Ecuadorian businessman Xavier Jordán was detained by U.S. immigration authorities in Miami, his lawyer confirmed.
Ecuadorian businessman Xavier Jordán, one of seven people accused by prosecutors of helping plan and finance the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, was detained Wednesday by U.S. immigration authorities in Miami, his lawyer confirmed.
RELATED: Ecuador Imposes Third Curfew of the Year as Violence Persists
Juan Carlos Salazar, who represents Jordán in Ecuador, said Jordán’s U.S. lawyers had informed him that the detention was carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He said it was not yet known where Jordán had been taken.
Videos circulating on social media appeared to show U.S. agents detaining a man resembling Jordán and his wife. However, his name had not appeared in ICE’s online detainee locator at the time of the lawyer’s comments.
Xavier Jordán, procesado por la presunta autoría intelectual del asesinato de Fernando Villavicencio, habría sido detenido este 16 de septiembre de 2026 en Miami. Videos muestran cómo es retenido por agentes de inmigración. Detalles
https://t.co/L43vsVRzk8 pic.twitter.com/FoEJpmlINb
— La Hora Ecuador (@lahoraecuador) September 16, 2026
Text Reads; Xavier Jordán, indicted for the alleged intellectual authorship of the murder of Fernando Villavicencio, was reportedly detained on this September 16, 2026, in Miami. Videos show how he is held by immigration agents.
Salazar said Jordán had applied for asylum in the United States and was scheduled for a hearing on his request in May next year. He therefore maintained that Jordán had been legally residing in the country.
The lawyer also ruled out a connection between the detention and the arrest warrant issued against Jordán in Ecuador, saying the Interpol red notice against him was not active.
Allegations in the Villavicencio case
Jordán is among seven people charged by Ecuadorian prosecutors as alleged intellectual authors of Villavicencio’s assassination. The presidential candidate was shot dead by Colombian hitmen outside a campaign rally in Quito in 2023, 11 days before the first round of an extraordinary presidential election that was ultimately won by Daniel Noboa.
According to prosecutors, Jordán was the driving force behind the assassination and financed and planned it with the help of the other defendants.
The case also includes former Rafael Correa government minister José Serrano, who was recently deported from the United States; former Correista lawmaker and former Latin Kings leader Ronny Aleaga; businessman Daniel Salcedo; and three senior members of the Los Lobos criminal group, including its top leader, Wilmer Chavarría, known as “Pipo,” who is currently detained in Spain.
Other investigations
Jordán has also been charged in Ecuador in the Metástasis case, which concerns a network of judicial, police and prison corruption created by the late drug trafficker Leandro “El Patrón” Norero.
In October last year, FBI agents searched Jordán’s home in Miami as part of an investigation described at the time as confidential, but he was not arrested.
His name has also been linked in several investigations to alleged hospital corruption during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.