LatAm countries back Ecuador in Assange case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Xinhua

LatAm countries back Ecuador in Assange case
English.news.cn 2012-08-17 10:40:17

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Latin American countries voiced support Thursday for Ecuador's latest decision to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a move that triggered a diplomatic row between Quito and London.

The members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) -- Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador and three Caribbean island nations -- said in a statement that they "strongly object" to the British threat of raiding Ecuador's embassy in London to seize Assange, who has taken refuge there since June 19.

The statement said Britain would violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and face "grave consequences if the threats are carried out."

~snip~

Jorge Tarud, president of the Chamber of Deputies Foreign Relations Committee in the Chilean Congress, on Thursday asked the Chilean government to give full support to Ecuador on the issue.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/17/c_131791290.htm

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[iemitsu]

2. who would have thought we'd see the day when latin american governments

were so much less corrupt than we?
they put us to shame.

[nc4bo]

3. Astounding isn't it. nt

[Luminous Animal]

16. The West propped up the corrupt at the expense of the people...

the people are finally wresting control.

[HooptieWagon]

4. I'll bet every one of them has a British embassy.

UK allowed US to pull their strings, and stepped into a big steaming pile of shit. Sure makes UK look bad.

[cyclezealot]

8. They aren't called our lapdog for nothing.

[HooptieWagon]

10. Usually not so blatantly, though.

In this case, they just played the fool. Issuing a threat to invade a foreign embassy, with no means of backing up that threat, absolutely makes them look idiotic. First, its in violation of international treaty. Second, US is operating from behind the curtain- they can't publically back UK's threat. Third, in violating diplomatic treaty UK exposes all their embassies, and they don't have resources or even a plan in place to safeguard them. Fourth, UK's rash willingness to escalate the situation casts serious doubt on the validity of the relatively minor sexual misconduct allegations. Ecuador and the countries standing by them look strong in standing up to powerful countries, UK looks like , well... a lapdog.

[zeemike]

5. I don't think the UK wants to go there.

It would be like them telling the Latin American countries that yes we are the colonial power and can do what we want...and you are just a bunch of little puppets on our strings.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. This is remarkable because Latin American countries know exactly

what the US is capable of doing when they want someone.

[malthaussen]

7. Next stop: WWIII begins... in Belize.

This is getting amazing. The more H.M. government keeps this up, the stupider they're going to look. Is it really worth it? Or is it just that Cameron is a twit?

-- Mal

[Fuddnik]

11. Cameron is a twit.

But, he probably cleared it through Rupert first.

[Cleita]

9. Ha! Ha!

I predicted this backlash yesterday.

[JDPriestly]

12. I can understand why national security freaks get goose bumps from fear of what Assange

has shown them is possible. Assange has unleashed a flood of potential security breaches that threaten the way we protect "secrets" and embarrassing facts.

But, Assange is the future. And along with death and taxes, one thing we cannot avoid is the future. Arrest Assange and someone else will begin to do what he did in a different way. Whistleblowers do not create crimes; crimes create whistleblowers. Whistleblowers are just witnesses, just reporters. And Assange was reporting on things that needed, in most cases, to be known by voters.

What national security freaks must remember is that if Britain invades the Ecuadorian embassy to arrest a relatively unimportant individual like Assange, (after all, he is not a mass murderer and is not holding anyone hostage), then no embassy is safe anywhere.

Just recently, the US embassy in Beijing housed a self-proclaimed Chinese dissident. We finally made a deal so that he could leave. I would like to know what happened to that person in the end. He may have been mentally ill, but may have seriously sought refuge from political persecution in our embassy.

So, what Ecuador is doing for Assange is something we have done for dissidents in other countries. If embassies are not safe for political refugees, if embassies can be invaded by the authorities of the countries in which the embassies are located, then we revert to international law under which the strongest and best armed prevail in everything. That is medieval, and we don't need to go there.

No matter what you think about Assange, devil or saint, you have to understand that embassies around the world must be able to harbor political refugees and rescue them from oppression.

And no country can claim to be innocent of all oppression at all times. Doesn't exist.

[bvar22]

22. I hope the future holds worldwide populist movements like those in Latin America.

Our neighbors to the South have managed to wrest their governments from the 1%.
They have give us the Blue Print.

[font size=3]"The worst enemy of humanity is U.S. capitalism. That is what provokes uprisings like our own, a rebellion against a system, against a neoliberal model, which is the representation of a savage capitalism. If the entire world doesn't acknowledge this reality, that nation states are not providing even minimally for health, education and nourishment, then each day the most fundamental human rights are being violated."[/font]
----Bolivian Reform President Evo Morales

[font size=1]Pssst.
FDR said much the same thing in his Economic Bill of Rights,
so there IS precedent here for this kind of movement.[/font]


VIVA Democracy!
I pray we get some here soon!!!



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[GliderGuider]

13. Oh, this is getting juicier by the hour.

First the pretext of "rape" is blown apart by Naomi Wolf, then the Australian diplomatic cables make it clear that Assange is facing a real threat from Amerika, and now the Bolivarian nations (plus at least Chile and Uruguay) are banding together to tell the Brits to fold it till it's all corners and jam it where the sun don't shine.

I haven't had this much fun since the pigs ate my sister.

[robinlynne]

14. i'm afraid thast once Assange makes it to Latin America, blackwater ops will happen.

I mean it will take an army to keep him safe.

[GliderGuider]

15. One worry at a time, I think.

He's still a long way from Ecuador.

[robinlynne]

25. true.

[a la izquierda]

18. I think the US would take much care to tread lightly in Latin America...

one only need to look to Mexico to see the thinly hidden rage boiling just under the surface.

It's everywhere down there.

[riderinthestorm]

19. And one of the rising powerhouses, Brazil, is flexing its muscles. I'm shocked Obama et al are

willing to piss off the very countries that could/will be some of our greatest future trading partners (or piss them off even more than they already are....)

The Central and Latin American countries are finding their way.

Good.

[a la izquierda]

20. Agreed.

But I´m not at all surprised at how the US ever deals with Latin America. It´s been the same damn thing for over a century.

[riderinthestorm]

21. Oh yes, the US's reruns on its foreign policy in Latin America are now shown in black and white

(I can't take credit for that, its all the brilliant leveymg but its too great a line not to repeat....

[tama]

24. And demographically

Latin America is invading and occupying allready large parts of US area and voter base. And they are not just RW Cuban exiles, but ordinary working people driven from their homes by capitalism. Days of the WASP supremacy are long over.

[tama]

23. US operational freedom

in Latin America is not what it used to be. The "Drugwar" cooperation has been cancelled by many states, Embassy staff gets exported pretty easily, general ability to pull strings very much down... when you don't have many friends left, the few friends left have little power, your threats don't get anything done and you're known for what you are, your ability for actions and blackwater ops gets very limited.

[byeya]

17. The one beneficial aspect of Obama's wars and sabre rattling has been his neglect

of Latin America,except for Colombia and Honduras and Paraguay, and this has allowed space for populist people to be elected and take steps to help their populations. I hope they continue to ignore the imperialistic "Monroe Doctrine" and Alliances for Progress and concentrate on helping the people.

[lovuian]

26. the New World Order is going DOWN

there is more to come

America Wake up!

[Monk06]

27. Unfortunately the countries that matter, Brazil, Chile and Argentina did not voice support.

The Bolivarian faction don't have any diplomatic clout.

[HooptieWagon]

28. Venezuela did, and they have clout.

US/UK definitely have handled this in a ham-fisted manner. The days of colonial powers ordering smaller countries around is over... well, except for UK and Sweden being US's lapdogs.

[byeya]

29. Of the world's proven oil reserves, Venezuela has the most, more that Saudi Arabia.

And, Venezuela is a democracy not a dictatorship.
Venezuela has clout as long as they can hold onto their independence.