Ana Alban tried to help Assange on her own
The vice Foreign Minister Marco Albuja, said the ambassador in London, Ana Alban, acted on her own when she contacted members of the Labour Party to aid Julian Assange. “Neither the Foreign Ministry nor the government agreed (with the dialogues). We do not endorse that initiative,” said Albuja when discussing the issue.
Ana Alban, the current ambassador of Ecuador in London, previously was an environment minister under President Alfredo Palacio administration. Alban became the focus of attention when she interceded between Assange and the Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, to give asylum to the hacker, currently from residing since August 2012 in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
The ambassador surprised the local and international media after appearing in the British newspaper The Guardian, after having held a meeting with members of the Labour Party group opposed to Prime Minister David Cameron. Alban met not only with that party, so did all the political forces represented in the senate English, even in the same ruling, however, her negotiations to seek a viable exit for Assange were not well received since this case has become an uncomfortable topic in London and the ambassador appointments have been welcomed with politicians, because they do not want to lose allies such as Sweden and the United States, for a country to which Assange himself refers to as “insignificant“.
So far Alban has not explained why did she carry out these actions without higher authorization from the Foreign Ministry or the presidency. Alban’s decision did not sit well at all in the Correa regime since weeks ago, the Secretary of Planning, Fander Falconi, said Assange is “satisfied” with the actions taken by the government in its case. However, these actions did not include those of Alban.