According to a report by ABC Color, seven of the twelve councilors in Luque are seeking re-election, and three are running for mayor in the upcoming municipal period. The councilors now present themselves as advocates for the people, but the newspaper notes that over the last four years, they supported what it describes as a lack of transparency in the administration of Mayor Carlos Echeverría (ANR-HC).
The councilors aspiring to become mayor are Manuel “Manolo” Achucarro (Liberal Party, allied with the ruling Colorado Party), Diego Romero (ANR-Añeteté), and Belén Maldonado (Liberal Party, now running under Participación Ciudadana, led by Senator Esperanza Martínez). ABC Color states that Achucarro, a liberal who has served on the council for over a decade, was part of the “pacto azulgrana” between the Colorado and Liberal parties, approving questioned tenders and dubious accountability reports from Echeverría in exchange for a one-year term as council president. His justification was “in favor of governability,” but he now campaigns as “the new blood of Luque liberalism.”
In contrast, Diego Romero and Belén Maldonado were the only councilors who exercised some opposition to the majority aligned with Echeverría. Maldonado reportedly suffered systematic verbal and physical violence from colleagues, with no defense from fellow liberals. She was marginalized from her party and now seeks the mayor's office under Participación Ciudadana. Romero, meanwhile, faces what he calls suggestive judicial harassment.
Three Colorado councilors—Arnaldo Baeza, Enrique Quintana, and Iván Velázquez—are running under the banner “Luque Diferente,” backed by mayoral candidate Diego Candia, a current deputy and protégé of Echeverría. ABC Color says they repeatedly obstructed transparency and were hostile to citizens and opponents questioning the mayor's management, yet now promise to be “different.”
Colorado councilor Juan Ángel Marecos, seeking re-election with the slogan “Somos Luque,” tries to distance himself from the other three Colorado councilors but, according to ABC Color, voted to support Echeverría's questioned management throughout the term. Liberal councilors Francisca Franco and José Meza are running under Achucarro's ticket. Franco, seeking a fourth term, is described as having a poor record of enabling “azulgrana” pacts that brought little benefit to taxpayers, and she discredited corruption allegations made by Maldonado. Meza, seeking a second term, reportedly limited his role to providing quorum and voting without substantive participation.
Councilor Rómulo Pérez, unable to secure a spot on Achucarro's list, joined the ticket of mayoral candidate César Meza Bría, a former two-time mayor. Pérez is seeking a fifth term. Finally, Ramón Servín and Eliseo Fernández, both Colorado members and allies of the late Senator Óscar González Daher (convicted of corruption), are not seeking re-election. Servín had replaced the convicted Rubén González Chaves without facing an election.
ABC Color concludes that Luque is a city growing disorderly, with multiple complaints about municipal transparency, and that Mayor Echeverría is using legal maneuvers to avoid rendering accounts to the public.