The country is living under a dictatorship, the Citizen Revolution party says.

In the early hours of Tuesday, Ecuador’s Office of the Attorney General arrested Aquiles Alvarez, the mayor of Guayaquil, for “the purpose of filing criminal charges.”

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Widely known for his opposition to President Daniel Noboa, the progressive politician the progressive politician has been consolidating himself as a respected national leader and with prospects of contesting the presidency in the 2029 elections.

He and 10 other people were detained in connection with the case known as “Goleada,” which is investigating alleged money laundering and tax fraud. Among those arrested were also two of the mayor’s brothers, Antonio and Xavier Alvarez.

By court order, since mid-2025 Alvarez had been wearing an electronic ankle monitor in connection with another case, known as “Triple A.” That investigation began in 2024, when the Agency for Regulation and Control of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources reported alleged irregularities in the distribution and sale of state-subsidized fuel.

Following the complaint, prosecutors raided several offices at service stations belonging to the company Copedesa, owned by Alvarez and his family, amid suspicions of a discrepancy between the amount of fuel purchased and the volume actually dispensed at its pumps.

The text reads, “’This is clearly political, and coincidences don’t exist,’ Aquiles Alvarez’s lawyer, Ramiro Garcia, said and noted that the arrest occurred the same week the National Assembly debated the situation of the president of the Judiciary Council. He asserted that the case had a political motive and questioned the timing of the operation.”

Regarding the arrest linked to the Goleada case, the Citizens Revolution (RC) party rejected this new instance of political persecution against Alvarez and said Ecuador is living under an authoritarian regime.

“We are no longer a republic; we are Noboa’s estate. Ecuador stands with Alvarez, whom we support with conviction. This abuse only confirms the persecution and excesses that are now being experienced in the country. They seize institutions and twist the law,” the leftist party stated.

“We are living under a dictatorship because while the people die from stray bullets and from the government’s abandonment of communities. They intensify judicial persecution, even as cases pile up involving extortion, rape, and homicides. This is a dictatorship because Ecuadorians have no guarantees of life. We are living under a dictatorship because public institutions have been co-opted and now serve private interests and drug trafficking.”

“We are living under a dictatorship because the rule of law has been broken… We are living under a dictatorship because authoritarianism marks every action and decision of the executive branch… And we are living under a dictatorship because power today protects dark interests and has lost all moral legitimacy. It constantly creates smokescreens in an attempt to cover up its corruption,” the RC statement explained.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: EFE – RC

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