Ecuadorian Prez Moreno threatens Assange for violating ‘asylum terms’

From telesurenglish.net, April 2:

“Ecuador says Assange doesn’t have the right to “hack private accounts or phones” nor intervene in the foreign politics.

Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno argued Tuesday that WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has “repeatedly violated” the terms of his asylum in the country’s London embassy and that he will “make a decision in the short term.”

Moreno contends that Assange had hacked the contents of his iPhone (Whatsapp, Telegram) & Gmail and were then published online, now fondly known as the #INA papers, descriptions of which corruption scandal telesur had reported on March 31:

“Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno who is facing a corruption probe brought forward by an opposition lawmaker, relating to an offshore company in a case of illicit enrichment.

Lawmaker Ronny Aleaga told reporters that he received a dossier anonymously filled with documents that will implicate Lenin Moreno and his family in alleged crimes of corruption, perjury and money laundering.

The documents are known as the “INA Papers” that links Moreno and the Chinese company Sinohydro that built the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric dam, which, according to the lawmaker, deposited US$18 million in the offshore company Recorsa.

Recorsa is linked to Ecuadorean businessman Conto Patiño Martinez who transferred money to more than 10 ghost companies in Panama including INA Investments Corp, whose real owner is  Edwin Moreno Garces, brother of President Lenin Moreno, according to the leaked documents.”, and so on.

“However, Wikileaks’ website or social media accounts never published press releases or images of President Lenin Moreno’s private life. The page issued a single tweet on March 25, 2019, which reported that a “corruption investigation opened against Ecuador’s President Moreno after purported leaked contents of his iPhone (Whatsapp, Telegram) and Gmail were published. New York Times reported that Moreno tried to sell Assange to the U.S. for debt relief.”

“A United Nations Special Rapporteur on Privacy is due to visit Assange on Wednesday to investigate Ecuador’s spying on the activist. Ecuador filed a complaint with the rapporteur Monday denouncing WikiLeaks and others for reporting on the INA Papers offshore scandal engulfing its president.”

Oscar Grenfell at wsws.org adds a few things to the BS threats story today:

“If he leaves the building, or is expelled from it, Assange will be arrested by British authorities on trumped-up bail charges. Assange would likely face extradition to the US over concocted espionage or conspiracy charges, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty, for his role in WikiLeaks’ exposure of war crimes, illegal diplomatic intrigues and mass surveillance.

In the interview with the Ecuadorian Radio Broadcasters’ Association, Moreno made unsubstantiated and slanderous claims that Assange had been “hacking… private accounts” and “phones.” He blamed the WikiLeaks founder for a corruption scandal currently engulfing his government.” [snip]

“Moreno and the government have not offered any proof for their allegations. They are well aware that Assange does not have internet access, because the government terminated it in March last year. The only “evidence” of WikiLeaks’ ties to the INA papers, provided by Moreno’s supporters, is that the organisation’s Twitter account, which is not controlled by Assange, tweeted reports and media articles about the revelations.” [snip]

“Since coming to office in May, 2017, the Moreno regime has moved to renege on the previous Ecuadorian government’s decision to grant Assange asylum. At the same time, it has rapidly expanded relations with the US.”

[including a memo of military understanding, or some such]

Fidel Narváez, who was Ecuador’s consul to London until 2018, bluntly warned that the interview demonstrated “the government seeks a false pretext to end the asylum and protection of Julian Assange.” Narváez wrote that Moreno was using the INS scandal to “yield to US pressure” on Assange.”

“The discrediting of the Democratic Party allegations (Russiagate Muleller investigtions), however, will not result in any let-up in the campaign against Assange and WikiLeaks. Rather, the Trump administration and its nominal Democratic opponents are increasingly converging in their persecution of dissident publishers and whistleblowers, such as Assange and Manning, and a broader assault on civil liberties.”

Elizabeth Vos’s (disobedient media) story is at consortiumnews.com,, and she offers:

“The story (#INAPapers) was first reported by the Ecuadorian news outlet La Fuente in an article titled: “The Offshore Labyrinth of the Presidential Circle.” Ecuadorian media reported that the attorney general’s office has initiated a preliminary investigation and that Aleaga would be summoned on Thursday to “give his version and acknowledge his complaint.

The president of the National Assembly, Elizabeth Cabezas, has also come under investigation after allegedly trying to prevent an investigation into the scandal, the state-owned El Universo newspaper reported.”

“The former consul at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Fidel Narvaez, countered Moreno’s accusation…writing: 

““It is absurd that the government of Lenin Moreno intends to link Assange with publications of pages totally unrelated to Wikileaks, or with contents of the New York Times, and it would be ridiculous for the prosecution to investigate a “leak” that does not exist, but only in the false news published by the newspaper that you [Lenin Moreno] direct.”

“In a separate article, translated electronically, Narvaez argued: “Despite being an outrageous accusation, the farce has gone so far that the Ecuadorian National Assembly has issued a resolution to investigate Julian and that it emboldens the government to take measures to ‘Protect national interests.’ In short, the government seeks a false pretext to end the asylum and protection of Julian Assange.”

A week ago: ‘EXCLUSIVE: Ecuador Imprisons US Journalist In Room As Ambassador Tells Assange to ‘Shut up’ and Accept Spying’, Cassandra Fairbanks March 26, 2019, thegatewaypundit.com

“It was meant to be a routine visit by a journalist to another journalist. Instead, I found myself locked in a cold, surveilled room for over an hour by Ecuadorian officials, as a furious argument raged between the country’s ambassador and Julian Assange on Monday.

The room was inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Julian Assange currently lives under the ostensible protection of political asylum. Yet the WikiLeaks publisher was barred from entering the room, where he was supposed to join me for a pre-approved meeting, because he refused to submit to a full-body search and continuous surveillance.

In the fireworks that followed, Assange accused the ambassador of being an agent of the United States government.

The crackdown on visitors was felt before I even entered the embassy. It’s the third time I’ve visited in the past year, and each time the atmosphere seems progressively worse.”  (the rest is here, albeit with confusing timelines, imo.)

(cross-posted at caucus99percent.com)