South American ministers condemn Britain’s embassy threat

Foreign ministers of South America’s 12-nation union have condemned Britain’s threat to forcibly enter the Ecuadorian embassy in London and arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

A brief statement by the ministers did not, however, endorse Ecuador’s decision to grant asylum to Assange, who is wanted by Sweden for questioning about allegations of rape and sexual assault.

The ministers of the UNASUR group made the statement after they met in Guayaquil, Ecuador, at the host nation’s request.

The ministers “condemned the threat of the use of force between states” and reiterated “the right of states to concede asylum”. They also urged all sides to follow the “path of dialogue and direct negotiations” to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the impasse.

Assange has taken refuge in Ecuador’s embassy for two months, while Britain is refusing him safe passage out of the country.

The British threat came in a diplomatic letter delivered to Ecuador on Wednesday, a day before it granted Assange asylum. Britain later said it had no intention of storming the embassy, which would breach the 1961 Vienna Convention declaring foreign embassies inviolate.

UNASUR’s gathering came a day after the regional ALBA group of leftist governments also met in Guayaquil, at which Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Argentina endorsed Ecuador’s asylum decision about Assange.

Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Chile are among Latin American nations not to have taken a stand.

Ecuador says it granted asylum because neither Britain nor Sweden would offer guarantees that they would not allow Assange’s extradition to the US. Assange’s supporters say they fear he has been secretly indicted by a grand jury in the US.

Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa says there is sufficient reason to fear that the Australian ex-hacker, who published the largest trove of US secrets ever in 2010, would be denied due process in the US and could face life in prison or even the death penalty.

“If we compare the arguments of the two countries, right is on our side,” Ecuador’s foreign minister Ricardo Patino said of his nation and Britain.