Ecuadorean minister lists reasons for withdrawal of Assange asylum

[struggle4progress]

Dan Collyns reports from the Ecuadorean capital Quito:

... Finally, there were “multiple inconsistencies” in how Assange had been granted Ecuadorean citizenship and his stay had proved very costly, <José Valencia, the foreign minister> said. Ecuador had spent more $5.8m on its guest’s security between 2012 and 2018 and nearly $400,000 on his medical costs, food and laundry, he added.

Earlier on Thursday, Ecuador’s interior minister, María Paula Romo, said authorities had identified “one of the key member of Wikileaks and people close to Mr Julian Assange” living in the country several years.

“We have sufficient evidence that they have been collaborating with destabilization attempts against the Ecuadorean government,” she said, noting that they had travelled with Ricardo Patiño, the former foreign minister who granted asylum to Assange in 2012, to Peru, Spain and Venezuela.

She added the identity and location of two Russian hackers who were also living in Ecuador would be delivered to the state prosecutor’s office.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2019/apr/11/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-arrested-at-the-ecuadorean-embassy-live-updates

[Maven]

1. Oh, in other words, help Putin mess with other democracies, fine.

Help Putin mess with our government, and you're outta here!

And don't forget your cat!

[struggle4progress]

2. The internal politics of Ecuador may have limited how quickly this silly saga

could have been brought to a conclusion