President Lasso disassociates Ecuador from the Assange case and “respects” extradition order to the US

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, said that his government “will respect” the ruling of the British Justice on the extradition to the United States of the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, and has even offered to give “all the corresponding facilities”.

As did his predecessor, Lenin Moreno, Lasso had completely disassociated Quito from a case in which the South American country entered fully in 2012 when it allowed Assange to enter the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid being arrested. He spent nearly seven years in this legation.

“It was a very controversial political issue where the government of (Rafael) Correa forced Ecuadorian laws to give protection to a ‘hacker’, a pirate of digital systems,” Lasso said, in an interview released by his cabinet.

Now, “we will be on the side of law and order, and we will never protect criminal acts,” added the current president, a little more than a week after the British Supreme Court dismissed the last appeal of Assange’s lawyers and gave the green light to his extradition to the United States, where he is accused of espionage.