Ecuador accuses Assange of ‘misbehavior’ to justify his arrest – lawyer

RT

The Ecuadorian authorities have fabricated claims about Julian Assange's alleged "gross misbehavior" at its embassy as a pretext to surrender him to the UK police, the WikiLeaks founder's lawyer said. 

 

"The first thing to say is [that] Ecuador has been making some outrageous allegations," Assange's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, told Sky News on Sunday following the whistleblower's arrest earlier this week. Quito made these claims to divert public attention from its own misdeeds and to "justify the unlawful and extraordinary act of letting police come inside an embassy," she added.

Earlier, Ecuadorian Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo complained about the embassy staff having to tolerate gross misconduct for far too long. The 47-year-old was specifically accused of "putting feces on the walls," among other things. He was also alleged to have left dirty underwear in the lavatory, failed to clean dishes, and left a cooker on.

Apart from that, the embassy staff complained earlier that the WikiLeaks founder also listened to loud music and skateboarded inside the embassy hall at night – claims that make the whistleblower sound like a rowdy teenager.

Robinson dismissed all those allegations as "not true" and hit back by saying that it was the Ecuadorian authorities that eventually turned the whistleblower's life in the embassy into a sort of a solitary confinement as he was holed up for seven years.

"I've been visiting him for the last seven years. This man has been inside a room with no outside access. Inside the embassy, it has become more difficult," the lawyer said, adding that Ecuador's attitude to Assange drastically changed for the worse after its current president, Lenin Moreno, came to power.

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Ecuador’s Globalist Regime Received Billions to Sell Out Julian Assange

Big League Politics

Ecuadorean President Lenín Moreno thrust a dagger into the heart of free speech today after he allowed a foreign country’s authorities into his nation’s embassy in Britain to arrest heroic whistle-blower and award-winning journalist Julian Assange.

What was Moreno’s price to commit this betrayal? A 4.2 billion loan guarantee from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it seems.

The Economist published a profile on Moreno showing how he has reversed the policies of his predecessor, Rafael Correa. Correa was a populist who used oil revenues to fund social programs and stood firmly with Assange.

Moreno has moved Ecuador toward being a submissive vassal state of the globalists, begging international financiers for handouts to keep his corrupt regime afloat.

“Thanks to the firm decisions I have made, we are not what Venezuela is today . . . we have recovered democracy,” Moreno said in February. “This money will create work opportunities for those who have not found something stable.”

 

The IMF deal was announced on the seven-year anniversary of Julian Assange’s asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, hardly a coincidence. It was clear in Moreno’s rhetoric that they were bowing to their global masters and readying to throw Assange under the bus.

“Our government is recovering its credibility,” Moreno said as he sold his nation to the IMF syndicate, also announcing that other globalist entities like Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank would be trampling over Ecuadorean sovereignty as well. “The fact that the world trusts us shows that we are on the right path.”

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Wikileaks Founder Assange Dragged Out of London Embassy in Handcuffs After Ecuador Tears up Asylum Deal

RT

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has spent the last six years. Ecuador's president has announced that the country has withdrawn asylum from Assange.

The eviction follows reports that the Australian founder of the WikiLeaks whistleblowing portal would be handed over to British authorities. Ecuador denied the reports and said it had no intention of stripping him of his protected status, but apparently another decision was made by Quito.

That's only a day after WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson claimed that an extensive spying operation was conducted against Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy. During an explosive media conference Hrafnsson alleged that the operation was designed to get Assange extradited.

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See also: George Galloway: 'Julian Assange exposed great crimes & now a great crime is committed against him'

Ecuador Bows to US and IMF, Entering New Neoliberal Era

Elliot Gabriel

Mint Press News

The warmth displayed by authorities over the past month to visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and the IMF, respectively, further proves that Ecuador is melting back into the arms of international financial interests.

UITO, ECUADOR – Ecuador’s passionate re-embrace of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offers one of the clearest and most dramatic signs that the country’s leadership is dead-set on shedding any vestiges of the “post-neoliberal” era it was said to have entered a decade ago during former President Rafael Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution.

 

The warmth displayed by authorities over the past month to visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and a team from the IMF, respectively, further proves that Ecuador is melting back into the arms of international financial interests. Yet, despite authorities’ almost apologetic attitude toward foreign capital over the spats and breakups of the past, the people of Ecuador appear destined to suffer further abuse at the hands of the domestic and transnational capitalist interests that inflicted such grievous harm on it in the past.

Pence’s visit to the Andean nation last month to meet with President Lenin Moreno offered one such occasion for the groveling attitude the once-proud government of Ecuador has adopted toward the U.S. and IMF. It comes amid the rolling reversal of fortunes faced by the wave of left-nationalist social democratic governments that rose in response to the devastation wrought by U.S.-dictated neoliberalism.

On June 29, Economy and Finance Minister Richard Martinez told reporters at the Carondelet Presidential Palace in Quito, that the country requires U.S. backing to obtain new loans from international institutions amounting to nearly $4 billion.

“We communicated to the vice president the need for support to permit multilateral organizations to generate sources of financing with favorable conditions for Ecuador,” said Martinez.

Days prior, the Ecuadorian presidency received approval from the National Assembly to move forward with the Law on Productive Development, which critics blasted as a threat to the country’s social services and welfare programs. The law will require that the government approves only budgets that result in revenue — i.e., taxes– outweighing expenditures on such vital state functions as public education, health care, national defense and public security.

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Victory for Assange: Court of Human Rights orders safe passage of Wikileaks founder out of embassy

Adam Garrie
Eurasia Futures

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights based in Costa Rica is a multinational independent judicial body which handles court cases relating to the human rights of individuals in or effected by the laws of the members states of the Organization of American States (OAS). At present the OAS is comprised of every North American, Central American and South American nation, although Venezuela has expressed a desire to withdraw from the body.

Today, the Court ruled that it is the duty of nations to allow for the passage of successful asylum seekers from embassies to the mainland territory of the state that has granted an individual asylum. For Julian Assange, this would mean that according to the Court's decision, Britain has a legal obligation to allow Julian Assange to exit the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in peace and allow for his safe transit to an airport from which he would be able to fly to Ecuador, the country that has granted Assange asylum and where he now also holds formal citizenship.

Relevant portions of the press release from the Court can be read below:

"The Court interpreted the reach of the protection given under Article 22(7) of the American Convention on Human Rights and Article XXVII of the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, which recognize the right to seek and receive asylum in a foreign territory. In particular, the Court declared upon the relative issue of whether this human right protects both territorial asylum and diplomatic asylum.

Similarly, the Court determined the human rights obligations of Member States of the Organization of American States regarding the host country and, in this case, for third States, in virtue of the risk that persons seeking international protection could suffer, which was the reason for the principle of non-refoulement.

Starting with the inclusion of the term "in a foreign territory" within the instruments, (which clearly refers to the protection derived from territorial asylum as opposed to diplomatic asylum), and in an analysis of the preparatory work of the American Declaration regarding the choice of the States to omit the concept of diplomatic asylum as a protected classification under such human rights norms, the Court held that, given the protections enshrined by Article 22(7) of the American Convention and Article XXVII of the American Declaration, the right to seek and receive asylum can be contemplated as a human right to seek and receive international protection in a foreign territory, including refugee status under the relevant United Nations instruments or corresponding national laws as well as territorial asylum under the different Inter-American conventions on the topic.

Similarly, the Court concluded that the scope and breadth of diplomatic asylum should be governed by the appropriate interstate conventions and the provisions of internal legislation, considering that the States have the sovereign right to choose whether to grant such asylum.

In addition, the Court emphasized that the general obligations established by the American Convention are applicable to the conduct of diplomatic agents deployed to the territories of third States, whenever the nexus of personal jurisdiction can be established with the particular person. In this vein, the Court considered that the ambit of protection against refoulement (that is, the prohibition on sending a person back to the territory in which their life, integrity, security, and/or liberty may be at risk due to persecution or threat of persecution, generalized violence, or massive human rights violations, among others, as well as where they run the risk of being subjected to torture or other cruel, degrading, or inhuman treatment, or to a third State from which they could be sent to a territory where they could incur these risks) is not only limited to persons who may be found in the territory of the State, but also obliges States extraterritorially whenever authorities exercise their authority or effective control over such persons, as may happen in legations, that, by their own nature, may be in the territory of another State with that State's consent and authorization.

The Court added that host States under whose jurisdiction the person falls who had requested protection in diplomatic headquarters have the obligation to adopt positive measures regarding an individualized evaluation of risk, such as the opportunity of a personal interview or a preliminary evaluation of the risk of refoulement, as well as the obligation to adopt adequate means of protection, including those against arbitrary detention. Thus, States must arbitrate all the necessary means to protect persons in the event of a real risk to their life, integrity, liberty, or security if they were sent back. Similarly, since the legal status of the person cannot stay in limbo or be prolonged indefinitely, States must adopt measures which expedite suitable safe passage, which is why the Court recalled that the duty of cooperation between States in the promotion and observance of human rights is an erga omnes norm".

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Ecuador to Expel Assange from its London Embassy?

Stephen Lendman
stephenlendman.org

In August 2012, Ecuador granted WikiLeaks founder, director and editor-in-chief Julian Assange asylum in its London embassy - granting him citizenship in December 2017. He's been there since June 2012. If he steps out of the embassy, Washington wants him arrested and extradited to America.

Whistleblowers exposing government wrongdoing are endangered in the US. Anyone exposing its high crimes and/or other dirty secrets is vulnerable. Challenging the nation's policies, no matter how heinous, risks severe punishment.

As CIA director, neocon extremist Mike Pompeo falsely accused Assange of causing "great harm to our nation's national security." He lied calling WikiLeaks "a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia." 

In 2012, a secret grand jury convened. A sealed indictment followed, allegedly accusing Assange of spying under the long ago outdated 1917 Espionage Act, enacted shortly after America's entry into WW I - used to prosecute, convict and imprison Chelsea Manning.

Neocon Attorney General Jeff Sessions prioritizes arresting, prosecuting and imprisoning Assange, earlier saying: "(I)t is a priority. We've already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail" like Assange for whistleblowing.

In late March, his Internet access was cut off. New restrictions limit his outside communications - his phone privileges and visits from colleagues and others banned, according to WikiLeaks. 

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Ecuadorian Embassy Adds New Rules For Julian Assange — No Visitors, Phone Calls Or Internet

Aaron Kesel
Activist Post

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arbitrarily detained according to the UN for almost 8 years. Now Ecuador has expanded that arbitrary detainment to solitary confinement by forbidding Assange from any human contact including visitations, phone calls and barring his Internet usage. All without Assange ever being convicted of a crime besides publishing documents exposing corruption shedding light on the truth.

In March, Ecuador and its leader Lenín Moreno pulled the plug on Julian Assange’s Internet connection. Then, Ecuador further demanded Assange remove a specific tweet referencing a foreign political prisoner Carles Puigdemont. The irony here is that Ecuador accused Assange of “interfering in a state” for mentioning another political prisoner and Assange himself had more of his own rights taken away.

“In 1940 the elected president of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, was captured by the Gestapo, at the request of Spain, delivered to them and executed. Today, German police have arrested the elected president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, at the request of Spain, to be extradited,” Assange tweeted.

Now Ecuador has clarified its position on Julian Assange’s asylum by drafting new rules limiting his communications according to WikiLeaks.

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Ecuador. The CIA agent known as Swat, plus others

Strategic Culture Foundation

A mural hanging inside the Ecuadorian parliament building by the famous Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamín, titled «Imagen de la Patria», includes an image of a grinning skull in a helmet emblazoned with the acronym «CIA». When the mural was first unveiled in August 1988, Guayasamín explained that this image epitomized all the foreign threats to his native country. And for almost three decades this «CIA skull» has gazed out at the deputies in parliament with a sinister grin.

The CIA’s fingerprints are visible in dozens of incidents in Ecuador in which politicians who threatened US foreign policy were eliminated. For example, in May 1981 the airplane carrying President Jaime Roldós crashed in the province of Loja, a mountainous region of Ecuador. President Reagan had had a hostile relationship with the Ecuadorians: Roldós had refused the invitation to his inauguration and maintained friendly relations with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the Cuban government. He also demonstrated his solidarity with the Revolutionary Democratic Front in El Salvador, which opposed the military dictatorship. Roldós was planning to reorganize Ecuador’s oil industry, jeopardizing the interests of transnational oil corporations. Roldós was discarded because of a «whole array of grievances».

Once Rafael Correa took office, the CIA stepped up its work in Ecuador.

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Giant skeletons uncovered in Ecuador and Peru Amazon regions sent for scientific testing

Liz Leafloor
Ancient Origins

Strikingly tall skeletons uncovered in the Ecuador and Peru Amazon region are undergoing examination in Germany, according to a research team headed by British anthropologist Russell Dement. Will these remains prove that a race of tall people existed hundreds of years ago deep in the Amazonian rainforest?

According to a Cuenca news site, since 2013 the team has found half a dozen human skeletons dating to the early 1400s and the mid-1500s which measure between seven and eight feet (213 to 243 centimeters) in height.

Dement said,

"We are very early in our research and I am only able to provide a general overview of what we have found. I don't want to make claims based on speculation since our work is ongoing. Because of the size of the skeletons, this has both anthropological and medical implications," reports Cuenca Highlife.

Skeletal Remains in Ecuador and Peru

In late 2013 Dement received word that a skeleton had been uncovered by a Shuar local, approximately 70 miles (112 kilometers) from Cuenca, in Loja Province, Ecuador. Dement traveled to the site and recovered a rib cage and skull of a female which had been exposed by flooding. The bones were thought to date to 600 years ago. The rest of the skeleton was located and, once assembled, reportedly measured seven feet, four inches (223.5 centimeters) in height.
This prompted the formation of a research team including four researchers from Freie Universität in Germany, and the assistance of Shuar locals. Funding was provided by the university for excavation and investigation.

Recognizing it is a controversial area of research, Dement noted "Even though I had been working with Freie for many years, I was concerned that they might not give a grant for someone looking for giants. To outsiders, especially scientists, I understand this sounds a little hair-brained. [...]

"Because of the sensational nature of this, we have to be extremely diligent in our research since it will be met with a great deal of skepticism," he said.

Within six months of excavations and mapping at two different sites: the one outside of Cuenca, and another settlement dating to about 1550, approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers) away on the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border, the team had found five more tall skeletons, as well as artifacts. It is believed by Dement and colleagues that the tribe at the second site had been at the settlement for at least 150 years.

The three complete skeletons and two partial skeletons had no disfiguration and suggested they were relatively healthy.

Dement said,

"The skeletons show no signs of diseases such as the hormonal growth problems that are common in most cases of gigantism. In all the skeletons, the joints seemed healthy and lung cavity appeared large. One of the skeletons that we have dated was of a female who was about 60 when she died, much older than typical cases of gigantism," reports Cuenca Highlife.

The burials were elaborate. Bodies were wrapped in leaves and buried in thick clay. This sealed the skeletons and protected against water intrusion, leaving the remains in fairly good condition. 

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The Face of Empire in Latin America (Part 1)

New Eastern Outlook

In his landmark post-colonial work Culture and Imperialism, the world renowned public intellectual and critical theorist Edward Said wrote, “Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.”

Here, Said is highlighting a fundamental aspect of the hegemony of the Western imperial system in the late 20^th and early 21^st Centuries: the need for dominance over the physical, political, and discursive space. Specifically, Said argued correctly that contemporary imperialism seeks far more than simply control over land and resources – it seeks a monopoly on information, ideology, and language.

Nowhere is this fact more apparent than in what used to be considered the United States’ imperial backyard: Latin America. The untimely death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the great unifier of Latin America in the 21^st Century, did little to stem the tide of independence from US political and economic institutions. In fact, it seems that the independent-minded leaders of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and other countries in the region, have followed Chavez’s lead in retaking control over their nations’ futures. From the expulsion of US military and intelligence forces, to Latin American governments’ taking on powerful multinational corporations, indications that the region is more independent than ever before are now unmistakable.

And so, it is against this backdrop that Washington attempts to reassert its control either directly through its military, or indirectly through destabilizations using a vast array of weapons of “soft power.” It is precisely this “soft power” – the ability to influence events using non-military, non-coercive means – that is at the forefront of the US strategy to maintain hegemony in Latin America. Taken in tandem, Washington’s cocktail of hard and soft power is at the root of the US’s Latin American policy today.

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The Tungurahua volcano spews lava

Reuters (tumblr)
 
The Tungurahua volcano spews lava as pictured from the city of Huambalo, Ecuador, February 3, 2014. An orange alert was issued in response to the volcanic activity. REUTERS/Cris Toala Olivares