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Moreno clarifies that it was his Chancellor who granted nationality to Assange
Posted On 31 May 2018
Ecuadornews:
The President of the Republic, Lenin Moreno, said on May 29, 2018 that the decision to grant Ecuadorian nationality to the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, was from Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa.
During an interview with journalist Jenny Pérez, of the German channel Deutsche Welle, the president said that “the decision (…) was not mine, it was my chancellor María Fernanda Espinosa. It was not the most appropriate, but I respect it. “
According to Foreign Minister Espinosa, Assange, who has been living in the embassy of Ecuador in London since 2012, he applied for naturalization to the Ecuadorian Government in September 2017 and got it in December 2017.
In that month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the United Kingdom to grant him the status of diplomatic agent in the delegation of Ecuador in London; request that was denied.
On May 17, 2018, the government of President Moreno withdrew “immediately” the additional security of the Embassy of Ecuador in London, where the founder of WikiLeaks founder is located.
The announcement came two days after an investigation of the British newspaper The Guardian was released in conjunction with the Focus Ecuador portal, which states that Ecuador spent $ 5 million on espionage for Assange.
At the beginning of 2018, the head of state recalled that Assange’s situation “is a problem that we inherited”.
On that date, Moreno said that Assange had signed an agreement not to intervene in Ecuadorian politics or in other countries, within the norms of asylum granted. (I)
