Ecuador's president and family are accused of links to criminal networks.
Issued: 17/06/2026
Drug trafficking accusations levied against a banana company owned by the family of Ecuador President Daniel Noboa may be politicized but raise important questions about the role of powerful business interests in the country’s wider security crisis.
In a March 23 debate held for candidates in forthcoming presidential elections, challenger Luisa González and incumbent President Daniel Noboa exchanged accusations of corruption and ties to organized crime.
After Noboa accused González of links to money laundering, González repeatedly questioned her rival about Noboa Trading, a banana exportation company owned by the president’s family.
“They export drugs in banana boxes belonging to Mr. Daniel Noboa’s company to Croatia and Italy,” González said of Noboa Trading.
Noboa responded by tacitly admitting that there have been cases of drug trafficking through the company’s shipments but denying any wrongdoing.
“If the company itself cooperates and alerts the police… it means that it is a cooperator, which is not what you are alleging,” he said.
González, an ally of controversial former President Rafael Correa, based her claims on information later published in a March 26 investigation by Colombian outlet Revista Raya. The investigation highlighted multiple cocaine seizures totaling 700 kilograms between 2020 and 2022. Police reports cited in the publication show that authorities seized these loads at Guayaquil’s Naportec port terminal in containers holding banana shipments belonging to Noboa Trading.
According to the investigation, on three separate occasions, José Luis Rivera Baquerizo, a contractor for Noboa Trading in charge of overseeing anti-narcotics checks on the shipments, was arrested in connection with the seizures. Each time, however, he was later freed.
