WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has clashed with Ecuador’s president by speaking in support of Catalonian separatists, bringing the fugitive into direct conflict with the government shielding him.
His remarks on clashes over Catalonian independence in Spain have put him at odds with Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno.
Assange, who is wanted in Sweden for alleged sexual offences and could be wanted by the United States for exposing state secrets, has been sheltering in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London for five years.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has risked antagonising the Ecuadorian president while claiming asylum at the country’s embassy in London
His support for separatists antagonised Moreno, who has been president of the South American country since January and asked Assange to stay out of the Spanish crisis, according to the Washington Post.
Responding to the president on Twitter, Assange accused Moreno of attempting to silence him, writing: ‘If President Moreno wants to gag my reporting of human rights abuses in Spain he should say so explicitly–together with the legal basis.’
Assange accused the president of trying to silence him on what he called ‘human rights abuses in Spain’ after Spanish police clashed with protesters demanding independence for Catalonia
Moreno’s left-wing predecessor Rafael Correa offered the Australian activist refuge in 2012.
But Ecuador’s latest president is already taking a different approach to government with an emphasis on ‘dialogue’, regarding Moreno as an authoritarian obsessed with maintaining power.
He has also backed corruption investigations into Moreno’s closest associates and scrapped a law that human rights groups said made the country’s media the least free in the West other than Cuba.
Correa has responded by calling Moreno a ‘traitor’, ‘mediocre’ and branding him a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’.
Lenin Moreno enjoys popular backing, but his predecessor’s loyalists still control many public institutions
Moreno’s repositioning of the country could mean trouble for Assange, whose stay at the embassy brings little political benefit and risks defining Ecuador as an antagonist of the United States.
The president has publicly pledged to uphold the activist’s asylum ‘as long as we assume his life may be in danger’, but has also dismissed Assange as a ‘hacker’.
César Ricaurte, head of press freedom advocates Fundamedios, said the situation with Assange cannot continue in its current form.
‘The situation of Assange in the embassy is unsustainable,’ he said.
Rafael Correa has responded to corruption investigations by referring to his successor as a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’
‘He has converted himself into this great conspirator against the major democracies. I think the government is looking for a way out.’
Ecuadorian financial analyst Ramiro Crespo says Moreno’s first priority will be winning the fight against Correa supporters who still control the courts while the governing Country Alliance party is split between reformists and Correa loyalists.
‘Moreno has to pick his battles and dismantle Correa’s machinery bit by bit,’ he said.
‘He is being cautious. Dealing with Assange is not the priority right now, but Moreno could decide to make a move once he feels stronger.’
If Moreno consolidates enough power, he would be capable of pressuring Assange to voluntarily leave the embassy.
He could also ask Washington for assurances that capital punishment be ruled out of any trial the WikiLeaks founder faces.