Attorney claims the arrest of Guayaquil mayor is an act of revenge on a government critic

The attorney for Guayaquil Mayor Aquiles Alvarez is claiming that his client’s arrest was “orchestrated as a distraction” from President Daniel Noboa’s support for Judiciary Council President Mario Godoy in a National Assembly impeachment trial. Ramiro García added that the arrest is also an “act of revenge” for Alvarez’s frequent criticism of the government.

Guayaquil Mayor Aquiles Alvarez

“This is a desperation move by the government to cover up the embarrassment of the impeachment [of Mario Godoy] and its position in favor of drug trafficking, which is carried out from the Council of the Judiciary,” García said. “Support of Godoy is an obvious mistake and Noboa and ADN [National Democractic Action party] want the public to look the other way.”

Alvarez, his brothers Antonio and Xavier and eight others were arrested early Tuesday on charges of engaging in “organized crime for the purpose of money laundering and tax fraud” in what is being called the “Goleada Case.”

Antonio Alvarez is president of the Guayaquil Barcelona football club while Xavier Alvarez serves on the club’s board of directors.

On Wednesday, a judge ordered the 11 men held in pre-trial detention, Aquiles Alvarez at the Latacunga prison and Antonio and Xavier Alvarez and four others at Turi prison in Cuenca.

According to García, the charges against the Alvarez brothers are the same as those made in an earlier case, in which an investigation showed no criminal intent. “If this is about money laundering, it was resolved in the Triple-A case investigation conducted by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office,” he said. “It is simply the old case put on a new letterhead.”

Garcia insists the motivation behind the arrests is the government’s “untenable” position of support for Godoy against impeachment, which Alvarez has criticized. “Through Godoy and his lieutenants, there is a clear intent to protect drug traffickers, which blows up the government’s claim it is fighting them,” he says. “It reveals Noboa as a hypocrite.”

According to records, Godoy’s wife defended Serbian drug trafficker Jezdimir Srdan, currently being held in Enceuntro Prison. In a recent appeal to free Srdan, Chief of the Pichincha judiciary office Henry Gaibor pressured a judge to rule in favor of the defendant.

Gaibor, who has since resigned, is a close friend of Godoy.