Ecuador Calls On OAS, UNASUR, ALBA Support Against British Threat
RT
August 17, 2012
Americas bloc takes UK threats to Ecuador for international discussion
British threats to invade Ecuador’s embassy will be discussed at international-level talks between the foreign ministers of the Organization of American States. The proposal was adopted despite the US saying OAS has nothing to do with the issue.
Ecuador’s resolution to convene a meeting of the OAS member nations’ foreign ministers was adopted with 23 voting in favor, three against and five abstentions.
The US and Canada were among those who opposed the measure, stating that the dispute over Assange’s fate is a bilateral matter between Ecuador and the United Kingdom, and should not be dragged to the international table.
The US State Department stated earlier on Friday that the OAS has “no role” to play in a “bilateral issue between Ecuador and the United Kingdom.” Not party to the 1954 OAS Convention on Diplomatic Asylum, the United States “does not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum as a matter of international law,” the statement read.
The foreign ministers of the bloc’s thirty-five member states will convene at the OAS Headquarters in Washington, DC, on August 24.
A special meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States was held on Thursday and Friday. The bloc discussed Ecuador’s proposal to arrange a ministerial meeting of the member states to address the issue as a matter of international law.
Ecuador called for an emergency OAS meeting after it received a memorandum from the UK that included a threat of an assault on the country’s London embassy to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who was seeking political asylum there, if he is not handed over to the British authorities. The contents of the letter were revealed the day before Ecuador publicly announced its decision to grant Assange political asylum.
While the UK maintains that it has a right to extract Assange from Ecuador’s embassy, the Latin American country says any entry by British authorities onto its ambassadorial premises to arrest Assange would constitute a violation of Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
On Thursday, British Foreign Minister William Hague said that the UK “remains committed” to its obligation to extradite Assange to Sweden, and that the Ecuadorian government’s decision will not change anything as Assange’s diplomatic immunity is not recognized by the UK.
Ecuador promised to pursue all legal avenues, including an appeal to the International Criminal Court, if the UK refuses to grant Assange safe passage from the country.
But as long as London refuses to give him safe passage, Assange will stay at the Ecuadorian Embassy, the country’s president Rafael Correa said in a radio interview on Friday. Correa asserted that Ecuador won’t hand Assange over to the UK authorities as there is no legal basis for such demands.
In search of regional support, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino also called on the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) to hold meetings with a similar agenda.
The ALBA countries responded to the call with a statement expressing their solidarity with Ecuador and a “most resounding rejection” of the UK’s threats against the country. According to a press release published by Ecuador, the ALBA governments warned Britain of “the serious and irreversible consequences the execution of these threats would have on the political, economic and cultural relations” with its member countries.
The executive secretary of the ALBA, Rodolfo Sanz, confirmed that an emergency meeting on the issue would take place on Saturday. Sanz said the majority of ALBA member states support Ecuador and believe the UK authorities should recognize Assange’s political asylum status in full accordance to the international law.
Can people not see that the US/UK “rogue state” behaviour is proving the exact point Assange and Ecuador have made. Why else would the USA interfere in this matter???
btw, which was the third “no” vote in the OAS?
All the South American states which are now finally free are to be cast aside, while the US acts big but is led by the nose by a tiny faraway belligerent entity in the ME.
the third no vote in the OAS was Trinidad and Tobag
The British poodle is playing the attack dog for its American master by demanding the handover of Julian Assange.
And make no mistake, it’s America that is ultimately pulling the strings behind the persceution of Assange.
If America has its way, it will give Assange the same treatment that it is meting out to Bradley Manning–or worse–give him a taste of American-style Abu Ghraib torture.
Such is the morally bankrupt nature of (spit) American “freedom and democracy.”
These “ideals” are the propaganda mask that the American Empire has hidden behind since 1776 to disguise its rapacious imperialist nature.