The Ecuadorian Court has thrown out an extradition request for a former police investigator from Belarus and ordered he be freed immediately. Judge Carlos Ramirez of the National Court of Justice denied grounds for the extradition of 30 year old Aliaksandr Barankov and ratified his status as a political refugee.

Barankov was originally imprisoned on 7^th June on charges of fraud and extortion. He originally arrived in Ecuador in 2009 after fleeing the country upon uncovering an oil smuggling ring involving high ranking government officials. The 30-year old was working in a police research organisation dedicated to prosecuting financial crimes when he uncovered the corruption. The government is accusing him of illicitly receiving money from the oil company, Total Oil.

Berankov says he could be killed if sent back to Belarus as president Alexander Lukashenko is implicated in the scandal.

He blames his imprisonment in June to pressure from Belarus before an official visit later that month by Lukashenko, who is reputedly responsible for the fixing of elections, imprisonment of dissidents, and censorship of free speech.

This is the second time Ecuador has defended calls for his extradition. The Belarusian government applied for the first time in October 2011 but the National Court denied it on the grounds that the documents provided did not prove any evidence of wrongdoing.

The news was announced today by Berankov’s lawyer, Fernando Lara. “We’re pleased,” he said, “but this decision has come 82 days too late.”

Barankov also spoke to Associated Press from prison, saying “I’m happy! They’ve saved my life!”

The case has come under the spotlight after the granting of asylum to Julian Assange. President Rafael Correa has declined to comment until the court proceedings have been completed.

Ecuador’s request for a foreign ministers’ meeting to discuss the Assange case was approved by the Organisation of American States (OAS), despite opposition from the US. Ecuador also received shows of support from ALBA (Bolivarian Allliance for our America) and Unasur (Union of South American Nations).

The OAS foreign ministers’ meeting will convene in Washington DC on Friday 24th August to ”address the situation between Ecuador and the UK regarding the inviolability of the diplomatic premises of Ecuador in the UK in accordance with international law, and to agree on appropriate measures to be adopted.” The resolution calling for the meeting was passed by 23 votes in favour and 3 against (the US, Canda, and Trinidad and Tobago).

The US have stated that the issue should be solved bilaterally between Ecuador and the UK. Furthermore, the spokesperson for the US Department of State, Victoria Nuland, said in a statement that “the United States is not a party to the 1954 OAS Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and does not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum as a matter of international law.”

As well as the OAS emergency meeting, ALBA will convene today in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to analyse the steps to follow on the diplomatic row between the Andean country and the UK. Rodolfo Sanz, ALBA’s executive secretary, defended Ecuador’s decision, saying that “the right to asylum is contemplated in the Vienna Convention. That is very clear.” All eight members of the bloc -Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and St. Vince and the Grenadines- will meet to discuss Assange’s situation.

Unasur -a political alliance between Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, and Venezuela- will also hold an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in Guayaquil tomorrow. The aim of the meeting will be to discuss “the threats made by the government of the UK against the integrity of the Ecuadorian embassy in London and against Ecuador’s sovereign right to administer its asylum policy.”

The European Union (EU) also stated its position, saying they consider the matter a bilateral issue between Ecuador and the UK and that they “trust that it will be resolved with dialogue and total respect to all applicable European and international laws,” a EU source told Spanish news agency Efe.

The Russian government, in turn, released a statement today warning the UK that entering the Ecuadorian embassy would be a violation of diplomatic principles. In the same statement, they pointed out that London has in the past granted asylum to many alleged criminals wanted by other countries.

WikiLeaks announced yesterday via Twitter that Assange will speak live “in front of the Ecuadorian embassy” in London tomorrow at 2pm BST (1pm GMT). It is unclear whether he will step outside the embassy to make his statement.

Ecuador has granted asylum to WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange in the latest development in a complicated political situation that began on 19th June when Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London to ask the Andean nation to help him avoid extradition to Sweden.

In a speech in Quito, Ricardo Patino, Ecuador’s foreign minister, said they believed Assange’s fears of persecution were legitimate.

However, Britain has insisted that the Andean nation’s decision does not change anything, and has said it will not grant him safe passage to Ecuador.

Ecuador responded by accusing the UK of making an “open threat” to enter the embassy to arrest him, something the UK claims is within its rights. Were it to do so, it would have to give a week’s notice.

Ecuador’s foreign minister today revealed details of a letter that was delivered through the British embassy in Quito, the Andean nation’s capital, regarding the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s current situation as an asylum seeker living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

The letter said: “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 need to reiterate that we consider the continued use of the diplomatic premises in this way incompatible with the Vienna convention and unsustainable and we have made clear the serious implications that this has for our diplomatic relations.”

Patiño responded against the perceived threat from the UK to enter the embassy, saying that such a “dangerous precedent” would be met with “appropriate responses in accordance with international law”.

Ecuador has announced that president Rafael Correa will reach a decision on the asylum request on Thursday.

Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa is expected to deliver a verdict on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s asylum request this week. The Andean nation’s foreign minister, Ricardo Patiño, confirmed Correa would likely make an announcement following meetings with his diplomats, based in the UK and Sweden.

Correa told state television that a large amount of material about international law needed to be examined to make a responsible, informed decision. He added that he expected to have the latest reports by Wednesday.

Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London on 19th June in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning for alleged sexual misconduct. He had lost his final appeal at the highest court in the UK earlier that month.

Patiño had announced in late July that the country would be sensitive of timings in reaching a decision on his asylum petition, and said it was unlikely a conclusion would be reached before the end of the 2012 Olympic Games hosted in London, which ended on Sunday.

Assange has repeatedly stated his willingness to go to Sweden if there are assurances from Sweden, Britain, and the US that he will not then be extradited to the US. Under international law, if Assange is not charged in Sweden after facing questioning, he has 45 days to freely move internationally, unless the country granting the extradition – in this case, Britain – waives his right to do so. Assange has repeatedly sought guarantees from politicians in the UK that they will not seek to waive this right, but has thus far not have this confirmed.

Ecuador shares the concern Assange could risk being extradited to the US and possibly face the death sentence there. And his legal team, which now includes Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, argue evidence suggests the concerns to be well-founded: A grand jury in Virginia has subpoenaed Twitter feeds regarding Assange and WikiLeaks, and the FBI have compiled a 40,000 page file on the Australian.

Ecuadorians affected by the pollution from the oil company Chevron, are filing court actions to seize the company’s assets after it failed to pay US$19.04bn by last night’s deadline.

Last week the Court of Sucumbios in Ecuador ordered that the giant oil company pay the billion-dollar fine by midnight on 6th August for the environmental damage it caused to Ecuador’s rivers and forests.

“People in Ecuador are dying because of Chevron’s pollution and the company’s utter contempt for the rule of law,” said Paublo Fajardo, the lead Ecuadorian lawyer on the case according to Environmental Expert. “Chevron is going to have to be forced by courts to comply with its legal obligations.”

Ecuadorian Judge Liliana Ortiz signed an order on Friday forcing Chevron to deposit the funds needed to help clean up what experts consider one of the worst oil dumpings in the world. The area is almost the size of greater Buenos Aires. Already more than 16 billion gallons of toxic waste has been dumped into Amazon waterways.

With the deadline passed Chevron has made no move to pay the US$19bn and according to Petroleumworld they are going to appeal the decision.

A spokesperson for Chevron, James Craig, said the company will use all the legal means necessary to fight against, “this illegal order and, more generally, against the corrupt lawyers’ fraud and extortion scheme.”

Indigenous and farming communities originally filed the lawsuit in a US federal court in Manhattan, in 1993. The 19-year old case shifted to Ecuador in 2002 after Chevron approved the fairness of the Ecuadorian courts and promised to abide by any adverse judgments. The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in the small town of Lago Agrio in the province of Sucumbois, Today, it is has more than 30 thousand plaintiffs.

“Our legal position is getting stronger by the day,” said Fajardo. “What is clear is that in the eyes of the law, Chevron becomes a fugitive from justice, at midnight on Monday, unless it pays the Ecuador judgment in full.”

Fajardo estimated Chevron’s remaining assets in Ecuador are worth roughly $200 million, including a $96 million court judgment the oil giant won recently in an international arbitration proceeding against Ecuador’s government. Ecuador is the third largest producer of oil in Latin America with reserves of US$6.5bn.

Chevron is already facing lawsuits in both Canada and Brazil.

It operated in Ecuador from 1964-1992 under the Texaco brand and according to Fajardo made US$30bn in profit.

According to evidence before the court, Chevron dumped the toxic waste into the Amazon waterways as a cost cutting measure. The company also destroyed documents relating to oil spills and tried to bribe or intimidate judges for a favourable outcome.

The evidence also found that five indigenous groups have been devastated by the contamination, which has caused an outbreak of cancer that has killed and threatens to kill thousands.

In light of the missed deadline, Fajardo said the plaintiffs would file additional asset seizures in the coming weeks in places like Venezuela, which contains Chevron’s largest investment in Latin America.

Ecuador is looking to become a full member of Mercosur according to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who announced the country’s intention in her speech yesterday.

President Fernández briefly stated that the country planned to push forward in its goal of becoming an official member of Mercosur.

Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Perú, are currently only associate members of the economical and political agreement, which promotes free trade and the movements of goods and currency.

Mercosur’s full members include Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela. However, Paraguay is currently suspended, while  its newest member’s acceptance, Venezuela, is the topic of hot debate.

At a Mercosur summit in December of 2011 in Montevideo, Ecuador President Rafael Correa said, “we’re hoping to become a full member,” although no substantial efforts have been made thus far to try to gain acceptance into the agreement.

Venezuela waited roughly six years before finally being accepted as the fifth country. In order to enter the new bloc, the potential new member must be approved by the Congress of each of the existing member-states, and the Paraguayan senate had kept Venezuela’s application blocked.

Correa remarked that his country’s good relationships with all of the other member countries should help speed the process.

Bolivia is also looking to become a member according to Brazilian news sources.

“The idea is to have a more open discussion so that Ecuadorians and Bolivians can become a part of Mercosur,” says the Brazilian State News Agency.

The President of Brazilian’s Special Advisor for International Affairs, Marco Aurelio García, plans on visiting Bolivia to discuss the country’s current position.

“We will be looking at how to create more opportunities for countries that are not formally included in Mercosur,” says García.

With Venezuela’s recent acceptance both Ecuador and Bolivia are renewing their intention to become full members.

The Ecuadorian government announced that it would make its decision about the political asylum request of Julian Assange after the conclusion of the Olympic Games.

According to Cuba Debate, the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño stated that the decision would not affect relations with Great Britain, even though the two governments may take different positions on the issue.

Assange sought asylum from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on 19th June after he has was accused of sexually assaulting two women in Sweden. The founder of Wikileaks fears that if he is extradited to Sweden, he would then be extradited to the US and prosecuted for espionage for uncovering and releasing thousands of confidential documents from the US State Department.

The former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon will defend Assange and holds that the accusations against his client are ¨arbitrary, absolutely baseless and there is clear political intention behind the whole process.¨

Yesterday, Assange’s mother implored Patiño to grant her son political asylum and voiced fears that her son would face a long prison sentence or even death. The dialogue took place behind closed doors and lasted four hours whereupon Patiño and Christine Assange then spoke with the press.

Journalists protest against rising violence during march in Mexico (Photo courtesy the Knight Foundation)

On the 3^rd of May, as the world celebrated Freedom of the Press Day, three journalists were found dead in Mexico. The mutilated bodies of photographers Gabriel Huge, Esteban Rodríguez, and Guillermo Luna were found in Veracruz state chopped up and discarded in a canal, the complete disregard for human life on full display for the world to see.

Just five days ago the body of Marco Antonio Ávila García was discovered in Ciudad Obregón, north-western Mexico. Strangled and wrapped in a plastic bag, the crime reporter was victim to an increasing trend that has been sweeping the Latin American country. His fault? Telling the truth.

Criminal Oppression

García was the fourth journalist this month to be found murdered in Mexico, a tactic being used by organised crime gangs to install fear in press who are speaking out and reporting on crime. As the intensity of the fighting between organised crime groups and government forces has increased, the tolerance of journalist’s reporting has waned. These journalists have been killed with the same brutality as the crime cartels are treating each other, showing the level of threat the gangs consider freedom of press to be.

Speaking to Carlos Martín Lauría, Senior Coordinator for the Americas at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), he considers this violence to be one of two major issues with the freedom of press in Latin America. CPJ is a non-profit organisation that was set up in 1981, while many Latin American countries were still ruled by dictatorships, and which has ardently covered threats to, and fought for, freedom of press in the world.

A poster of Alfredo Villatoro, found dead last week

“One problem [with media freedom in Latin America] is the violence against press where organised groups have increased their pressure on journalists reporting on trafficking, corruption and crime.” Lauría states. “They are being specifically targeted.”

“Mexico right now is probably the worse case scenario,” He continues. “The country has become one of the worst places for journalists to work, not only in the hemisphere, but also around the world.” Since the Felipe Calderón government took office in 2006, and started an offensive against organised crime, levels of violence have increased at a rapid pace. This violence has also been directed at members of the press, who tirelessly work to expose gang exploits, while also acting as a watchdog for army forces – since then, 45 journalists have been murdered.

Similar attacks have occurred in Honduras and Northern Guatemala, areas that have been increasingly deteriorating due to the heightened presence of the drug trafficking gangs. In Honduras, journalists Alfredo Villatoro and Erick Martínez Avíla were both found dead in the last few weeks. Villatoro, who worked for the news station HRN, was kidnapped on the 9^th May. His body was found, with shots to the head on the 15^th. According to the International Press Institute, Villatoro was the 23^rd journalist to be killed in the Central American country since the coup d’état that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya in 2009. This year, despite the fact Honduras has 7% of Mexico’s population, the same number of journalists have been killed in both countries.

Lauría hints that part of the violence in Central America is intrinsically linked to their northern neighbour. ”The presence of Mexican cartels can be felt now in Central America, especially in northern Guatemala, where the criminal cartel organisation known as the Zetas is having a big presence. Also in Honduras, the presence of the cartels is creating a lot of problems as that is the place where there has been the most murders, per ratio, according to UN reports.”

Honduras has the additional problem of a government that is not entirely committed to bringing justice to these killings. Lauría describes a CJP report in which the NGO “are calling on the government to break the acts of impunity that surround all these investigations.”

So does this mean there is no hope for journalists while organised crime is widespread in the area? “We know there is no magic solution, but we still need to ensure freedom of expression,” says Lauría.

Journalists are ill prepared in their fight against organised crime, but will not be silenced either. (Photos courtesy of Knight Foundation)

The Pen is Sharper than the Sword

Despite the continuing violence, journalists and support networks are making a stand for themselves, and for their work. CPJ and other press support organisations continually lobby for international organisations to pressure governments for change. CPJ has travelled to Honduras and Mexico in recent years to compile reports on stifling of press and present them to the UN Council on Human Rights to demand for change. On Friday in Honduras, a march organised by the Colegio de Periodistas de Honduras will take place across the country, in a stand against the killings, and general intimidation of press.

A recent study by Reporters Without Borders asked if journalists are best prepared against organised crime, with an answer a resounding ‘no’.

“It is clear from this report that the media are not united against organised crime, their correspondents are isolated and lack resources, and their capacity for investigative reporting is eclipsed by the race for breaking news,” the report claims.

Reporters Without Borders, another NGO which monitors and advocates for global press freedom, released the report claiming that they believe the way for journalists to combat this violence is for them to strategically work together, especially in countries where the governments might not be reliable enough.

Journalists should be “pooling information and sources,” while calling “for the creation of journalists’ associations that can help to guarantee the independence of their media and prevent murky financial interests from influencing editorial choices.”

Both Sides of the Law

But it is not just the extremity of the violence that is stifling freedom of press in Latin America. Below the headline grabbing aggressive tactics of the cartels, there is a culture of soft censorship that is threatening the freedom of press in a less explicit way.

“The second problem [with freedom of press] is the fact that some democratically elected leaders in Latin America are practising unconstitutional methods in an attempt to stifle press,” Lauría warns. “Venezuela is perhaps the most stark example of this, followed by Ecuador and Nicaragua.”

In the case of Ecuador, back in February, the high court decided to uphold a criminal libel conviction brought against newspaper El Universo by President Rafael Correa. The leader of the South American country filed a lawsuit against the paper after they published a column by journalist Emilio Palacio, criticising Correa and his treatment of the police uprising in March 2011. In a column titled ‘No to Lies’, Palacio referred to the president as a ‘dictator’ and blamed the action of the army troops, who killed three police officers during protests, on Correa. The court decided the paper had to pay US$40 million in damages and sentenced Palacio and the three owners of the paper to prison for three years. Palacio has since filed for political asylum in the United States.

Journalists Protest against rising violence during March in Mexico (Photos courtesy of Knight Foundation)

“This demonstrates that you can prosecute not only the clowns, but also the owner of the circus,” said Correa in response to the decision. He argues that the press organisations in Ecuador are corrupt and run by biased opposition parties, who funded El Universo, and who should not be allowed to “buy a printing press.”

After the case Lauría released a statement saying that “this short-sighted ruling will only keep Ecuadoran journalists from investigating powerful politicians; it represents a serious setback for democracy in Ecuador.” In reference to this case, he says that although Correa has since pardoned Palacio and El Universo, it was only due to international pressure. “It’s for the international community to be aware that this censorship has been going on.”

In Ecuador, the conflict between the press and the government has been intensifying in the lead up to the 2013 presidential election. Standing by his previous assertion that the press are too powerful and corrupt, the president has stood by his decision to change an electoral law, which will limit press coverage of the event. Critics of the press in Ecuador argue that their influence is too politically motivated and that they have unleashed a self-serving campaign against the government in order to suit their own economic interests.

In the case of violent attacks on journalists, the government has a role, however effective it may be, which is to stand up for the press. When it is the government itself threatening the freedom, NGOs such as CPJ, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and many others make it their job to bring these cases to media attention.

Lauría argues that a constant spotlight on exploitation of the outlets of speech is the key to ensuring a more open flow of information. “It is up to inter-governmental institutions like to Organisation of American States (OAS) to protect freedom of expression.”

The UN declaration for Freedom of Press Day clearly states, that “freedom of information is a fundamental human right.”

Across Latin America the free state of the press has improved significantly within the last decades. But while acts of aggression, be they legal or physical, are exercised on journalists, the level of threat remains unacceptable.

As Carlos Lauría so conclusively puts it, “what is being affected is more than the right for journalists to report the news, but also the rights of freedom of expression and access to information.”

To find out what Argentines think about the state of freedom of the press in Latin America, click here.

The Minster of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and his Ecuadorian counterpart, Ricardo Patiño, signed a trade agreement in Caracas yesterday.

The agreement involves the exchange of petroleum, the supply of crude oil from Venezuela to an Ecuadorian refinery and the exploration of a binational gas project.

The Foreign Ministers reviewed bilateral relations and discussed a provisional date for a meeting between President Hugo Chávez and President Rafael Correa.

Among the stipulations of the agreement is a partnership between Venezuelan oil companies, PDVSA and Petroleum of Ecuador to regulate the exchange of oil.

According to Maduro, the deal “ensures the strategic alliance for expanding the exploration, transportation, storage capacity, refinement and commercialisation of petroleum and other products.”

Another agreement outlines a supply contract between PDVSA and the refinery Pacífico Eloy Alfaro, whose construction is advancing in different phases.

The deal also stipulates a programme of assistance and cooperation in customs issues and other bodies related to fiscal control in the two countries, according to DPA.

The construction of a gas pipeline between the two countries is also under discussion, making use of the current accord with intermediary country, Columbia, to strengthen the regional bloc. Maduro indicated that a binational fund has been set up to finance projects of more than US$25m.

According to an official statement released by Patiño, Ecuador is “very satisfied with the results of the meeting. We are reaching agreements that will greatly increase trade relations. We are moving forward with a medium-term perspective.”

Patiño indicated that Ecuador has exported approximately nine percent of non-oil production to Venezuela, “which means that it is one of our most important trading partners.”

He also indicated that plans are underway to sign economic agreements that will “economically complement our productive capacities.”

“We are building a healthy relationship between Ecuador and Venzuela from a commerical point of view, fighting the illegal fraudulent product of capitalism which has dominated our countries for too long.” Maduro stated.

The creation of The Grand National Cocoa company and the promotion of an international agreement, Financao, an international association of exporters of cocoa, are also under discussion.