Ecuador Jilted Assange as It Sought to Build Ties With U.S.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Ecuador’s diplomatic protection of Julian Assange once allowed the small Andean nation’s leftist government to antagonize its U.S. foe and argue that it was defending free speech, while cracking down on the press at home.

But after seven years and a new government, that relationship frayed, as President Lenín Moreno sought to improve Ecuador’s relations with the U.S.

After calling the WikiLeaks founder an “inherited problem,” Mr. Moreno on Thursday revoked Mr. Assange’s asylum, allowing his arrest. Officials described him as an intolerable tenant at its London embassy, accusing him of blocking security cameras, mistreating guards and once spreading feces on the walls.

“The patience of Ecuador has reached its limit,” Mr. Moreno said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ecuador-jilted-assange-as-it-sought-to-build-ties-with-us/ar-BBVS6DS?li=BBnbcA1

[RandySF]

1. They held an accused rapist and bad house guest.

More details emerged later, when Foreign Minister José Valencia told Congress that Assange had been using a mobile phone not registered with the embassy, repeatedly insulted the mission's workers - reportedly calling them US spies - and damaged the facilities by riding his skateboard and playing football, despite being told not to do so.

Cleaning staff, Mr Valencia said, had described "improper hygienic conduct" throughout Assange's stay, an issue that a lawyer had attributed to "stomach problems". One unnamed senior Ecuadorean official told AP news agency that other issues included "weeks without a shower" and a "dental problem born of poor hygiene".

Interior Minister María Paula Romo then complained that Assange had been allowed to do things like "put faeces on the walls of the embassy and other behaviours of that nature".

But Vaughan Smith, a friend who visited Assange last week, told Reuters that he rejected this claim. "Julian has been under stress but seemed in a balanced frame of mind every time I have seen him. It doesn't seem in character," Mr Smith said.

Mr Valencia added that the decision was taken to prevent a further deterioration of Assange's health, without giving details. Quoting an unnamed friend, the New York Times said Assange had become deeply depressed and that diplomats - many of them recently appointed by the Moreno administration - were tired of his behaviour.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47907600

[mitch96]

2. "It Sought to Build Ties With U.S."

Ahhhh bullshit.. Follow the money. It's all about the money. They want money for giving up
Assange. Hell if we can send pallets of cash to Afghanistan, why not Ecuador?
m