... “Mr. Snowden is not in Ecuadorean territory and to process an asylum request

[struggle4progress]

that is what is required,” the country’s president, Rafael Correa, said during a news conference on Thursday in Quevedo, in western Ecuador. “We received the asylum request, we have studied it and that is precisely the first conclusion, that to process it to finally approve it or deny it he must be in Ecuadorean territory.”

Asked if he had considered bringing Mr. Snowden to Ecuador or to one of his country’s embassies, he said, “No.”

Mr. Correa also disputed assertions made earlier in the week by Mr. Assange and others that Mr. Snowden had been given travel documents by Ecuador that assured him safe passage to the country.

“The government has not authorized any safe conduct or refugee permit for Mr. Snowden,” Mr. Correa said. Referring to a safe conduct document that appeared to have been issued by Ecuador’s embassy in London, he said that if it turned out to be authentic, “whoever issued it is totally without authority” ...

Obama, in Remarks, Seeks to Play Down Snowden’s Import
By ELLEN BARRY, MICHAEL D. SHEAR and WILLIAM NEUMAN
Published: June 27, 2013

[railsback]

1. Sounds like Correa is madder at Assange than anyone else

Seems to be settling down a bit, getting his bearings. I'd say Ecuador is off Snowden's list of places to hide out.

[struggle4progress]

2. There may be a complex and interesting backstory to Ecuador's "asylum" grant to Assange, because

before Assange even sought "asylum," there were several false starts in which one or another lower-level Ecuadorian functionary told the press Assange would be granted "asylum," only to have higher-level folk deny it. I've read at least one analysis piece suggesting that Correa was opposed to the "asylum" idea but lost control of the situational politics. Another recent analysis, which I posted here at DU, suggested that Ana Alban is being withdrawn from London due to her failure to resolve the London embassy situation

If someone unknown put a phony Ecuadorian travel document into Snowden's hands, my cynical first bet would be that Mr Assange pilfered some embassy papers one night, copied onto them the text of some similar safe-travel document that Ecuador had given him in the course of the circus related "asylum" circus, then handed them over to his sometime girlfriend, Sarah Harrison, to hand to Snowden in the course of the flight from Hong Kong: it's very unlikely that embassy staff would issue some documents in improper form and without proper authorization

[Zorro]

3. Yes indeed

and if Julian "decides" to walk out of the embassy to meet his fate in the next few weeks, it might be because he was invited to leave for taking such liberties.

[flamingdem]

4. That's interesting

That this document could have come from Assange - it had the name but not signature of the consul Fidel something.

Also interesting is that Sarah Harrison is / was Assange's sometime girlfriend, yet another complication

[railsback]

5. That's an interesting story

Will have to do some research on that.

[struggle4progress]

6. Correa and Assange: A Peculiar Relationship

Carlota García Encina and Carlos Malamud
10/12/2012

It is far from true that Ecuador’s President Correa is a long-standing sympathiser of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks ...

Despite his current support for Assange, Correa took a very different stance on the issue only two years ago. In November 2010, when some in the Western hemisphere were enjoying the spectacle of Washington squirming over the WikiLeaks cables, Ecuador’s deputy foreign minister, Kintto Lucas, said his government was willing to allow Assange to reside in the country with no strings attached. He would be able, he announced, not only to live there, but also to lecture and present the information he possessed. At first, senior aides to Correa confirmed the offer, but the president then quickly overruled the minister, dismissing his invitation as unauthorised ...

http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/rielcano_eng/Content?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/garcia-encina_malamud_correa_assange_rusi

[railsback]

8. Currently, all the government run Keep Trade Going sites are off-line

Could this be another episode of Correa's inner circle undermining his authority? Would be interesting to see...

[struggle4progress]

7. Diplomatic shift could end Assange’s year of asylum

Posted by Editor on June 17, 2013

... Ecuador’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Patino announced last week that Ana Alban, Ecuador’s ambassador to the UK, would leave her post.

In a BBC interview, Mr Patino said Ms Alban had asked to be replaced before the Ecuadorean government decided to grant Mr Assange asylum. He said her replacement was not a result of the Assange case.

But foreign ministry sources in Quito told BBC News that various high-ranking officials had repeatedly expressed profound dissatisfaction over her work.

They say Ms Alban was seen as “ill-suited for her position” and was considered unable to bring an end to the long-running diplomatic impasse ...

http://www.nigeriaintel.com/2013/06/17/diplomatic-shift-could-end-assanges-year-of-asylum/