How Ecuadors President Gave Up Assange
April 17, 2019
Lenin Moreno was desperate to ingratiate his government with Washington and
distract the public from his mounting scandals, writes the Grayzones Denis
Rogatyuk.
P
olice ejecting Assange from embassy, April 11, 2019. (YouTube)
By Denis Rogatyuk
Grayzone
The images of six Metropolitan police officers dragging Julian Assange out
of the Ecuadorian embassy in London have enraged citizens around the world.
Many have warned that if he is extradited to the U.S. for trial on
conspiracy charges and possibly much more if federal prosecutors have
their way it will lead to the criminalization of many standard
journalistic practices. These scenes were only possible thanks to the
transformation of Ecuadors government under the watch of President Lenin
Moreno.
Since at least December 2018, Moreno has been working towards expelling the
Wikileaks publisher from the embassy. The Ecuadorian presidents behavior
represents a stunning reversal of the policies of his predecessor, Rafael
Correa, the defiantly progressive leader who authorized Assanges asylum
back in 2012, and who now lives in exile.
While Ecuadors Foreign Minister Jose Valencia blamed his governments
expulsion of Assange on the Australian journalists rudeness, the sellout
is clearly a byproduct of Morenos right-leaning agenda.
Political instability has swept across Ecuador since revelations of
widespread corruption in Morenos inner circle emerged. The scandal
coincided with Morenos turn towards neoliberal economic reforms, from
implementing a massive IMF loan package to the gradual and total embrace and
support for U.S. foreign policy in the region. In his bid to satisfy
Washington and deflect from his own problems, Moreno was all too eager to
sacrifice Assange.
Moreno in 2012. (Cancillería del Ecuador via Flickr)
Moreno in 2012. (Cancillería del Ecuador
via Flickr)
INA Papers Scandal
WikiLeakss decision to re-publish the details of Morenos use of off-shore
bank accounts in Panama, titled INA Papers after the name of the shell
corporation at the center of the scandal (INA Investment Corporation),
appear to be the main cause for the presidents decision to expel Assange
from the embassy.
Ecuadorian Communications Minister Andrés Michelena went as far as claiming
that the INA Papers were a conspiracy plot between Julian Assange, the
former President Rafael Correa and the current Venezuelan President Nicolás
Maduro.
The INA Papers scandal has cast a long shadow on Morenos regime and
shattered its pledge to fight against institutional corruption. The scandal
reveals that a close associate of Moreno, Xavier Macias, lobbied for the
contract of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric power plant (valued at $2.8
billion) as well as the ZAMORA 3000 MW plant to be awarded Sinohydro, a
Chinese state-owned construction company.
The financial trail from the Chinese corporation passed through bank
accounts in Panama belonging to INA Investment Corporation a shell company
originally founded in Belize, a notable tax haven, by Edwin Moreno Garcés,
the brother of the current president. The most crucial pieces of evidence
indicate that the INA Investment funds were used to purchase a large
apartment in Alicante, Spain, and a number of luxury items for Moreno and
his family in Geneva, during his time as a special envoy on disability
rights for the United Nations.
As the pressure mounted on Moreno, the attorney general of Ecuador issued a
statement on March 19th, indicating that it had commenced an investigation
into the INA Papers scandal involving the president and his family. Next, on
March 27th, the National Assembly of Ecuador approved a vote in favor of
investigating Morenos alleged off-shore bank dealings in Panama. According
to Ecuador Inmediato, 153 public service officials, along with all members
of the National Assembly, were also included in the initial public hearing
scheduled for April 1st.
The corruption scandal came amid a number of other prominent crises
disrupting both the Moreno administration and the Ecuadorian economy. The
local and regional elections of March 24th, as well as the election to the
Council of Citizens Participation and Social Control (CPCCS) on March 24th,
have been riddled with a series of controversies and irregularities with
regards to vote counts and allegations of fraud, including the attempts to
invalidate null votes, disqualify and smear the candidates endorsed by
ex-President Rafael Correa. The stunning lack of transparency and legitimacy
was highlighted by a report of the mission of electoral observers of the
Organisation of American States.
Todd Chapman, U.S. ambassador to Ecuador. (Inter-American Dialouge, vai
Flickr)
Todd Chapman, U.S. ambassador to Ecuador. (Inter-American Dialogue, via
Flickr)
In an unusual twist, the U.S. ambassador, Todd Chapman, was spotted visiting
the headquarters of Ecuadors National Electoral Council during the March
24th elections and allegedly participated as an official electoral observer
in the elections. This display of interference was widely condemned on
social media as illegal under the current electoral rules, which forbid
foreign powers from playing any active role in the electoral process. But in
Morenos Ecuador, it was a perfect symbol of the new status quo.
IMF Deal
During the recent meeting of the executive board of the IMF, the financial
body approved a loan package of $4.2 billion to the government of Lenin
Moreno for what it called a more dynamic, sustainable, and inclusive
economy for the benefit of all Ecuadorians. The agreement coincided with
layoffs of over 10,000 public sector workers, in addition to the ongoing
policy of slashing in public and social spending, a decrease in the minimum
wage and the removal of secure work protections that marked the sharp
neoliberal turn of the Ecuadorian government under Moreno.
The IMF deal coincided with the intensifying attempts by the Ecuadorian
government to proceed with the expulsion of Julian Assange from its London
embassy. His arrest therefore stands as a sign that Moreno is willing to
give up any part of his countrys sovereignty political, diplomatic, or
economic to comply with the demands of international finance.
The same pattern has been seen in Morenos increasing level of collaboration
with the Trump administration and its foreign policy in Latin America. From
holding private meetings with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort,
to publicly hosting Vice President Mike Pence in the Ecuadorian presidential
palace, to authorizing the opening of a new Security Cooperation Office in
place of the old U.S. military base in Manta, Morenos embrace of Trumps
Monroeist policy towards Latin America has become all too apparent.
At the same time, Moreno has gone to great lengths to undo the progress of
Latin American unity and integration initiated by his predecessor and other
progressive leaders in the region.
On March 13th, Moreno announced that Ecuador would leave the Union of South
American Nations (UNASUR), founded in 2008 by leaders of South Americas
so-called pink tide: Nestor Kirchner of Argentina, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela
and Lula Da Silva of Brazil. The project was inspired by the long-standing
vision of Simon Bolivar who envisaged South America as a federation of
republics. UNASUR was meant to consolidate the growing economic and
political integration among the increasingly progressive governments across
the region, ultimately emulating the current structure of the European
Union.
Moreno complained in his press release that UNASUR has been compromised by
the lack of participation of the right-leaning governments in the region, as
well as what he called, irresponsible actions of certain leaders that
replicated the worst vices of socialism of the 21st Century.
Correa in 2013. (Wikimedia Commons)
Correa in 2013. (Wikimedia Commons)
In a manner similar to Francisco Santander and the project of Gran Colombia
during the 1820s, Moreno has opted for a pro-U.S. foreign policy and
commercial relations based on free trade and economic liberalization. He has
also followed the path of other right-wing leaders in the region such as
Brazils Jair Bolsonaro and Argentinas Mauricio Macri in officially
recognizing Juan Guaidó as the president of Venezuela. Moreno was even among
the attendees of the founding summit of Prosur, a newly convened regional
bloc of U.S.-aligned neoliberal governments.
Morenos decision to silence Julian Assange and expel him enabled the
president to gain the trust of the Trump administration while distracting
the Ecuadorian public and international media from his mounting crises at
home. From corrupt dealing in off-shore bank accounts, the fraudulent
elections of March 24th and his mishandling of the Ecuadorian economy,
Moreno is in a world of trouble.
This has not escaped the notice of Correa, Ecuadors former president. After
having his page blocked on Facebook, Correa stated that In his hatred,
because Wikileaks published corruption of INA papers, Moreno wanted to
destroy Assanges life. He probably did it, but he has also done a huge
damage to the country. Who will trust in ECUADOR again?
Overall, Ecuador has come to resemble the neoliberal regimes of the 1990s
across the continent, with IMF-sanctioned austerity, increasingly unstable
state institutions and an almost complete obedience to the U.S. foreign
policy in the region becoming the new policy standard. Handing Assange over
for possible extradition to the U.S. was the inevitable result of Morenos
turn to the right, but it is hardly the end of his sell out.
Denis Rogatyuk is a Russian-Australian freelance writer, journalist and
researcher. His articles, interviews and analysis have been published in a
variety of media sources around the world including Jacobin, Le Vent Se
Léve, Sputnik, Green Left Weekly, Links International Journal, Alborada and
others.
