing that electoral case.

Copies of the file were then reportedly sent to prosecutors, who opened a criminal inquiry for money laundering.

Revolución Ciudadana argues the dispute amounts to an administrative accounting discrepancy of roughly $6,100 and that the criminal case was “assembled in a rush.”

Caso Laberinto is distinct from Caja Chica, a separate investigation announced in January. In that case, prosecutors allege illicit cash from Venezuela financed the 2023 campaign. They searched González’s home on January 28 and the party’s Quito headquarters in February.

Rafael Correa, Arauz and others are among those named in that file, and all investigated parties deny illegal financing.

Authorities have not said whether Laberinto is connected to Caja Chica.

Who is González?

González, 48, is a lawyer born in Quito and raised in Chone. She held posts in the left-wing Correa government, served as a national assemblywoman from 2021 until the 2023 early elections, and became Revolución Ciudadana’s standard-bearer as Correa’s political protégé, who lives in Belgium and was convicted in a bribery case he calls political persecution, cannot run.

She lost the 2023 runoff to Noboa and lost again in 2025, after questioning the result.

She had also been seeking the Manabí prefecture in the local elections scheduled for November 29, backed by the Indigenous Pachakutik movement.

Electoral authorities rejected her candidacy over alleged failures to meet Pachakutik’s internal rules, and the electoral court upheld the rejection in September.

Party Response

Revolución Ciudadana president Gabriela Rivadeneira said González “has been kidnapped by this government,” demanded to know her whereabouts and her immediate release, and wrote that “the dictatorial regime is consolidating.”

The movement called the arrest “arbitrary and unconstitutional,” described the case as lawfare meant to sideline the opposition, and said authorities had not disclosed where she is held or allowed her lawyers access.

Pichincha prefect Paola Pabón and the Puebla Group also voiced support.

Those statements reflect the party’s position and are not evidence of government interference in the prosecution. No response from the Noboa government or the ADN party was available at the time of writing.