Luisa González Claims Attempts to Link Her to Cartel of the Suns in Ecuador Aimed at Jailing Her

Former presidential candidate from the Correísta movement, Luisa González, alleged that efforts are underway to tie her and former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa (2007–2017) to the so-called Cartel of the Suns, which the United States asserts is led by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, with the aim of persecuting and imprisoning them.

González, currently touring several European countries, told party supporters in Switzerland on Saturday that in Ecuador “they are saying” her campaign for the recent presidential elections, won by Daniel Noboa, “was financed by Maduro.”

“Fifty million dollars, supposedly. How did they manage to transfer it? How did no one notice?” said González, president of the Citizen Revolution movement, led by Correa, an ally of Maduro.

“But what is the story here? To link us in order to persecute and imprison us. And they probably want to sentence Rafael Correa, they want to prosecute him, and they want to imprison me. And I tell you, my life for my country and for this project,” González added in her speech, captured in a video that went viral on social media and which she confirmed on Sunday.

Maduro was accused of drug trafficking and terrorism by the United States during Donald Trump’s first presidential term. Washington now maintains that the Cartel of the Suns is led by Maduro along with high-ranking Venezuelan officials and military officers.

On August 14, President Noboa declared the Cartel of the Suns a terrorist group with operations in Ecuador and instructed the National Intelligence Center (CNI) to analyze its influence within criminal gangs, against which his administration has declared “war” since early 2024.

In an interview published Sunday by the Argentine newspaper Clarín, Noboa stated that there is “an intelligence report from the United States that says Venezuela financed a large part of Luisa González’s campaign,” although he did not provide further details.

“The amount of money spent on that campaign was impressive,” the Ecuadorian president said during his recent tour of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, which this Sunday extended to Japan and Vietnam.

Speaking in Switzerland, González suggested it was too much of a “coincidence” that President Trump accused Maduro of being the cartel’s leader and of sending drugs to the United States, noting that “Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world.”

The former presidential candidate, who never recognized the results of the recent Ecuadorian elections, reaffirmed her statements Sunday, saying it seemed “strange” that while the United States is the “main destination for drugs,” it fails to control “its borders, ports, and territory.”

“They have it all. Technology, CIA, DEA, FBI, and seven military bases in Colombia. Strange, isn’t it?” added González, who is also a lawyer.

Former President Rafael Correa did not comment directly on the matter but shared González’s statement on his account on the social media platform X.