Ecuador President Threatens to Decide Assanges Fate Over Scandal
April 2, 2019
Ecuadors president is threatening to soon decide on Julian Assanges refuge
after his government falsely accused WikiLeaks of publishing files about a
scandal that threatens to bring the president down, as Elizabeth Vos
reports.
By Elizabeth Vos
Special to Consortium News
Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno said Tuesday he would decide in the short
term the fate of Julian Assange after claiming that WikiLeaks had
repeatedly violated the terms of Assanges asylum in Ecuadors London
embassy by commenting on a scandal linking a Panamanian investment company
with Moreno and his family.
Those conditions, or protocol, were imposed by Ecuador on Assange in March
2018 and bar him from commenting publicly on political matters in exchange
for being allowed to remain a refugee in the embassy. Assange never agreed
to the protocol, which contradicts international refugee law guaranteeing
freedom of expression. In addition there is protocol on WikiLeaks, which
still has a working Twitter account.
Ecuadors President Lenin Moreno stated today that Assange has violated
the conditions of his asylum and that he will take a decision in the
short term after @WikiLeaks reported on the existence of the #INAPapers
offshore corruption scandal wracking his government, WikiLeaks tweeted
Tuesday.
WikiLeaks had reported about the scandal allegedly involving Moreno and his
family with INA Investments Corp, though WikiLeaks has not published any
documents related to the case. Morenos spokesman, however, has implied that
WikiLeaks has. A search of Wikileaks website shows no such files.
According to Telesur English the scandal came to light in February when
Ecuadorian legislator Ronny Aleaga told reporters he had received a dossier
anonymously filled with documents that will implicate Lenin Moreno and his
family in alleged crimes of corruption, perjury and money laundering. The
dossier has come to be known as the INA Papers.
Moreno: Feeling the heat.
The story was first reported by the Ecuadorian news outlet La Fuente in an
article titled: The Offshore Labyrinth of the Presidential Circle.
Ecuadorian media reported that the attorney generals office has initiated a
preliminary investigation and that Aleaga would be summoned on Thursday to
give his version and acknowledge his complaint.
The president of the National Assembly, Elizabeth Cabezas, has also come
under investigation after allegedly trying to prevent an investigation into
the scandal, the state-owned El Universo newspaper reported.
Blaming WikiLeaks
The embattled Moreno has lashed out at WikiLeaks and Assange.
Ecuadors Presidential spokesman claimed last night that Maduro, Assange
and the countrys opposition leader, @MashiRafael are trying to bring down
the government, after an embarrassing offshore and lavish spending scandal
[@INAPapers / #INAPapers] arose, WikiLeaks tweeted last week.
The Ecuadorian newspaper el Telegrafo reported:
The Australian founded the WikiLeaks portal, which in the last days
broadcast press releases and images of the private life of President Lenin
Moreno. The leaks made by WikiLeaks on electronic communications of the
president Lenin Moreno will motivate legal actions, on the international
level, against the directors of said website, as announced by the Chancellor
of Ecuador José Valencia.
Moreno appears to have attempted to deflect from the growing scandal by
using it as a pretext to blame WikiLeaks and expel Assange.
The former consul at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Fidel Narvaez,
countered Morenos accusation by saying that WikiLeaks never published the
INA Papers, but merely tweeted about the subject.
Narvaez wrote:
It is absurd that the government of Lenin Moreno intends to link Assange
with publications of pages totally unrelated to Wikileaks, or with contents
of the New York Times, and it would be ridiculous for the prosecution to
investigate a leak that does not exist, but only in the false news
published by the newspaper that you [Lenin Moreno] direct.
He added: Exactly one year ago, the government of Lenin Moreno has isolated
Julian Assange in a regime that is almost a prison, who since then has not
issued a single tweet. The government is looking for a pretext to end
Julians asylum and prepares the conditions to subject the country to
historical humiliation.
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In a separate article, translated electronically, Narvaez argued: Despite
being an outrageous accusation, the farce has gone so far that the
Ecuadorian National Assembly has issued a resolution to investigate Julian
and that it emboldens the government to take measures to Protect national
interests. In short, the government seeks a false pretext to end the asylum
and protection of Julian Assange.
Assange in better days,2017.
Attorney and author Eva Golinger, a Latin America analyst, also wrote via
Twitter (translated electronically): This [accusation] is completely false.
Wikileaks did not leak any document about the corruption of Lenin Moreno.
They only sent a tweet referring to the evidence about the illicit actions
of Lenin that had been published by other media. Blaming Assange is
irresponsible.
Golinger added in a separate tweet: These false accusations are part of
@Lenins efforts to justify the illegal rendition of Julian Assange to the
United States. Since there is no legal basis for doing so, they are making
things up. Dangerous, irresponsible and an abuse of human rights.
Morenos accusations were echoed by major Ecuadorian news outlets such as el
Telegrafo, which reported that Ecuadors secretary of communication had
accused Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro of financing the attacks of
Julian Assange, to end the peace of Ecuador and the region, and even links
the former Ecuadorian president in the plan.
Last December, the The New York Times reported that in May 2017, Paul
Manafort flew to Ecuador for negotiations with President Moreno, during
which Moreno discussed handing over Assange in exchange for concessions
like debt relief from the United States. The Times quoted three people
familiar with the talks, the details of which have not been previously
reported.
Assange sought and received asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in
June 2012. He fears that if he leaves the embassy he will be arrested for
skipping bail and extradited to the United States for publishing classified
documents. Under the previous government of President Rafael Correa, the
Ecuadorian government was largely supportive of Assange, an attitude that
has shifted markedly under Moreno.
The INA Papers scandal has continued to weaken the already-unpopular Moreno
government. Correa tweeted (translated electronically) on Sunday: The end
has arrived! There is despair in Carondelet [presidential palace]. In a
matter of hours, Moreno will try to leave because of health issues. The
reality: he knows he is guilty. We have shown who the corrupt were always. I
only apologize for trusting this rascal.
Elizabeth Vos is a freelance journalist and contributor to Consortium News.
