Assange finds ally against bully tactics

The Wikileaks founder is being sheltered by a nation that cracks down on journalists, but Ecuador is no stranger to facing down world powers, writes Dan Buckley

“WE are not a British colony,” thundered Ecuador’s foreign minister, Ricardo Patiño, on being told that British authorities planned to storm the country’s embassy in London if officials did not hand over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who fled there to avoid extradition to Sweden.

With more twists than a Jeffrey Archer novel, the Assange case has gained international attention since he enraged Washington in 2010, when WikiLeaks published secret US diplomatic cables.