Ecuador National Court of Justice.
QUITO, Ecuador — March 22, 2025 — Ecuador’s judiciary has delivered a wave of landmark convictions in corruption cases that have shaken the country’s political and judicial elite, raising hopes for accountability—but looming political transitions threaten to undermine these gains.
In a major development earlier this month, Ecuador’s National Court of Justice (Corte Nacional de Justicia, or CNJ) sentenced 10 individuals for criminal conspiracy in a case dubbed “Purga” (“Purge”) by prosecutors.
Among those convicted was former National Assembly member Pablo Muentes, who received a 13-year prison sentence.
Also sentenced were five judges from the Provincial Court of Guayas, Ecuador’s most populous province and home to the vital port city of Guayaquil.
“It is time for all state officials to understand that acts of public corruption … destroy the constitutional state and violate the rights of all Ecuadorians,” Acting Attorney General Wilson Toainga said during closing arguments.
According to prosecutors, Muentes exploited his influence to secure promotions and personal favors for judges in exchange for favorable rulings—most notably in a case involving his unpaid debt to Ecuador’s Banco del Pacífico.
Investigators found that Muentes submitted falsified records purporting to prove the loan had been paid while accusing the bank of violating his constitutional rights.
The compromised judges ruled in Muentes’ favor, erasing the debt and ordering the bank to compensate him nearly $4 million.
Prosecutors sought to tie Muentes’ network to broader criminal activity, including land trafficking and a bribery scheme linked to José Adolfo Macías Villamar—better known as “Fito”—the fugitive leader of the Choneros criminal organization. However, the CNJ declined to consider the additional evidence in this case.
The Purga convictions follow another high-profile verdict in the sweeping “Metastasis” case, one of Ecuador’s most significant anti-corruption trials up to this date.
In November 2024, the CNJ sentenced 20 individuals, including public officials, lawyers, and security personnel, for colluding with drug kingpin Leandro Norero, who was killed in prison in 2022.
Norero used his connections in the courts, police, and prison system to get special treatment and help his associates get out of jail early.
The Purga and Metastasis cases have exposed systemic corruption that has enabled Ecuador’s worsening security crisis and the ascent of powerful criminal groups.
SEE ALSO: Ecuador Crime Profile: A Deep Dive into Criminal Networks, Prisons, and the Justice System
Ongoing investigations are uncovering judicial efforts to free gang members, connections between Albanian drug traffickers and Ecuadorian politicians, and operations by Colombia’s Border Command to break their members out of Ecuadorian jails.
Even with these big wins in court, the future of the anti-corruption push looks uncertain. Attorney General Diana Salazar, who led the Metastasis and Purga cases, is on her way out, and that’s got people worried about whether the momentum will last.
Salazar is expected to be replaced in the coming months, just as political polarization intensifies ahead of Ecuador’s presidential election on April 13.
“The position of Attorney General in Ecuador is perhaps the most powerful position in the country,” said Pablo Punín, a constitutional and criminal justice expert. “It’s used to persecute political enemies and especially to bring down those who do not like you. Those who have power will always seek [to control it].”
The selection process for Salazar’s successor falls to the controversial Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (Consejo de Participación Ciudadana y Control Social, or CPCCS), a body often criticized for its outsized influence over top judicial and electoral appointments.
Observers warn that the CPCCS’s politicized nature could compromise the independence of the Attorney General’s Office.
“[The CPCCS] makes it so high stakes. Whoever controls it can lop off the heads of every other institution,” said Will Freeman, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It’ll be highly politicized as long as it exists.”
The tension rises as incumbent President Daniel Noboa goes head-to-head with opposition candidate Luisa González, a protégé of former President Rafael Correa.
The heated campaign atmosphere could make prosecutions even more political. Correa keeps accusing Salazar of going after his allies—claims she’s always denied.
Observers warn that Ecuador’s anti-corruption gains will depend on whether future leaders uphold judicial independence—or seek to reverse the progress already made.
