UK and Ecuador working on Assange escape mechanism

Ecuador's foreign minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa says the country is working with the UK to find a way for Julian Assange to leave its embassy.

Espinosa is attending the 47th General Assembly of the Organization of American States in Cancun and told reporters there that Ecuador and the UK are talking about doing something for Assange.

A widely-published Reuters report bylined from Ecuadorian capital Quito, quotes Espinosa as saying “The United Kingdom wants a way out, but evidently that is in the hands of the UK justice system, they have their procedures, their ways. This opening has been there, and we are working on it."

Ecuadorian outlet El Telegrafo, after being shoved through an online translate-o-tron, reports Espinosa as saying “At the moment there are diplomatic contacts with the United Kingdom” and that “the idea is to reach a solution that benefits the rights of the insured person. There is the best predisposition.”

Ecuador granted Julian Assange asylum after he expressed fears that being returned to Sweden to assist a sexual assault inquiry would see him extradited to the USA. The Swedish investigation was recently abandoned, but Assange's decision to avoid a journey to Stockholm by fleeing to the Ecuadorian embassy in London means he was charged with failing to surrender to UK courts. A warrant for his arrest in the UK therefore remains on the books and will be enacted if he leaves the sanctuary of the embassy.

Ecuador remains happy for Assange to reside on its soil, but if the UK arrests him it will be hard for him to make the journey.

News of amicable talks between the two nations therefore raises the prospect of Assange being able to leave the embassy in which he has lived for five years and making his way to sunnier climes.

Assange's and WikiLeaks' social emissions remain silent on Espinosa's utterances at the time of writing. ®