World personalities pledge support to Ecuador asylum for Assange

The personalities who signed the letter are worldwide intellectuals, artists, musicians and activists, and among them are personalities like Eduardo Galeano, Pablo Gonzáles Casanova, Nils Castro, Armand Mattelart, Ignacio Ramonet, Frei Betto.

These persons fully support Ecuador on the diplomatic asylum issue and reject the threat by the U.K. to raid the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in order to arrest Assange, who is wanted for questioning in Sweden on alleged sexual charges.

The U.K. feels it is obliged to extradite Assange, but real fears exist that should he be sent to Sweden, he would then be sent on to the U.S. under a secret indictment on espionage charges for the release by WikiLeaks of sensitive diplomatic cables which have embarrassed and enraged the U.S.

While the U.K. has since allegedly first denied, and then withdrawn its threat to enter the Ecuadorian embassy, the wording of the letter sent to Ecuador is clear and reads as follows:

“You need to be aware that there is a legal base in the UK, the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987, that would allow us to take actions in order to arrest Mr. Assange in the current premises of the Embassy.”

“We sincerely hope that we do not reach that point, but if you are not capable of resolving this matter of Mr. Assange’s presence in your premises, this is an open option for us.”

The letter of support and its signatories are included below:

Freedom of information has one of its biggest defenders in Julian Assange, today persecuted for showing the world the real and deep bottoms [sic] of international relations. Unveiling the true face of the power games has lead Assange to the imputation of absurd charges, at the same time unleashing the dynamic of a surprising violation of international law and the international codes of behavior with the threat by Great Britain of intervening on Ecuadorian territory (Embassy, official cars, etc.) to keep Assange’s right to asylum from consummating.

For the sovereignty of Ecuador and the right to asylum of Julian Assange, we sign:

Germany:

Rainer Schlittgen, Ricarda Schlittgen.

Argentina:

Atilio Boron, Mabel Thwaites Rey, Claudio Katz, Stella Calloni, Susana Murillo, José Luis Tagliaferro, Patricio Echegaray, Marcelo F. Rodriguez, Manuel Bertoldi, Inés Izaguirre, Emilio Taddei, Carlos Ernesto Motto, Juan Manuel Karg, Enrique Elorza, Nestor Kohan, Jorge Boccanera, Beatriz Rajland, Mirta Clara.

Australia:

Federico Fuentes, Robert Austin Henry.

Belgium:

François Houtart, Eric Toussaint.

Bolivia:

Alejandro Dausá, Hugo Moldiz, Ma. Bolivia Rothe, Victor Vacaflores, Anibal Garzón, Sonia Brito, Luis Oporto, Oscar Silva, Fernando Rodríguez.

Brazil:

Thiago de Mello, Joao Pedro Stédile, Frei Betto, Fernando Morais, Virginia Fontes, Gabriel E. Vitullo, Rita Laura Segato, Carlos Walter Porfto-Gonalves, Chico Diaz, Maurício Vieira Martins, Elder Andrade de Paula, Demian Bezerra de Melo, Ildo Luís Sauer, Adelaide Gonçalves, João Márcio Mendes Pereira, Horacio Martins de Carvalho, Plinio de Arruda Sampaio Jr., Jose Vicente Tavares, Silvia Beatriz Adoue, Roberto Leher, Carlos Frederico María Luisa Mendonça, Marés de Souza Filho, Edélcio Vigna, Ana Laura dos Reis Corrêa, Roberto Malvezzi, Carla Luciana Silva, Gilberto Calil, Rui Portanova, Ayrton Centeno, Cebrapaz.

Canada:

Michael Lebowitz, Pierre, Mouterde, John M. Kirk.

Chile:

Marta Harnecker, Eduardo Henríquez.

Colombia:

Diego Otero Prada, Fernando Arelllano Ortiz, Hernando Calvo Ospina, Humberto Betancourt Rodríguez.

Costa Rica:

Wim Dierckxsens.

Cuba:

Silvio Rodríguez, Roberto Fernández Retamar, Fernando Martínez Heredia, René González Sehwerert, Aurelio Alonso, Fabio Grobart, Eloísa Le Riverend, Emilio Comas Paret, Natalia Revueltas, Juan Valdés Paz, Julio César Guanche, Francisco López Segrera, Carlos Tablada, Manuel E. Yepe, Ibrahim Hidalgo Paz, Niurka Pérez Rojas, Ileana Sorolla Fernández, Lino Borroto López, Ricardo Quizá Callejas, Armando Chaguaceda, Fausto Martínez García, Natalia

Bolívar Aróstegui, Norma Balcazar Silva, Néstor García Iturbe, Isbel Díaz Torres, Jimmy Roque Martínez, Haroldo Dilla Alfonso, Marlene Azor Hernández, Noemí Crosas, Rosa Báez, Nelson Aboy Domingo, Reynaldo García Blanco, Mireya Suardíaz, Elisa Masiques, Manuel David Orrio del Rosario.

Ecuador:

Magdalena León, Alejandro Moreano, Raúl Pérez Torres, Irene León, Jorge Orbe, Sally Burch, Osvaldo León, Alexis Ponce, Mauro Cerbino.

El Salvador:

Roque Dalton Foundation, Juan José Dalton, Carlos Molina.

Spain:

Juan Carlos Monedero, Ximena de la Barra, Salvador López Arnal, Lois Pérez Leira, Carlos Fernández Liria, Antoni Puchalt Cea, Ángel Vale González, Montserrat, Ponsa Tarrés.

United States:

Immanuel Wallerstein, James Early, Saul Landau, Al Campbell, Agustín Lao-Montes, Arturo Escobar, Padre Roy Bourgeois, Lisa Sullivan, Father Luis Barrios, David Laibman, Eloise Linger, John Catalinotto, Javad Butah, Humbertto R. Brown, Bill Ryan, Al Campbell, Gregory Wilpert, Viviana Ramirez.

France:

Armand Mattelart, Ignacio Ramonet, Samir Amin, Bernard Cassen, Jean Ortiz, Paul- Emile Dupret, Marielle Nicolas, Dominique Gautier, Annie-Lacroix Riz, Salim Lamrani, Virgilio Ponce.

Great Britain:

David Slater

Greece:

Costas Isychos,

Guatemala:

Simona Yagenova, Héctor Nuila Ericastilla, Alba Estela Maldonado, Mayra Godoy, Silvia Beatriz Adoue

Italy:

Francesco Vespoli, Marco Consolo, Marina Minicuci

Mexico:

Pablo González Casanova, Miguel Concha, John Saxe Fernández, Enrique Semo, Ana Esther Ceceña, Enrique Leff, Carlos Fazio, John Holloway, Gilberto López y Rivas, Frida Modak, José Steinsleger, Beatriz Stolowicz, Ricardo Melgar Bao, Gudrun Lenkersdorf, Ana María Aragonés, Humanity Defense Network, Héctor Díaz Polanco, Diana Guillén, Angel Guerra, Hugo Aboites, Jaime Estay, Jerónimo Rajchenberg, Nayar López Castellanos, Julio Muñoz Rubio, Marcos López, Maricarmen Montes, Cristina Steffen, Efraín León, Ana María Rivadeo, Daniel Inclán, Aldo Rabiela, Miguel Socolovsky, Margarita Favela, Damián Camacho, Claudia Sandoval, Walter Martínez, Josefina Morales, Márgara Millán, Enrique Cortés, Carlos Prigollini, Camilo Pérez Bustillo, Leonor Aída Concha, Rebeca Peralta Mariñelarena, Teresina Gutiérrez-Haces, Arantxa Tirado, Rosa Barranco, Elizabeth Alejandre, Angeles González, Paz Carmona, Isabel Sanginés Franco, Ma. de Lourdes del Villar, Víctor García Zapata, Carlos Beas, Bertha Vallejo, Women for dialogue, Alfonso Anaya, Carmen Mendoza, Andrea Fernández, Leticia Gutiérrez, Marco Velázquez, Gabriela Hernández, Mirabel Mejía Rodríguez, Eréndira Mejía Rodríguez.

País Vasco:

Katu Arkonada.

Panama:

Nils Castro, Marco A. Gandásegui, Jorge Ventocilla.

Paraguay:

Marielle Palau, Martín Almada, Gonzalo Deiró.

Peru:

Javier Diez Canseco, Oscar Ugarteche, Linda Lema Tucker.

Portugal:

Miguel Urbano.

Russia:

Dmitri Prieto Samsónov.

Sweden:

Eva Björklund

Switzerland:

Raymond Muller.

Tunisia:

Rashid Sherif.

Uruguay:

Eduardo Galeano, Daniel Viglietti, Raúl Zibechi, Antonio Elías, Gonzalo Perera, Anahit Aharonian, Enrique Ortega Salinas.

Venezuela:

Luis Britto García, Fernando Báez, Carmen Bohórquez, Paulino Núñez, Tamanaco de la Torre, Dayaleth Alfonzo, Rafael Uzcategui, Hindu Anderi, Itinerant Forum of Popular Participation, Andrés Bensart, Karen Silva-Aristeguieta.