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Correa on TV With Assange
Four weeks before Assange sought asylum, he interviewed Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa for Episode 6 of The World Tomorrow (Assange's program Tuesdays on RT). Assange asked Correa why he has advocated that WikiLeaks release all its cables. Correa responded:
"First, you don't owe anything, have nothing to fear. We have nothing to hide. Your WikiLeaks have made us stronger ... with the damaging revelations showing the attitude of the U.S. embassy toward the sovereignty of the Ecuadorian government."
Correa continued:
"On the other hand, WikiLeaks wrote a lot about the goals that the national media pursue, about the power groups who seek help and report to foreign embassies. ... Let them publish everything they have about the Ecuadorian government. You will see how many things about those who oppose the civil revolution in Ecuador will come to light. Things to do with opportunism, betrayal, and being self serving."
Correa made the point that when WikiLeaks cables became available to the national media in Ecuador, they chose not to publish them -- partly because the documents aired so much "dirty linen" about the media themselves. He added that when he took office in January 2007, five out of seven privately owned TV channels in Ecuador were run by bankers. The bankers were using the guise of journalism to interfere in politics and to destabilize governments, for fear of losing power.
Ecuador and the United States
Correa, 49, educated in Belgium at the Università © Catholique de Louvain and at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign (for four years, where he earned both a masters and a PhD), said he "admires the American people a great deal." But the U.S. government can be a different matter.
Assange and Correa discussed Correa's decision to send the U.S. ambassador, Heather Hodges, packing as a result of the disclosures in the WikiLeaks cables, as well as her "arrogance," and the Ecuadorian president's unilateral closure of the U.S. military base at Manta.
Still, Correa seems to have had high hopes that things would improve under the Obama administration. The Ecuadorian president once commented that Hugo Chà ¡vez's description of George W. Bush as Satan was unfair to the Devil and that the previous administration had made Latin America "invisible."
Regarding Ecuador's general relationship with the U.S., Correa underscored on Assange's program that it must be "a framework of mutual respect and sovereignty." That wished-for mutual respect and especially Washington's regard for Ecuadorian sovereignty are likely to be put to the test in the coming weeks.
Hillary Clinton may be having second thoughts about the energy she expended earlier this month on her first visit to Sweden as Secretary of State. If Assange succeeds in skirting Sweden and makes it to Ecuador, she may now have to put Quito back on her travel schedule.
A Clinton visit to Ecuador two years ago was marred by protests, but she found President Correa a gracious host. But that was before WikiLeaks disclosed Ambassador Hodges's pejorative comments on Correa et al, and Correa decided to expel her from the country for "arrogance."
Correa does seem to have developed an allergy to arrogance, so Clinton may wish to consider sending someone in her stead to try to persuade Ecuador to surrender Assange to the tender mercies of American "justice."
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