U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday arrested Ecuadorian national Xavier Jordán, one of the men accused of being behind the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2023.
Jordán, described by Ecuadorian outlets as a businessman, has long been wanted by Ecuadorian authorities for his alleged involvement in three major criminal cases, two of which involve multiple drug trafficking, organized crime, and corruption charges. It is reportedly understood that Jordán left Ecuador on February 2, 2020, and has been living in the United States since then.
Last year, Ecuadorian prosecutors also accused Jordán of being one of the seven presumptive intellectual authors of the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, an assertive anti-China, anti-socialist journalist who ran for president in 2023 during that year’s elections.
Villavicencio was killed in August 2023 as he was leaving a campaign rally in Quito. Current President Daniel Noboa, a law-and-order center-left candidate, won the 2023 election and was subsequently reelected for an additional presidential term in 2025.
Ecuavisa and other Ecuadorian outlets report that Jordán and his wife were arrested by U.S. officials on Wednesday in the city of Doral, Florida. One of the businessman’s lawyers later confirmed the arrest. Following his detention, the Ecuadorian businessman reportedly remains under ICE custody at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana. Jordán’s lawyer, Juan Carlos Salazar, reportedly affirmed that Jordán and his wife had requested asylum in the United States and both had a “pending” appointment for the asylum request scheduled for May 2027.
Footage published by Ecuadorian outlets on social media shows Jordán being taken into custody by U.S. law enforcement officials in Florida.
Asked by reporters for comment on Wednesday, Ecuadorian Interior Minister John Reimberg did not disclose additional details, and affirmed, “I have been always very clear, it’s a matter of time.”
“This is a country that is confronting organized crime, with a government determined to tackle organized crime. We have made it clear that wherever they are, wherever they hide, we will find them,” Reimberg said.
“Let’s wait a little while so we can comment on this,” he added, calling for everyone to wait for the next hours so Ecuador can observe what steps U.S. authorities take on the matter.
According to Ecuador’s Primicias, Jordán’s detention is part of a U.S. immigration law enforcement action similar to the one that led to the recent deportation of José Serrano — another of the men accused of being involved in the assassination of Villavicencio. Serrano served as interior minister of Ecuador during the administration of socialist former President Rafael Correa, himself another fugitive from Ecuadorian law after he was convicted in absentia for corruption.
The news site La Hora summarized the accusations against Jordán brought forward by prosecutors in recent years. Per the prosecution, Jordán is the man who allegedly promoted the plot to assassinate Fernando Villavicencio after the journalist publicly brought forward corruption allegations against Jordán and reported on his alleged friendly relations with Leandro Norero, a notorious top drug lord who died in 2022 during a prison riot.
Jordán also stands accused by the Ecuadorian General Prosecutor’s Office in a broad judicial process known as the “Metastasis” case of being one of the presumptive collaborators who helped build the organized crime, drug trafficking, and political corruption criminal structure that Norero once led. Additionally, Jordán stands accused of being involved in a complex overpricing and irregular contracts scheme involving the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute during the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.