{"id":45403,"date":"2019-04-15T12:19:34","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T17:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=45403"},"modified":"2019-04-15T12:19:37","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T17:19:37","slug":"after-assanges-arrest-ecuadors-creep-towards-authoritarianism-becomes-a-sprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=45403","title":{"rendered":"After Assange\u2019s Arrest, Ecuador\u2019s Creep Towards Authoritarianism Becomes a Sprint"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mintpressnews.com\/with-assange-arrest-ecuador-creeps-further-towards-authoritarianism\/257381\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mintpressnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/AP_18257048984167_edited.jpg\" alt=\"Ecuador | Protest\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mintpressnews.com\/with-assange-arrest-ecuador-creeps-further-towards-authoritarianism\/257381\/\">After Assange\u2019s Arrest, Ecuador\u2019s Creep Towards Authoritarianism Becomes a Sprint\t<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The recent violation of Assange\u2019s rights as both political asylee and citizen of Ecuador sends a chilling message to Ecuadorians who are being increasingly targeted for their political views both within Ecuador and abroad.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>QUITO, ECUADOR \u2014&nbsp;<\/strong>Last week, Ecuador\u2019s government gravely undermined not only its own national sovereignty but international refugee and asylum laws by allowing U.K. police into its London embassy&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mintpressnews.com\/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-arrestedm-facing-imminent-us-extradition\/257254\/\">to arrest<\/a>&nbsp;then-Ecuadorian citizen, Ecuadorian asylee, and journalist Julian Assange.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As has been observed by many analysts, the shocking yet somewhat anticipated decision has shown that Ecuador\u2019s government \u2014 led by Len\u00edn Moreno \u2014 is willing to play fast and loose with its domestic laws, as well as international law, if it stands to benefit Moreno and his increasingly unpopular administration, whose approval rating now hovers&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/the-americas\/2019\/04\/13\/lenin-morenos-new-economic-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">at around 30 percent<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the hours that followed Assange\u2019s disturbing arrest, which saw him dragged from the embassy by British police, Ecuador\u2019s government has wasted no time in taking actions that are not only highly troubling but show Moreno\u2019s willingness to embrace fascist tactics in his desperate bid to silence dissent.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, a key factor in Moreno\u2019s decision to revoke Assange\u2019s asylum and Ecuadorian citizenship, was alleged to be Moreno\u2019s rage at WikiLeaks \u2014 the organization Assange founded but no longer runs \u2014 for simply retweeting and spreading information regarding the burgeoning&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/inapapers.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">INA Papers corruption scandal<\/a>, which centers around an offshore bank account in Panama linked to Moreno and his family. Notably, the firestorm of media coverage around Assange\u2019s violent removal from the embassy has distracted from the media coverage of the scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The witch hunt begins<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After Assange\u2019s Arrest, Ecuador\u2019s Creep Towards Authoritarianism Becomes a Sprint The recent violation of Assange\u2019s rights as both political asylee and citizen of Ecuador sends a chilling message to Ecuadorians who are being increasingly targeted for their political views both within Ecuador and abroad. QUITO, ECUADOR \u2014&nbsp;Last week, Ecuador\u2019s government gravely undermined not only its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[43,8739,2001,635,22021],"class_list":["post-45403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty","tag-authoritarianism","tag-ecuador","tag-julian-assange","tag-police-state","tag-whitney-webb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45404,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45403\/revisions\/45404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}