A judge in Ecuador has ordered that former left-wing presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez remain detained following her arrest for alleged money laundering.
The order on Friday came the day after 48-year-old Gonzalez, who challenged right-wing President Daniel Noboa in the 2023 election, was arrested in the rural town of Canuto.
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Gonzalez, her party and her close ally, former President Rafael Correa, have called the arrest political persecution.
Several other members of GonzalezâÂÂs Citizen Revolution (RC) party have also recently faced charges.
They include Guayaquil Mayor Aquiles Alvarez, convicted of illegally selling subsidised fuel and former Vice President Jorge Glas, serving a sentence for corruption.
Gonzalez has denied wrongdoing, dismissing the charges as âÂÂabsurdâÂÂ.
Citizen Revolution President Gabriela Rivadeneira told a news conference on Thursday that GonzalezâÂÂs arrest âÂÂconfirms or makes visible what we have been saying lately: Ecuador is living under a dictatorshipâÂÂ.
Gonzalez, a lawyer and former member of EcuadorâÂÂs National Assembly, lost to Noboa in an April 2025 run-off. She rejected the result as fraudulent.
Noboa, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, later accused Citizen Revolution of conspiring to attack him.
The party has since been banned from running in local elections next month.