What Pres Correa really said about Assange & the Snowden safe-conduct [View all]

[Catherina]

I've mentioned this before in posts but this is important enough for an OP due to all the misinformation put out by the historically dishonest and anti-Chavez author Rory Carroll, who Chavez mocked and called a Republican to his face. I too listened to Rafael Correa's interview and he never stated he was sorry for offering Snowden asylum or that he was tired of Assange. On the contrary, his PM, restated after the dishonest Guardian article, that they hadn't backed down a single millimeter.

Rory Carroll has carried a lot of water for the global MIC but this was his lowest blow. Lower even than the dishonest book he wrote about Hugo Chavez. After he was confronted about his dishonesty by outraged readers in the Ecuador Asylum story, and President Correa tweeted about it and posted the video of the interview for everyone to see how dishonest that reporter is, he issued a small correction to one of his lies but not the rest.

What Correa really said about Assange and the safe-conduct to Snowden. Analysis

I have carefully listened to the interview – conducted in Spanish – of President Rafael Correa with The Guardian on the “Snowden saga”, also focused on the role of the WikiLeaks founder Mr Julian Assange. Frankly, I became astonished realizing the extent to which the answers of Rafael Correa were misrepresented by The Guardian, and subsequently by other MSM. Instead of what it has been reported, Ecuador has never retracted of their positive statements on whisteblower Edward Snowden, or on their openness to study his asylum. Correa affirms clearly that Ecuador has not “negated” the safe-conduct issued to Mr Snowden. He also says emphatically that “Mr Assange continues to enjoy our respect”

By Marcello Ferrada-Noli

Journalist Rory Carroll and the President of Ecuador Rafael Correa (In Spanish, no subtitles)

The Presidency of Ecuador has now published a videotape with the actual interview

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I have carefully listened to the interview – conducted in Spanish – of President Rafael Correa with The Guardian on the “Snowden saga”, focused on the role of the WikiLeaks founder Mr Julian Assange. Frankly I was astonished when realizing to which extent the “declarations” of Rafael Correa as presented in The Guardian’s reports, were in fact misrepresentations of what the Ecuadorian president actually expressed. These misrepresentations – mainly quotes “out of context”, as Correa would say afterwards – were in fact repeated by the rest of the conspicuous MSM. The Washington Post, for instance, sourced an own article about the Snowden situation on what The Guardian had reported of the interview – but not in the interview itself.]

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Namely, what Correa is stating is that it is an error to affirm that Ecuador “negated” afterwards the salvo-conduct given to Snowden. Further, any Spanish-speaking listener would appropriate testify, after to have listened to what Correa is answering in the interview, is that the Ecuadorian president is saying exactly the opposite. Correa says expressly, “No es que hemos negado el salvo-conducto” (It is not that we have negated the save-conduct”).

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For instance, the journalist in the actual interview puts a leading question on that if president Correa thinks “Assange abusó de la confianza del gobierno (de Ecuador)”. Far from that, Rafael Correa explained instead the context in where Mr Assange made the declarations he did, that he can understand Assange’s concern for Edward Snowden’s situation. President Correa says in the interview very clear about that subject, “we understand the situation perfectly and Mr Assange continues to enjoy our respect”.

And regarding other international dispatchs on that the Ecuadorian government was “furious” also with their own Consul in the UK, whom would have even “received a reprimand”: Not at all. Rafael Correa refers in the interview with Rory Caroll that he said to the Consul – and mentioning the context of previous experiences in which Ecuadorian consulates abroad had hastily to issue safe-conducts, historically for instance in Czechoslovakia to save Jews from persecution – , “If you think you were doing the correct thing, I respect your decision”. He also says that he regards the Consul as “a very cultivated person”.

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The journalist took up the item that the Ecuadorian government – according to press reports – was full aware of such safe-conduct since the beginning, and that they would have changed their minds “only five days later”. President Correa called that information “a lie”. With those words, and emphatically. He also has asked for the proof behind such information, which never got it. To the best of my knowledge, no one of these items were ever published by the international MSM.

http://professorsblogg.com/2013/07/08/correa_assangesnowden/

Short example of the dishonesty, In Spanish WITH English subtitles