[Peace-discuss] A Crime Humanity Will Never Forget': Ecuador's Former President Rafael Correa Condemns Successor for Stripping Assange's Asylum Status

[David Johnson]

A Crime Humanity Will Never Forget': Ecuador's Former President Rafael
Correa Condemns Successor for Stripping Assange's Asylum Status

"From now on and across the world," said former president, "scoundrel and
betrayal can be summarized in two words: Lenin Moreno."

by

 <https://www.commondreams.org/author/jon-queally-staff-writer> Jon Queally,
staff writer

 
<https://commons.commondreams.org/t/a-crime-humanity-will-never-forget-ecuad
ors-former-president-rafael-correa-condemns-successor-for-stripping-assanges
-asylum-status/62436> 10 Comments

https://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_large/public/head
lines/correa_assange_moreno.jpg?itok=azAhoRc6

Wikileaks founder and publisher Julian Assange talking with then President
of Ecuador Rafael Correa via video stream in 2012. (Photo: Wikileaks)

The former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, on Thursday morning slammed
his right-wing successor, President Lenin Moreno, as a the nation's
"greatest traitor" for stripping Julian Assange of his protected asylum
status and invited U.K. police to
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/11/wikileaks-founder-julian-assan
ge-dragged-out-ecuadorian-embassy-arrested-uk-police> enter the Ecuadorian
embassy in London to arrest the Wikileaks publisher.

"The greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history, Lenin
Moreno," Correa stated in a tweet, "allowed the British police to enter our
embassy in London to arrest Assange. Moreno is a corrupt man, but what he
has done is a crime that humanity will never forget."

While Moreno  <https://twitter.com/Lenin/status/1116271455602393088>
explained in a video posted online that his decision to withdraw Assange's
diplomatic asylum was over repeated violations of "international conventions
and protocols of coexistence," Correa responded with utter contempt.

"This will never be forgotten by the whole of humanity," Correa
<https://twitter.com/MashiRafael/status/1116305177739444229> declared. "One
of the most heinous acts, the fruit of servility, vileness and vengeance."

"From now on and across the world," Correa added in a
<https://twitter.com/MashiRafael/status/1116305416928014339> subsequent
tweet, "scoundrel and betrayal can be summarized in two words: Lenin
Moreno."

It was Correa
<https://www.commondreams.org/views/2012/08/16/julian-assange-asylum-ecuador
-right-stand-us> in 2012 who first granted Assange political asylum over
fears that the journalist was being targeted by some of the powerful enemies
he had made—including the United States and the U.K.—by publishing highly
sensitive documents and other materials, including evidence of war crimes.

When announcing the decision at the time, Ecuador's foreign minister,
Ricardo Patiño, explained that the decision was made specifically because
Assange could face "political persecution" or be extradited to the U.S.
where he could potentially be put to death if tried and convicted under the
arcane Espionage Act.

"The government of Ecuador, faithful to its tradition of protecting those
who seek refuge in its territory or in its diplomatic missions, has decided
to grant diplomatic asylum to Julian Assange," Patiño declared in 2012.

Since the news of Assange's arrest broke early Thursday morning, human
rights defenders and press freedom advocates have condemned the joint move
of the Ecuadorian and U.K. governments.

 

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