The contribution predates formal charges, but allegations against the donor were already public.
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Republican U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar has repeatedly drawn scrutiny over campaign contributions from controversial donors.
Now, she is facing pressure to explain and return one she received last election cycle from a man charged in an assassination plot.
As detailed by reporter Francisco Alvarado of The Miamian, Salazar accepted $3,000 in 2024 from Xavier Jordán, an Ecuadorian developer who faces charges for allegedly helping to arrange the 2023 killing of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
It’s not the first time she has received financial help from a sketchy character, and now Salazar’s Democratic challenger, fellow Cuban American former TV anchor Eliott Rodriguez, is calling for an investigation into the matter.
Federal filings show Jordán contributed to Salazar’s prior re-election campaign on Oct. 29, 2024. Ecuadorian prosecutors charged him in September 2025 for directing and financing the assassination plot, and a month later, FBI agents raided Jordán’s Kendall home.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Jordán Sept. 16 on immigration grounds. That detention is separate from Ecuador’s criminal proceedings and efforts to secure his extradition.
Photos included in The Miamian report establish that Salazar and Jordán met, but do not confirm the encounter’s date, location or the extent of their relationship.
Villavicencio was shot dead in Quito on Aug. 9, 2023. Jordán had sued him for defamation earlier that year, then voluntarily dismissed the case two weeks after his death, according to court records Alvarado reviewed.
Miami lawyer Richard J. Diaz, who has represented Jordán and also donated to Salazar, told Alvarado he could not recall whether he introduced them. Diaz disputed the assassination allegations, saying he possessed witness statements and forensic evidence contradicting them. He also questioned whether Salazar could have known about the accusations when she received the money.
Alvarado noted that Jordán sued Ecuador’s then-Attorney General in 2024 over CNN comments allegedly linking him to the killing.
Alvarado reported that Salazar did not answer The Miamian’s request for comment. Her campaign did not immediately respond to a related query Thursday from Florida Politics.
The Jordán donation revelation follows Miami Herald reporting that Honduran businessman Lenir Pérez spent $112,000 this year toward re-electing Salazar and other allied candidates — $7,000 to Salazar directly and $105,000 to affiliated fundraising and leadership committees.
Pérez faces environmental charges involving alleged unauthorized extraction of minerals and forest resources at a Honduran national park. Several opponents of the mining project have been killed, but the Herald reported no formal connection between Pérez and those deaths.
He denied wrongdoing, and his company said its operations protect the environment and provide employment.
Salazar did not respond to the newspaper’s questions about the donations or about a documented visit she made to Pérez’s Wellington estate, where she also met with Tomás Zambrano, President of the National Congress of Honduras.
Two other donors have drawn scrutiny over connections to Cuba’s government.
Former U.S. Ambassador Manuel Rocha gave $750 to Salazar’s campaign during the 2022 cycle. He later pleaded guilty to secretly serving Cuba and received a 15-year prison sentence. Before the plea and sentencing, Salazar’s campaign said it would return the money.
WLRN reported in September that Fernando Valdés Pérez, whom federal authorities identified as a Cuban intelligence agent, gave Salazar $3,900 across two election cycles before his deportation.
Salazar described his donations as unsolicited and pledged an equivalent contribution to groups advocating Cuban freedom.
Rodriguez, a former CBS News Miami anchor, called the donation another failure of judgment by Salazar, who is running for a fourth term representing Florida’s 27th Congressional District.
“Once is a mistake. Twice is a problem. Three times, it’s a scandal. This fourth incident is now disqualifying,” he said.
“This behavior from Salazar is not surprising given her history (of) accepting campaign contributions from communist spies and criminal thugs. The voters of District 27 deserve answers. … Silence is not accountability nor the behavior of someone who swore an oath to the American people.”
Rodriguez wants Salazar to refund the contribution, explain their introduction and disclose when she learned of the allegations. He also asked whether Jordán requested or obtained help from her congressional office.
CD 27 in Miami-Dade County includes Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Key Biscayne, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, South Miami, West Miami and portions of Miami.
Election Day is Nov. 3.
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