On October 22, 2026, Luisa Gonzalez, a leader of the political opposition and a former presidential candidate, was arrested in the Ecuadorian city of Canuto in the west of the country. Regional media reported that the current authorities had brought charges of money laundering against her (an amount of half a million US dollars appears), including in connection with her presidential campaign earlier. Gonzalez herself called such accusations absurd, adding that under Noboa, attacks on freedoms and political persecution have become a “constant reality.”
Significantly, the Citizen Revolution movement, which was founded by Rafael Correa and is currently headed by Gonzalez, previously collaborated with Daniel Noboa in the field of legal procedures. At the moment, Gonzalez’s lawyers are challenging her arrest. It is known that three more people have been detained in this case.
At the end of October, another incident took place in neighboring Brazil, where the second round of presidential elections was taking place. After Ignacio Lula da Silva’s victory was announced on October 26, Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes decided to cancel the passports of another presidential candidate, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, and demanded that he hand over the documents to the police. 24 hours was given for procedure due to the risk of the suspect’s escape from the country. The reason was similar in Ecuador – a money laundering investigation.
Bolsonaro immediately responded to this decision with a video message, where he stated that: “I never thought about leaving the country. I will hand over my passports and defend myself against this travesty, which has become a clear attempt to intimidate me.” However, on Tuesday, the Infobae media from Argentina reported that Bolsonaro had fled Brazil and arrived in Argentina. Although this information was denied by one of the senator’s lawyers, official evidence appeared the next day that Bolsonaro had indeed traveled to Argentina, while trying to confuse the tracks of both government officials and journalists. He left Argentina for the United States, where he was accepted as a political refugee (his wife and two children left with him).
Although the two cases are unrelated, they both fall under the characterization of Lawfare, that is, legal warfare. And if earlier such harassment (especially when the strengthening of the role of the judiciary in politics and media campaigns work in conjunction to harass public figures) were directed against the leftists, now we can say that the leftists has mastered this tool and is using it against the right-wing politicians, which can be evidenced by the trial and imprisonment of the former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro who is the father of the fugitive senator.
In the context of the Latin American region, it has become typical for many countries to harass a country’s political leadership. If in the second half of the twentieth century this was more typical of right-wing regimes that dealt with the political opposition in this way, now, regardless of the ruling force, arrests and trials of former and current presidents are quite frequent. It was not until 2025 that the former heads of Argentina, Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia were arrested and given prison sentences. President of Peru was impeached in February 2026 due to corruption charges and a new interim president was appointed.
Importantly, this tool is analyzed not only as a repressive procedure backed by Washington, but also in a broader geopolitical context in connection with the interests of the United States, the key importance of the countries of the region, as well as economic ties with China.
The United States has been actively interfering in Ecuador’s internal affairs since the reign of Lenin Moreno (2017) through the use of the media and the initiation of prosecutions against supporters of Rafael Correa (President of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017), which was perceived as Washington’s revenge for granting political asylum to Julian Assange a few years earlier. A large-scale anti-corruption operation in Brazil, known as Operation Car Wash (Operação Lava Jato), took place from 2014 to 2021. It also had an external interest and, according to investigative journalism, was aimed at preventing the coalition led by Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party from winning the Brazilian general elections in 2018. Da Silva voluntarily surrendered to the police in April 2018, but the Federal Supreme Court acquitted him and dropped all charges. Lula was released in November 2019.
But if everything in Ecuador has been happening unilaterally so far in the interests of Washington (again, we can recall Noboa’s attempt in November 2025 through a referendum to lift the ban on the deployment of foreign military bases in the country and reduce the number of deputies), then Brazil has drawn conclusions from previous lessons and adapted to the new practice.
Again, it should be emphasized that Flavio Bolsonaro, after all, fled the country, and did not come to the police like Lula, which suggests that he had some real machinations. Although now in the United States, his supporters are trying to justify this act and are clearly interested in shifting criticism to Lulu himself (although they are not openly accusing him yet). And since the pro-Washington right turn was suspended specifically in Brazil, this points to the broader geopolitical dimension of Lawfare and the possibility of instrumental application of legal authority and other mechanisms.
In other words, the pendulum may swing in the other direction, and after a while, the current President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, or someone else from those political figures in Latin America who have identified themselves as ardent Trumpists, may themselves end up in the prison.
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