Since September 19, the country’s Financial and Economic Analysis Unit has ordered regulators to block accounts belonging to several groups. The freezes coincided with demonstrations against President Daniel Noboa’s plan to eliminate diesel subsidies and approve a controversial mining project. The account freezes were imposed under the , passed in August, which allows authorities to suspend financial access without a court order if they claim to have “objective, serious, and verifiable evidence” of suspicious activity. “Safeguards intended to prevent money laundering should never be used to target,” the government said.
Source: OCCRP, 2025-12-11; https://www.occrp.org/en/news/ecuador-freezes-bank-accounts-of-indigenous-environmental-groups-hrw-warns