WikiLeaks' Assange arrested at Ecuador embassy in London

April 11, 2019

LONDON (AP) — Police in London arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy Thursday for failing to surrender to the court in 2012, shortly after the South American nation revoked his asylum.

Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said a tweet that his government withdrew Assange's status for repeated violations of international conventions. Moreno described it as a "sovereign decision" due to "repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life."

Assange took refuge in the embassy in London in 2012 and has been holed up inside ever since. "Today I announce that the discourteous and aggressive behavior of Mr. Julian Assange, the hostile and threatening declarations of its allied organization, against Ecuador, and especially the transgression of international treaties, have led the situation to a point where the asylum of Mr. Assange is unsustainable and no longer viable," Moreno said in a video statement released on Twitter.

Police said Assange has been taken into "custody at a central London police station where he will remain, before being presented before Westminster Magistrates' Court as soon as is possible." Video posted online by Ruptly, the agency wing of Russia Today, showed about five to six men in suits forcibly escorting Assange out of the embassy building, surrounding him as he staggered down the steps and boarded a police van.

Police said officers were invited into the embassy by the ambassador following the Ecuador government's withdrawal of Assange's asylum. Assange had not come out of the embassy for years because he feared arrest and extradition to the United States for publishing thousands of classified military and diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt thanked Moreno for breaking the impasse, saying on Twitter that Assange "is no hero and no one is above the law." His arrest came a day after WikiLeaks accused the Ecuador's government of an "extensive spying operation" against Assange.

WikiLeaks claims meetings with lawyers and a doctor inside the embassy over the past year were secretly filmed. WikiLeaks said in a tweeted statement that Ecuador illegally terminated Assange's political asylum "in violation of international law."

Ecuador's ex-president seeks protection from arrest order

July 20, 2018

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ex-President Rafael Correa asked for international protection Friday after an Ecuadorean judge ordered that he be jailed for missing a court date, even though the former leader is living in Europe.

Correa appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for protection, saying he is in grave danger from the criminal prosecution. While in power, he denounced the commission as being illegitimate.

A judge in Ecuador ordered Correa's arrest and extradition from Belgium after he failed to appear for legal proceedings in connection with a kidnapping case. Correa has not been charged with a crime, but officials requested he appear periodically in court in Ecuador's capital as they investigate the botched 2012 kidnapping of his former political rival Fernando Balda.

The 55-year-old Correa lives in his wife's native Belgium.

Ecuador grants nationality to WikiLeaks founder

January 11, 2018

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador has granted citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after more than five years of living in asylum at the nation's embassy in London, officials announced Thursday.

Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said officials accepted Assange's request for naturalization in December, and they continue to look for a long-term resolution to a situation that has vexed officials since 2012.

"What naturalization does is provide the asylum seeker another layer of protection," Espinosa said. Ecuador gave Assange asylum after he sought refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden for investigation of sex-related claims. Sweden dropped the case, but Assange has remained in the embassy because he is still subject to arrest in Britain for jumping bail.

He also fears a possible U.S. extradition request based on his leaking of classified State Department documents. The Australian-born Assange posted a photograph of himself wearing a yellow Ecuadorean national soccer team jersey on Instagram Wednesday and his name now appears in the Andean country's national registry.

The new citizenship status, however, appears to change little for Assange in the immediate future. He would still need to alert British authorities of any movement outside the embassy. "Even if he has two or three nationalities, the United Kingdom will continue in its efforts against him," said Fredy Rivera, an expert in foreign affairs at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Ecuador.

Espinosa said Ecuador is trying to make Assange a member of its diplomatic team, which would grant him additional rights under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, including special legal immunity and safe passage.

Britain's Foreign Office said earlier Thursday it has rejected Ecuador's request to grant him diplomatic status in the U.K. "Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice," the office said.

Though protected by Ecuador, the relationship between Assange and nation's leaders has at times been dicey. Ecuador has repeatedly urged Assange not to interfere in the affairs of other countries following his frequent online comments on international issues.

The biggest crisis came in October 2016, when the embassy cut his internet service after WikiLeaks published a trove of emails from then-U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign. He was also a point of contention in Ecuador's 2017 presidential election. Conservative candidate Guillermo Lasso pledged to evict the Australian within 30 days of taking office, while current President Lenin Moreno said he would allow him to stay. Assange later taunted after Lasso's loss that he would "cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days."

Moreno issued a warning reminding Assange not to meddle in politics. He has also called Assange a hacker.

Protests rattle Ecuador following election fraud claims

April 04, 2017

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Supporters of Ecuadorean opposition leader Guillermo Lasso gathered in the streets for a second night Monday to protest what they consider fraud at the ballot box that tilted a presidential runoff in favor of his leftist rival.

Sunday's razor-thin election win by ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno bucked the trend of right-wing electoral victories in South America following 15 years of leftist domination. Even as calls from Latin American governments congratulating Moreno poured in, Lasso, a conservative banker, vowed to keep up the fight against the installation of an "illegitimate" government.

"We're not afraid of the miserable cowards who are on the wrong side of history," he told a crowd of a few thousand supporters outside the National Electoral Council in Quito. By nightfall, many supporters went home but a few hundred die-hards, some with children in tow, remained in a peaceful vigil. A line of riot police looked on.

The scene was much calmer than the one on election night, when thousands of outraged Lasso supporters shouting "fraud" crashed through metal barricades to almost reach the entrance of the electoral council's headquarters in Quito. Scuffles also broke out in Guayaquil, where tear gas was fired to break up the crowd.

With more than 99 percent of polling places counted, Moreno had 51 percent of the vote while Lasso stood at just under 49 percent. Key to Lasso's challenge of the results in all of Ecuador's 24 provinces were three exit polls that showed him winning. One by pollster Cedatos, which accurately predicted the results of the first round, gave him a victory by six percentage points.

Part of the problem is the opposition's distrust of the National Electoral Council, which it says has become an appendage of the executive in the way the electoral board in Venezuela has all but lost independence under President Nicolas Maduro, a key ally of Correa.

"We're looking at an unprecedented situation: those behind the fraud are the judges themselves," Lasso told foreign reporters, adding that his campaign would seek a recount once the results are certified. "We expect they'll deny our requests but in doing so they'll be confirming the fraud."

Despite such heated rhetoric Lasso so far has failed to present any evidence of vote tampering except for a single voting act of 248 ballots from a rural area whose tally is says was reversed in favor of Moreno when official results were computed.

The Organization of American States said its mission of electoral observers that visited at random 480 voting centers nationwide found no discrepancies between the tallies and the official results and encouraged Lasso to issue complaints through institutional channels.

Correa accused Lasso supporters of trying to deny the results and provoke violence. On Monday, he sent a flurry of tweets saying the Lasso campaign had hired Cedatos. "By force they want to achieve what they can't at the ballot box," he said.

He also appeared alongside Moreno at changing of the guard ceremony at the presidential palace. Before a crowd of hundreds of supporters, the apparent President-elect sang "happy birthday" to Correa, who turns 54 later this week.

For weeks Ecuadoreans polarized by 10 years of Correa's iron-fisted rule had been bracing for a contested vote. With Ecuador's economy slated to shrink by 2.7 percent this year as oil prices remain low, analysts had been anticipating that Lasso would rally support from the 60 percent of voters who backed anti-Correa candidates in the first round and join the growing list of Latin American nations — Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela — shifting to the right in recent elections.

The majority of voters also said they were hungry for change amid ongoing corruption allegations related to bribes that Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht paid to officials in Correa's government and a $12 million contracting scandal at state-run PetroEcuador.

Yet in the final weeks of the race, Moreno inched ahead in polls amid an aggressive campaign led by Correa to cast Lasso as a wealthy, out-of-touch politician who profited from the country's 1999 banking crisis. Moreno, 64, also benefited from last-minute doubts that the pro-business Lasso if elected would gut social programs that have endeared poor voters to Correa's "Citizens' Revolution."

Outside the region, the election was being closely watched by supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living under asylum at Ecuador's embassy in London since 2012. Before the election, Lasso had said he would evict the Australian activist, who is wanted for extradition by Sweden, within 30 days of taking office. Moreno said he would allow him to stay.

On his Twitter account shortly after the results became known, Assange took a jab at Lasso's pledge. "I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions)," he wrote.

Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

Leftist claims win in Ecuador election; rival cries foul

April 03, 2017

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Leftist candidate Lenin Moreno appeared to have won Ecuador's presidential election but his opposition rival refused to recognize the results, calling on his supporters to take to the streets to guard against "fraud."

Sunday's second-round runoff in the Andean nation of 16 million was being watched closely as a barometer of whether the left, which had dominated South American politics for the past 15 years, could stop a string of right-wing victories across the region.

With more than 97 percent of voting acts counted, Moreno garnered 51 percent of the vote while conservative banker Guillermo Lasso stood at just under 49 percent. A difference of about 224,000 votes separated the two candidates with a smaller number of ballots still left to count.

Lasso said he would challenge the results in all of Ecuador's 24 provinces after three exit polls showed him winning. He also questioned why results that took three days to calculate following the first round of voting in February were announced so quickly in Sunday's runoff.

"This is very sickening. We're not going to allow it," Lasso told supporters, adding that he had shared his concerns with the head of the Organization of American States in a phone conversation. He accused President Rafael Correa of trying to install an "illegitimate" government and called on his supporters to protest peacefully but firmly.

Thousands of outraged Lasso supporters shouting "fraud" crashed through metal barricades to almost reach the entrance of the electoral council's headquarters in Quito. By midnight a few hundred protesters remained.

In Guayaquil, where Lasso is from, supporters shouted "Get out Correa!" and threw sticks at riot police in formation before being pushed back with tear gas. There were reports of small scuffles and clashes in other cities.

Correa accused Lasso supporters of trying to disavow the results and provoke violence, while the head of the electoral council, a favorite punching bag of the opposition, appealed for calm. "Ecuador deserves that its political actors show ethical responsibility in recognizing the democratic will expressed by the people at the voting booths," National Electoral President Juan Pablo Pozo said while announcing results.

So far the only evidence of possible fraud presented by Lasso's campaign are the results in one tiny provincial voting center that it said were reversed when they were reported to electoral authorities in Quito. There was no immediate comment from the OAS, which sent a mission of electoral observers.

Moreno, meanwhile, said he would start work immediately on his transition. With Correa standing behind him, the two joined supporters in singing leftist classics in an outdoor rally. Outside the region, the election was being closely watched by supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living under asylum at Ecuador's embassy in London since 2012. Before the election, Lasso had said he would evict the Australian activist, who is wanted for extradition by Sweden, within 30 days of taking office. Moreno said he would allow him to stay.

On his Twitter account shortly after the results became known, Assange took a jab at Lasso's pledge. "I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions)," he wrote.

Three exit polls had shown Lasso winning, including one that accurately predicted the first-round results and gave him a six-percentage point victory. A quick count of voting acts by a respected local watchdog found there was a technical tie with a difference of less than 0.6 percentage points separating the two candidates. The group refrained from saying which candidate had the advantage.

Correa said the exit polls had "lied." "The moral fraud of the right-wing won't go unpunished," he wrote on Twitter. For weeks Ecuadoreans polarized by 10 years of Correa's iron-fisted rule had been bracing for a contested vote

With Ecuador's economy slated to shrink by 2.7 percent this year as oil prices remain low, analysts had been anticipating that Lasso would rally support from the 60 percent of voters who backed anti-Correa candidates in the first round and join the growing list of Latin American nations — Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela — shifting to the right in recent elections.

The majority of voters also said they were hungry for change amid ongoing corruption allegations related to bribes Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht paid to officials in Correa's government and a $12 million contracting scandal at state-run PetroEcuador.

Yet in the final weeks of the race, Moreno inched ahead in polls amid an aggressive campaign led by Correa to cast Lasso as a wealthy, out-of-touch politician who profited from the country's 1999 banking crisis. Moreno also benefited from last-minute doubts that the pro-business Lasso if elected would gut social programs that have endeared poor voters to Correa's "Citizens' Revolution."

Moreno, who has used a wheelchair since being shot in an attempted robbery two decades ago, cuts a softer image than the infamously irritable Correa which was on display Sunday night as he addressed supporters.

"It's time for peace and union. Everyone will have a new opportunity and we will seek dialogue and harmony," said Moreno. "Our hand is outstretched."

Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

Leftist Moreno heading to disputed win in Ecuador election

April 03, 2017

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno looked headed to victory in Ecuador's presidential runoff Sunday but his rival refused to recognize the results, claiming he was the victim of fraud in what could set the stage for protests.

The election in the small Andean nation of 16 million was being watched closely for whether it marked a comeback for leftist candidates after a string of right-wing victories across Latin America, With almost 96 percent of voting acts counted, the National Electoral Council said Moreno had 51 percent of the vote to banker Guillermo Lasso's 49 percent. A difference of 214,000 votes separated the two candidates with about twice the number of votes still left to count.

Lasso demanded a recount after three exit polls showed him winning. He also questioned why results that took three days to calculate following the first round of voting in February were announced so quickly in Sunday's runoff.

"This is very sickening. We're not going to allow it," said Lasso, who called on supporters to protest the results peacefully but firmly. "They've crossed a line, which is pretending to abuse the people's will" and install an "illegitimate" government, Lasso said.

So far the only evidence of possible fraud presented by Lasso's campaign are the results in one tiny provincial voting center that it said were reversed when they were reported to electoral authorities in Quito

Thousands of outraged Lasso supporters shouting "fraud" broke through metal barricades and almost reached the entrance of the electoral council's headquarters in Quito before being pushed back by police. A similar scuffle took place outside the electoral offices in Guayaquil.

Moreno supporters celebrated and accused their opponents of trying to disavow results. The head of the electoral council, a favorite punching bag of the opposition, appealed for calm. "Ecuador deserves that its political actors show ethical responsibility in recognizing the democratic will expressed by the people at the voting booths," said National Electoral President Juan Pablo Pozo. "Not a single vote has been given or taken away from anyone."

Three exit polls, including one that accurately predicted the first-round results, showed Lasso winning by as much as six percentage points. A quick count of voting acts by a respected local watchdog found there was a technical tie with a difference of less than 0.6 percentage points separating the two candidates. The group refrained from saying which candidate had the advantage.

"The moral fraud of the right-wing won't go unpunished," Correa said on Twitter, referring to what Moreno called misleading exit polls that had "lied" to his rival. Earlier, a jubilant Lasso claimed victory and told supporters in Guayaquil that he would free political prisoners and heal divisions created by 10 years of iron-fisted rule by Correa. Before the election, he said he would evict WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorean embassy in London within 30 days of taking office while Moreno has said he will allow him to stay. .

With Ecuador's economy slated to shrink by 2.7 percent this year as oil prices remain low and with a majority of citizens stating in surveys that they are eager for change, analysts had been anticipating that Ecuadoreans would back Lasso and join the growing list of Latin American nations shifting to the right.

Yet in the final weeks of the race, Moreno had inched ahead in polls amid an aggressive campaign led by Correa to cast Lasso as a wealthy, out-of-touch politician who profited from the country's 1999 banking crisis.

Authorities deployed thousands of officers to beef up security at vote-processing centers around the country after a contentious first-round election on Feb. 19, in which Moreno fell just short of the required threshold to avoid a runoff.

The vote count dragged on for several days before the official results were announced, provoking accusations of fraud from both sides and angry protests that have injected an unusual degree of volatility in the election results.

Fearing a contested election, church leaders have appealed to both campaigns to accept whatever the results. Lasso has put forward a pro-business agenda aimed at attracting foreign investment, reducing taxes and generating more jobs and in recent days drew comparisons between continuing a Correa-style government and going down the same path as socialist Venezuela.

Lasso has benefited from ongoing corruption allegations related to bribes Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht paid to officials in Correa's government and a $12 million contracting scandal at state-run PetroEcuador, but analysts say he has not connected with lower-income voters.

While Lasso has said he would evict Assange from the embassy where Ecuador granted him asylum in 2012 to prevent his extradition to Sweden, Moreno has said he could stay, increasing international interest in Sunday's vote.

AP Writer Joshua Goodman contributed to this report from Caracas, Venezuela.

Death toll from Ecuador earthquake tops 650

April 24, 2016

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The death toll from last week's magnitude-7.8 earthquake that flattened towns along Ecuador's coast has risen to 654 with another 58 people missing, the government said Saturday.

The website of the secretariat for risk management said that 113 people had been rescued alive following the quake and more than 25,000 people remained in shelters. The death toll from Ecuador's quake has surpassed that of Peru's 2007 temblor, making it the deadliest quake in South America since one in Colombia in 1999 killed more than 1,000 people.

Hundreds of aftershocks have rattled the country since last Saturday night's quake and Ecuadoreans are still sleeping outside and struggling to find food and water. Aid is arriving from abroad but relief workers have warned of delays in water distribution and said mosquito-borne illness could spread through the camps.

President Rafael Correa has said the quake caused $3 billion in damage and warned that the reconstruction effort will take years. His administration is temporarily raising taxes to fund the recovery. Even before the quake, Ecuador was bracing for a bout of austerity, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting the economy would shrink 4.5 percent this year.

Ecuador quake survivors dig for kin with bare hands

By Florence Panoussian
Manta, Ecuador (AFP)
April 18, 2016

The desperation driving survivors of Ecuador's powerful earthquake to find loved ones trapped under rubble could be seen in the tools many used in their amateur rescue attempts: none.

A small crowd of residents in Manta, a popular beach town in the disaster zone on Ecuador's Pacific coast, clawed away Sunday at big blocks of broken cement and scraps of twisted metal with their bare hands.

"My husband is under there," said Veronica Paladines, a tiny woman tearing at a mound of debris that used to be a hotel and throwing what she could aside, with fury and tears in her eyes.

Her 25-year-old spouse, Javier Sangucho, the father of their two young children, worked at the property.

"He did the painting. He had just gone down to rest a bit when it happened," the 24-year-old woman told AFP.

"It" was the earthquake, a 7.8-magnitude monster that late Saturday toppled buildings along the coast and a ways inland, killing by last count more than 270 people and injuring at least 2,500.

The toll, authorities say, is certain to rise in the next days.

A dozen men, friends and relatives, helped Paladines pick away at the rubble.

The group had been at it for more than a day, ever since the earth shook and brought down the hotel and many other buildings along the town's main road.

A helmeted fireman finally turned up with a jackhammer to chip apart the concrete floor that had collapsed on Paladines' husband.

Energized by the mechanical aid, Paladines redoubled her own manual efforts. Tears flooded down her cheeks as she hurled debris aside.

- Overwhelmed fire brigade -

The captain of the fire brigade, Javier Carpo, said he had just 30 men and women under his command to help in a town ravaged from end to end. The team has more pleas for help than they could handle.

"Yesterday, we brought out the bodies of three children from a hotel," he said.

The quake destroyed and damaged homes, shops and hotels across this coastal town of some 200,000.

Cracks on buildings left standing hint that the structures may be too fragile to withstand the dozens of aftershocks rattling the region.

Some earthmovers and trucks arrived in Manta late Sunday to help remove debris.

"Throughout the town there are a lot of people trapped," Carpo said, with a resigned air. "We don't know how many."

He left to inspect a set of ruins that had attracted the attention of several hungry cats.

- Stench of death -

In the nearby district of Tarqui, the stench of decaying flesh floated over everything.

Manuel Bailon, 49, prepared to lie down for the night in his neighbor's trash shelter, close to what remained of his shattered brick home.

On the exposed first floor of his house part of a bathroom wall still stood, with toothbrushes and toothpaste still in their holders.

"We are helping each other," Bailon said, gesturing towards alleys filled with rubble. Crumpled family photos and toys covered in white dust were among the debris.

On the road between Manta and Portoviejo, another hard-hit town, lines of cars stretched endlessly at fuel stations.

There is still fuel, but little else.

- 'No water' -

"There's no water, no electricity, and if it rains like the other night everything will be soaked," said Karina Bone Valiviese, 39.

The quake survivor attempted to place a plastic sheet over her meager belongings, only to see the wind tear off the flimsy protection.

The mother of four and already a grandmother twice over, Valiviese took refuge with her family in the courtyard of a local church in Portoviejo.

Some 20 families were already there, some with mattresses and armchairs recovered from the wreckage. Someone had even recovered a refrigerator.

The earth had swallowed their homes, which had stood along a road on the side of a river which was now a small lake.

"The earth opened up and the water rose," Valiviese said.

She and several others, such as Yesica Geomara, 36, complained that nobody had come to help them, or even check to see how they were doing.

Her face furrowed with frustration, Geomara steeled herself as she expected to spend the next several nights sleeping outdoors.

"We had just finished our home six months ago. We've lost everything," said her husband, Nilson Moreira, a 46-year-old lathe worker.

"But my machines are still in there, my tools. We're worried about looters."

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Ecuador_quake_survivors_dig_for_kin_with_bare_hands_999.html.

Powerful earthquake kills at least 41 in Ecuador

April 17, 2016

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A powerful, 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook Ecuador's central coast on Saturday, killing at least 41 people and spreading panic hundreds of kilometers (miles) away as it collapsed homes and buckled a major overpass.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the shallow quake, the strongest since 1979 to hit Ecuador, was centered 27 kilometers (16 miles) south-southeast of Muisne, a sparsely populated area of fishing ports that's popular with tourists.

Vice President Jorge Glas said in a televised address that there were initial reports of 41 dead in the cities of Manta, Portoviejo and Guayaquil — all several hundred kilometers (miles) from where the quake struck shortly after nightfall. He said the death toll is likely to rise as reports from the worst-hit areas come in.

"We're trying to do the most we can but there's almost nothing we can do," said Gabriel Alcivar, mayor of Pedernales, a town of 40,000 near the epicenter. He pleaded for rescuers as dozens of buildings in the town were flattened, people trapped and looting broke out amid the chaos. "This wasn't just a house that collapsed, it was an entire town."

Among those killed was the driver of a car crushed by an overpass that buckled in Guayaquil, the country's most populous city. On social media residents shared photos of homes collapsed, the roof of a shopping center coming apart and supermarket shelves shaking violently. In Manta, the airport was closed after the control tower collapsed, injuring an air force official. Hydroelectric dams and oil pipelines in the OPEC-member nation were shut down as a precautionary measure.

President Rafael Correa, who is in Rome after attending a Vatican conference Friday, called on Ecuadoreans to stay strong while authorities monitor events. He said on Twitter he had signed a decree declaring a national emergency but that the earliest he could get back to Ecuador is Sunday afternoon. He said that there were "dozens of dead" from the earthquake.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said hazardous tsunami waves are possible for some coasts. While the government hadn't issued a tsunami alert, Glas urged residents along the coast to move to higher ground and towns near the epicenter were also being evacuated as a precautionary measure. An emergency had been declared in six of Ecuador's 24 provinces, while sporting events and concerts were cancelled until further notice nationwide.

"It's very important that Ecuadoreans remain calm during this emergency," Glas said from Ecuador's national crisis room. The quake was felt across the border in Colombia, where it shook residents in Cali and Popayan, and Peru briefly issued a tsunami warning.

In the capital Quito hundreds of kilometers away from the epicenter, the quake was felt for about 40 seconds and people fled to the streets in fear. The quake knocked out electricity in several neighborhoods and six homes collapsed but the situation under control and power being restored, Quito's Mayor Mauricio Rodas said.

"I'm in a state of panic," said Zoila Villena, one of many Quito residents who congregated in the streets. "My building moved a lot and things fell to the floor. Lots of neighbors were screaming and kids crying."

The USGS originally put the quake at a magnitude of 7.4 then raised it to 7.8. It had a depth of 19 kilometers. At least 36 aftershocks followed, one as strong as 6 on the Richter scale, and authorities urged residents to brace for even stronger ones in the coming hours and days.

Guayaquil's international airport was also closed because of a lack of communications. The quake comes on the heels of two deadly earthquakes across the Pacific, in the southernmost of Japan's four main islands. A magnitude-6.5 earthquake struck Thursday near Kumamoto, followed by a magnitude-7.3 earthquake just 28 hours later. The quakes have killed 41 people and injured about 1,500, flattened houses and triggered major landslides.

AP Writer Joshua Goodman contributed to this report from Bogota, Colombia.

Ecuador asks UK to let Assange leave embassy briefly

October 15, 2015

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuadoran officials have asked the United Kingdom to let WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leave his asylum at country's embassy in London briefly for medical checks. Britain responded Thursday by saying he could have medical care but would be arrested if he leaves the embassy.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said that Assange needs an MRI for a pain in his shoulder that began three months ago. Assange has been living at the embassy since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sexual misconduct and rape of two women. He denies the accusations and said he believes that Sweden would send him to the United States to be face charges for the WikiLeaks publication of thousands of classified U.S. government documents.

"We are asking for a special safe conduct pass that lasts a few hours only so he can take a magnetic resonance and return under our protection," Patino said, adding, "and possibly beneath the protection of British police, if they want to put 10,000 police alongside the vehicle to take him to the hospital."

Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement that Britain would not "in any way seek to impede Mr. Assange receiving medical advice or care. We have made this clear to the government of Ecuador." But British officials have also made it clear that Assange faces arrest if he leaves the embassy.

On Monday British police withdrew a 24-hour guard from the building, but said they would still "deploy a number of overt and covert tactics" to arrest Assange if he left. Patino said an option would be for another country or the Red Cross to bring a portable MRI machine to the embassy.

Julian Assange marks 2nd year in Ecuador's embassy

June 19, 2014

LONDON (AP) — The gathering at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London has the feel of something which may become an annual fixture.

For the second time in as many years, journalists were invited Thursday to the embassy to mark the anniversary of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange's stay there — a bid to escape extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted over allegations of sexual misconduct, and to the United States, where an investigation into WikiLeaks' dissemination of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents remains live.

Supporters — including one with a figure of Assange on a crucifix — chanted slogans outside the embassy. Inside, Assange said he has no intention of going to Sweden because he has no guarantee he wouldn't subsequently be sent to the U.S.

Dressed in a suit and sneakers and appearing relaxed, he traded pleasantries with Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino as reporters crowded around to listen in on the banter. "I can see that your beard is longer now," Patino joked via videolink from Ecuador, referring to Assange's wispy white stubble. Assange in turn paid tribute to Ecuador's "robust resistance" to pressure from outside powers — which he said is why "I have a liberty to work today."

Assange had been under a form of supervised release in the U.K., but shortly after losing his battle in Britain's highest court he jumped bail and applied for asylum at the Ecuadorean Embassy on June 19, 2012.

British police on guard outside the embassy have orders to arrest him should he ever step out. That doesn't seem likely. Patino told journalists that negotiations with Britain over Assange's fate were at an impasse and that there would be no attempt to force him back to Sweden.

"We will protect Julian Assange for as long as necessary," he said.

Ecuador expels US military group

April 25, 2014

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador has ordered all 20 Defense Department employees in the U.S. Embassy's military group to leave the country by month's end, The Associated Press has learned.

The group was ordered to halt operations in Ecuador in a letter dated April 7, said embassy spokesman Jeffrey Weinshenker. The AP was first alerted to the expulsions by a senior Ecuadorean official who refused to be identified by name due to the information's sensitive nature.

President Rafael Correa had publicly complained in January that Washington had too many military officers in Ecuador, claiming there were 50, and said they had been "infiltrated in all sectors." At the time, he said he planned to order some to leave.

Weinshenker said the military group had 20 Department of Defense employees, not all of them uniformed, and that Washington had provided $7 million in security assistance to Ecuador last year, including technical training for maintaining aircraft and cooperation in combating drug trafficking, human trafficking and terrorism.

Weinshenker said U.S. military cooperation in Ecuador dates back four decades and that "all the activities we have carried out have had the explicit approval of our Ecuadorean counterparts." U.S. relations with Ecuador have been strained in recent years, even before Correa provided asylum in 2012 to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose organization published troves of leaked U.S. military documents and diplomatic cables highly embarrassing to Washington.

Correa had previously expelled at least three U.S. diplomats including then-Ambassador Heather Hodges in 2011 in response to a cable divulged by WikiLeaks that suggested Correa was aware of high-level police corruption.

In November, Correa's government said it was asking the U.S. Agency for International Development to end operations in the country, accusing it of backing the opposition. USAID is to end operations in September when programs it is funding have run their course.

Shortly after first taking office in 2007, Correa purged Ecuador's military of officers deemed to have close relations with U.S. counterparts. He also ended an agreement with Washington that allowed U.S. drug interdiction flights to be based at the Ecuadorean airfield in Manta.

Correa is popular at home for his poverty-fighting programs but widely criticized for stifling civil liberties and using criminal defamation law against journalists.

Associated Press writer Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, contributed to this report.

Ecuador's president abandons no-drilling plan

August 16, 2013

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — President Rafael Correa said Thursday that he has abandoned a unique and ambitious plan to persuade rich countries to pay Ecuador not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon rainforest preserve.

Environmentalist had hailed the initiative when Correa first proposed it in 2007, saying he was setting a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of preserving the environment.

"The world has failed us," Correa said in a nationally televised speech. He said the global recession was in part responsible but chiefly blamed "the great hypocrisy" of nations who emit most of the world's greenhouse gases.

"It was not charity that we sought from the international community, but co-responsibility in the face of climate change." Correa had sought $3.6 billion in contributions to maintain a moratorium on drilling in the remote Yasuni National Park, which was declared a biosphere reserve by the United Nations in 1989 and is home to two Indian tribes living in voluntary isolation.

But he said Thursday evening that Ecuador had raised just $13 million in actual donations in pledges and that he had an obligation to his people, particularly the poor, to move ahead with drilling. The U.N. and private donors had put up the cash.

Correa said he was proposing to the National Assembly, which his supporters control, oil exploration in Yasuni amounting to less than 1 percent of its 3,800 square miles His no-drilling plan had envisioned rich countries paying Ecuador half the $7.2 billion in revenues expected to be generated over 10 years from the 846 million barrels of heavy crude estimated to be in Yasuni.

Not drilling in the reserve would keep 410 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, officials had said during their global lobbying campaign that included organizing tours of the reserve for journalists.

But while Correa's proposal generated interest, there were few takers, in part because he insisted that Ecuador alone would decide how the donations would be spent. European countries expressed the most interest but still balked.

Ecuador is an OPEC member that depends on oil for a third of its national budget. The three oil fields in Yasuni represent 20 percent of its oil reserves. Political analyst Jose Fuentes of the Flacso university in Quito said Correa had opted "for economic pragmatism" in abandoning the environmentalist image he had wished to project internationally.

Matt Finer, a scientist at the U.S.-based Center for International Environmental Law, expressed dismay at the decision. "It is deeply disappointing that this alternative model for dealing with oil and gas reserves in mega diverse rainforests did not work," he said via email from Peru. "The Yasuni-ITT Initiative was the lone exception to the relentless expansion of hydrocarbon projects deeper into the most remote tracts of the western Amazon. Now there is really no viable alternative to stop the wave of drilling slated for the most biodiverse region of the world."

Despite championing the project, Correa is not perceived domestically as much of an environmentalist. He has also upset indigenous groups with plans to develop major mining projects for the first time.

Indigenous and environmental groups in Ecuador, a nation of 14 million people, have said that any decision on the fate of Yasuni should be made in a national referendum. Patricio Chavez, director of the environmental group Amazonia por la Vida, criticized Correa for leaving potential donors a single option: "Pay or we drill."

Yasuni is not the only oil drilling that Correa's government plans in the rainforest. He is also seeking to auction oil concessions in 13 blocks of 770 square miles each south of Yasuni closer to the border with Peru.

Oil is Ecuador's chief source of foreign earnings. The country produces 538,000 barrels of crude a day, delivering nearly half its production to the United States.

Associated Press writer Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, contributed to this report.

Ecuador says Snowden seeking asylum there

June 24, 2013

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Ecuador's foreign minister said Monday his country will act not on its interests but on its principles as it considers an asylum request from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, wanted for revealing classified U.S. secrets.

Speaking to reporters through a translator at a hotel in Hanoi, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said the asylum request "has to do with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world."

Patino spoke briefly to reporters on his way to a meeting with Vietnam's foreign minister. He did not say how long it would take Ecuador to decide. Snowden was on a flight from Hong Kong that arrived in Moscow Sunday and was booked on a flight to Cuba Monday, the Russian news agencies ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported, citing unnamed airline officials.

"We know that he's currently in Moscow, and we are ... in touch with the highest authorities of Russia," Patino said. Anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said Snowden was bound for Ecuador "via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from WikiLeaks." The organization's founder Julian Assange, was granted asylum by Ecuador last year and has been staying at the country's embassy in the United Kingdom.

The Russian reports said a plane carrying Snowden arrived in Moscow on Sunday and he was booked on a flight to Cuba on Monday. The reports cited unnamed airline officials and said he intended to travel from Cuba to Caracas, Venezuela. There was also speculation that he might try to reach Ecuador.

Snowden had been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks after he revealed information on the highly classified spy programs. Patino said Ecuador would not base its asylum decision on its potential to damage the country's relationship with the United States

"There are some governments that act more upon their own interests, but we do not," Patino said. "We act upon our principles." He added, "We take care of the human rights of the people." Patino was to hold a news conference Monday evening in Hanoi.

WikiLeaks said it was providing legal help to Snowden at his request and that he was being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from the group. Assange has spent a year inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about sex crime allegations. He told the Sydney Morning Herald that his organization is in a position to help Snowden because it has expertise in international asylum and extradition law.

WikiLeaks: Snowden going to Ecuador to seek asylum

June 24, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — Admitted leaker Edward Snowden took flight Sunday in evasion of U.S. authorities, seeking asylum in Ecuador and leaving the Obama administration scrambling to determine its next step in what became a game of diplomatic cat-and-mouse.

The former National Security Agency contractor and CIA technician fled Hong Kong and arrived at the Moscow airport, where he planned to spend the night before boarding an Aeroflot flight to Cuba. Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government received an asylum request from Snowden, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said it would help him.

"He goes to the very countries that have, at best, very tense relationships with the United States," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., adding that she feared Snowden would trade more U.S. secrets for asylum. "This is not going to play out well for the national security interests of the United States."

The move left the U.S. with limited options as Snowden's itinerary took him on a tour of what many see as anti-American capitals. Ecuador in particular has rejected the United States' previous efforts at cooperation, and has been helping WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, avoid prosecution by allowing him to stay at its embassy in London.

Snowden gave The Guardian and The Washington Post documents disclosing U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of phone records and online data in the name of foreign intelligence, but often sweep up information on American citizens. Officials have the ability to collect phone and Internet information broadly but need a warrant to examine specific cases where they believe terrorism is involved.

Snowden had been in hiding for several weeks in Hong Kong, a former British colony with a high degree of autonomy from mainland China. The United States formally sought Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong but was rebuffed; Hong Kong officials said the U.S. request did not fully comply with their laws.

The Justice Department rejected that claim, saying its request met all of the requirements of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Hong Kong. During conversations last week, including a phone call Wednesday between Attorney General Eric Holder and Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen, Hong Kong officials never raised any issues regarding sufficiency of the U.S. request, a Justice spokesperson said.

A State Department official said the United States was in touch through diplomatic and law enforcement channels with countries that Snowden could travel through or to, reminding them that Snowden is wanted on criminal charges and reiterating Washington's position that Snowden should only be permitted to travel back to the U.S.

Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case. The Justice Department said it would "pursue relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr. Snowden may be attempting to travel."

Russia's state ITAR-Tass news agency and Interfax cited an unnamed Aeroflot airline official as saying Snowden was on the plane that landed Sunday afternoon in Moscow. Upon his arrival, Snowden did not leave Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. One explanation could be that he wasn't allowed; a U.S. official said Snowden's passport had been revoked, and special permission from Russian authorities would have been needed.

Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House's National Security Council, said, "Given our intensified cooperation after the Boston marathon bombings and our history of working with Russia on law enforcement matters — including returning numerous high-level criminals back to Russia at the request of the Russian government — we expect the Russian government to look at all options available to expel Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged."

The Russian media report said Snowden intended to fly to Cuba on Monday and then on to Caracas, Venezuela. U.S. lawmakers scoffed. "The freedom trail is not exactly China-Russia-Cuba-Venezuela, so I hope we'll chase him to the ends of the earth, bring him to justice and let the Russians know there'll be consequences if they harbor this guy," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

With each suspected flight, efforts to secure Snowden's return to the United States appeared more complicated if not impossible. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but does with Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. Even with an extradition agreement though, any country could give Snowden a political exemption.

The likelihood that any of these countries would stop Snowden from traveling on to Ecuador seemed remote. While diplomatic tensions have thawed in recent years, Cuba and the United States are hardly allies after a half century of distrust.

Venezuela, too, could prove difficult. Former President Hugo Chavez was a sworn enemy of the United States and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this year called Obama "grand chief of devils." The two countries do not exchange ambassadors.

U.S. pressure on Caracas also might be problematic given its energy exports. The U.S. Energy Information Agency reports Venezuela sent the United States 900,000 barrels of crude oil each day in 2012, making it the fourth-largest foreign source of U.S. oil.

"I think 10 percent of Snowden's issues are now legal, and 90 percent political," said Douglas McNabb, an expert in international extradition and a senior principal at international criminal defense firm McNabb Associates.

Assange's lawyer, Michael Ratner, said Snowden's options aren't numerous. "You have to have a country that's going to stand up to the United States," Ratner said. "You're not talking about a huge range of countries here."

That is perhaps why Snowden first stopped in Russia, a nation with complicated relations with Washington. Russian President Vladimir Putin is "aiding and abetting Snowden's escape," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

"Allies are supposed to treat each other in decent ways, and Putin always seems almost eager to put a finger in the eye of the United States," Schumer said. "That's not how allies should treat one another, and I think it will have serious consequences for the United States-Russia relationship."

It also wasn't clear Snowden was finished with disclosing highly classified information. "I am very worried about what else he has," said Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a California Democrat who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she had been told Snowden had perhaps more than 200 sensitive documents. Ros-Lehtinen spoke with CNN. Graham spoke to "Fox News Sunday." Schumer was on CNN's "State of the Union." Sanchez appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Feinstein was on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Associated Press White House Correspondent Julie Pace and Associated Press writers Matthew V. Lee and Frederic J. Frommer in Washington, Lynn Berry in Moscow, Kevin Chan in Hong Kong and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.

Wiki-leaks Founder Still in Ecuadorian Embassy – One year later

SA Breaking News

London – It was a year ago today that founder of Wiki-leaks Julian Assange – facing questioning by Swedish authorities of allegations of sex crimes – skipped the country to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy. Assange is still refusing to leave. The man responsible for the leak of confidential government information is wanted in more than just Sweden.

The US has ordered the arrest of Assange for the publishing of among other things, 250 000 US state department cables, including sensitive information over US troop locations.

Assange has been fighting extradition charges for sexual assault on 2 Swedish women. He denies the charges, and many believe they are part of a conspiracy to get Assange extradited to the US.

The left leaning Ecuadorian government has said they will continue to assist Assange. As long as he remains within the embassy, which according to international law is seen as Ecuadorian soil, he remains out of reach of the British authorities. Police officers remain constantly stationed outside the embassy  in case he tries to slip out. According to the National Post the police cost of the “Assange operation” hit almost US$6 million at the end of May.

Assange remains in the public mind, with visits from celebrities including Lady Gaga and Vivienne Westwood. He does occasionally step out onto the embassy’s balcony to address pro-WikiLeaks demonstrators, but this is the only time he goes outside.

According to the National Post Assange has admitted that his embassy exile is taking a toll on his health.

Ecuador launches first homemade satellite

Quito (AFP)
April 26, 2013

Ecuador launched its first satellite into space from China Friday morning, in a moment broadcast live on radio and television back home.

The "Pegaso" (Pegasus) nanosatellite, designed and built in Ecuador, set off aboard an unmanned rocket at 0413 GMT from the Jiuquand station in northern China.

Measuring just 10 by 10 by 75 centimeters (four by four by 30 inches), and weighing 1.2 kilograms (2.6 pounds), Pegaso will beam live video images back to Earth from an onboard camera.

"Welcome to the heavens, Pegaso. Welcome to space Ecuador. The mission is a success," said Ronnie Nader, Ecuador's first and only astronaut, who runs Ecuador's civilian space agency.

The Ecuadoran Space Agency plans a second satellite launch in July.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Ecuador_launches_first_homemade_satellite_999.html.

Assange speaks from Ecuador embassy balcony, slams U.S. 'witch hunt'

By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News
The Lookout
Sun, Aug 19, 2012

There was no arrest. No escape. No surrender. No assassination attempt. No human smuggling. No helicopter or hovercraft. Just a wanted man, on a balcony with a microphone.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange emerged from a window onto a small balcony of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on Sunday, where he made his first public remarks since being granted asylum.

"I ask President Obama to do the right thing," Assange, who's been holed up in the embassy since June, said as he read a written statement. "The United States must renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks. The Unites States must dissolve its FBI investigation. The United States must vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff or our supporters."

A crowd of 200 gathered near the embassy to hear Assange speak as dozens of London police officers--who had created a wide barrier in front of the embassy--stood watch.

On Thursday, Ecuador's foreign minister announced that the country would grant asylum to Assange, defying threats by the British government to storm the Ecuadorean Embassy and extradite Assange to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning in cases of alleged rape and sexual molestation.

"We have decided to grant political asylum to him," Ricardo Patino said at the end of a long televised statement from the Ecuadorean capital of Quito, where he criticized the U.S. and U.K. governments for failing to protect Assange from political persecution.

"The sun came up on a different world," Assange said, "and a courageous Latin American nation took a stand for justice."

On Sunday, Assange did not address the allegations of sexual crime, or when the diplomatic standoff between Sweden, Ecuador and the U.K. might end.

Assange also called for the release of Bradley Manning, the former U.S. army intelligence analyst accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks.

"If Bradley Manning did as he is accused, he is a hero and an example to all of us and one of the world's foremost political prisoners," Assange said.

Assange fears that if he were extradited to Sweden, he would immediately be extradited to the United States, which has condemned WikiLeaks' publication of classified documents. Assange and his supporters say the U.S. would charge him with espionage; the U.S. has not said whether or not it would pursue charges against him.

The foreign minister said that Ecuador asked Sweden to promise it would not extradite Assange to the United States, but Sweden refused.

It's unclear what will happen to Assange now. U.K. authorities say his asylum is a violation of his probation, and he'll be arrested if he tried to leave the embassy.

"We will not allow Mr. Assange safe passage out of the United Kingdom," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said at a press conference last week. "Nor is there any legal basis for us to do so. The United Kingdom does not recognize the principle of diplomatic asylum."

On Sunday, Assange said that he heard police enter the embassy the night after he had been granted asylum. "Inside this embassy after dark, I could hear teams of police swarming up into the building through its internal fire escape," Assange said. "But I knew there would be witnesses."

In 2010, Swedish prosecutors in Stockholm issued warrants to question Assange about alleged sex crimes involving a pair of former WikiLeaks volunteers. Assange says the charges are part of an international smear campaign stemming from WikiLeaks' publication of diplomatic cables.

After a brief international manhunt, Assange turned himself in to London police in December 2010. He was granted bail and placed under house arrest. After Assange's appeals to fight his extradition to Sweden were denied, he fled to the Ecuadorean Embassy.

Ecuador grants asylum to WikiLeaks' Assange

August 16, 2012

LONDON (AP) — He's won asylum in Ecuador, but Julian Assange is no closer to getting there.

The decision by the South American nation to identify the WikiLeaks founder as a refugee is a symbolic boost for the embattled ex-hacker. But legal experts say that does little to help him avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.

Instead, with British officials asserting they won't grant Assange safe passage out of the country, the case has done much to drag the two nations into an international faceoff. "We're at something of an impasse," lawyer Rebecca Niblock said. "It's not a question of law anymore. It's a question of politics and diplomacy."

The silver-haired Australian shot to international prominence in 2010 after he began publishing a huge trove of American diplomatic and military secrets — including a quarter million U.S. Embassy cables that shed a harsh light on the backroom dealings of U.S. diplomats. Amid the ferment, two Swedish women accused him of sexual assault; Assange has been fighting extradition to Sweden ever since.

Interpol, the Lyon, France-based international police agency, issued a statement late Thursday saying Assange remains on the equivalent of its most-wanted list, the Ecuadorian decision notwithstanding.

The convoluted saga took its latest twist on Thursday, when Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino announced that he had granted asylum to Assange, who has been holed up inside the small, coastal nation's embassy since June 19. He said Ecuador was taking action because Assange faces a serious threat of unjust prosecution at the hands of U.S. officials.

That was a nod to the fears expressed by Assange and others that the Swedish sex case is merely the opening gambit in a Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the United States — something disputed by both Swedish authorities and the women involved.

In a message posted to its Twitter account, WikiLeaks said Assange would make a public statement outside Ecuador's embassy on Sunday afternoon — potentially offering British police the chance to arrest him. The secret-spilling website did not immediately respond to attempts to contact it to provide additional details.

Patino said he tried to secure guarantees from the Americans, the British and the Swedes that Assange would not be extradited to the United States, but was rebuffed by all three. If Assange were extradited to the U.S. "he would not have a fair trial, could be judged by special or military courts, and it's not implausible that cruel and degrading treatment could be applied, that he could be condemned to life in prison, or the death penalty," Patino said.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said she did not accept Assange's claim, or Ecuador's acceptance of it, that he could potentially face persecution in the United States. "With regard to the charge that the U.S. was intent on persecuting him, I reject that completely," she said Thursday.

Under Ecuador's asylum offer, Assange is not permitted to make political statements or grant interviews of a political nature, restrictions that are standard for anyone granted asylum, said an Ecuadorean Foreign Ministry official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.

Significantly, Ecuador did not grant political but rather diplomatic asylum to Assange. "Political asylum would imply that Great Britain is persecuting him or threatens to persecute him," said Robert Sloane, international law professor at Boston University. By granting diplomatic asylum, Ecuador is keeping the door open to political negotiations. Sloane said that the type of asylum does not confer any diplomatic status or special privileges on Assange.

Ecuador's decision was warmly received by the 41-year-old Assange, who watched the foreign minister announce it from Quito in a live televised news conference. In a statement he praised Ecuador's "courage."

Pro-Assange demonstrators gathered outside the Edwardian-era embassy building, and broke into cheers when the news filtered out onto the street. "It must have been a tough decision for Ecuador because they had pressure," said Alejandra Cazas, an 18-year-old British-Bolivian citizen. "Now they have to watch out that he arrives to Ecuador safely."

But British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain will not allow Assange safe passage to Latin America. "There is no legal basis for us to do so," he said. He said Assange was wanted in Sweden to answer allegations of "serious sexual offenses" and that the extradition had nothing to do with the work of WikiLeaks or with the United States.

Hague also insisted that Britain did not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum, which he said was not a universal means of granting refuge. Britain's response to Ecuador's offer prompted Peru, the acting chair of the Union of South American Nations, to call an extraordinary meeting for Sunday at Ecuador's request in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to discuss the Assange standoff.

Supporters who have visited Assange say he is living inside a tiny office at Ecuador's embassy, a small apartment of five or six rooms inside a larger building which also houses Colombia's embassy. Assange has a bed, access to a phone and a connection to the Internet. "It's not quite the Hilton," said Gavin MacFadyen, a supporter who has met with Assange at the embassy.

The diplomatic repercussions continued Thursday with an unlikely confrontation between Sweden and Ecuador. In a mark of its anger over the asylum ruling, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Ecuador's ambassador to complain about the decision. The country's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said in a message posted on Twitter that "our firm legal and constitutional system guarantees the rights of each and every one. We firmly reject any accusations to the contrary."

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa did not seem to be in any mood for compromise either, posting a tweet that read: "No one is going to frighten us." In Washington, Ecuador asked the Organization of American States to hold a meeting Aug. 23 to discuss the Assange situation. Several nations on the OAS's Permanent Council supported the idea, while the U.S. and Canada opposed it. The council put off a decision until Friday so delegates could consult with their home governments.

The issue already seems to have frayed diplomatic ties between the U.K. and Ecuador. Britain's previous ambassador to Ecuador, Linda Cross, departed earlier this year and had been due to be replaced this month by Patrick Mullee. But his arrival has been delayed.

Ties could fray further if Britain decides to enforce a little-known 1987 law that gives the U.K. the right to enter the embassy to arrest Assange — but most legal experts called such a development unlikely and potentially dangerous.

If Britain carried out such a move, as it suggested it might in a note delivered to Ecuador on Wednesday, "it would threaten their embassy premises around the world," as it could leave them open to reprisals, said Niblock, who practices at London law firm Kingsley Napley.

Many Britons have memories of a dramatic scene in 1980 when British special forces soldiers burst into the Iranian Embassy — at Iran's request — to free hostages captured by gunmen who had broken into the building six days earlier.

Hague insisted Britain had no plan to force entry into Ecuador's mission. "There is no threat here to storm an embassy," he told reporters. Meanwhile, legal experts and diplomatic historians were abuzz with various unlikely scenarios for Assange's escape from Britain — perhaps hidden in a diplomatic car or smuggled in an oversized diplomatic bag.

Some have speculated Britain could revoke the diplomatic status of Ecuador's embassy — a move which would effectively sever friendly links between the two nations, but allow police to walk inside and arrest Assange.

Britain's foreign ministry said diplomats would continue discussions with Ecuador aimed at resolving the case, but Hague warned that he expected the diplomatic stalemate to continue. "This could go on for quite a considerable time as things stand," he told reporters. "There is no time limit for resolving this."

Solano reported from Quito, Ecuador. Associated Press writers Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, Jill Lawless, David Stringer and Raissa Ioussouf in London, Louise Nordstrom and Karl Ritter in Stockholm, and Matthew Lee in Washington all contributed to this report.