Ha! Ecuadorian pontificating - Pot. Kettle. Black.

Ecuador's president Rafael Correa professes outrage at Britain for threatening to enter his country’s embassy in London where the self-important Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is holed up hiding from extradition to Sweden to answer rape and sexual assault accusations.  But – wait a minute – who the hell is Signor Correa to be lecturing us?

Correa, much like Life President Putin, has grabbed powers over the judiciary and introduced a new criminal offence of criticising his government.

One recent victim of this power grab is Journalist Emilio Palacio, of the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo, who was sentenced to three years in jail for ‘criminal defamation’ of Correa’s government on 20 July 20, 2011.

Some grubby human rights record!

Human Rights Watch says of Ecuador – “Corruption, inefficiency, and political influence have plagued the Ecuadorian judiciary for many years. In a referendum held in 2011, President Rafael Correa obtained a popular mandate for constitutional reforms that could significantly increase government powers to constrain media and influence the appointment and dismissal of judges.
“Ecuador’s laws restrict freedom of expression, and government officials, including Correa, use these laws against his critics. Those involved in protests marred by violence may be prosecuted on inflated and inappropriate ‘terrorism’ charges.
“Impunity for police abuses is widespread and perpetrators of murders often attributed to a “settling of accounts” between criminal gangs are rarely prosecuted and convicted. 
Yet amazingly, there appears to be popular support for a crackdown on people’s right to criticise the government.

Correa is popular and appears to be backed by locals with his stance on Assange. He portrays the stand-off with London as a struggle between a small nation against a ‘colonial power’.

He is also up for re-election next year!

Venezuela’s state-run media have for weeks run stories portraying Assange as a champion of media freedom.

But they do not appear fazed by Assange’s decision to work for Russia Today (RT), an English-language TV channel sponsored by the Kremlin-sponsored!
Human Rights Watch

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yeugh cult!

Image
Everyone knows so-called 'probiotic drinks are sugar and water masquerading as health food.  And that great customer relations is about listening to what people are saying.  So how do you explain this - below - from the distributors of Yakult in response to my mate 'Nutters's’ complaint?? First, I'd better explain that the milkman left 24 free samples of this expensive confection at 'Nutters's' place of work.  'Nutters' didn't ask for them ... didn't welcome them and told Mr Yakult as much. You will notice that Yakult's careful, official, line is not to claim health benefits, just the weasel words about ‘positive outcomes’.  I shall be following this up at some reputable sources, including Quack Watch and Bad Science. Watch this space. Here's the official response: Subject: RE: Yakult freebies Dear , Thank you for your email; I am very sorry that you were disappointed with your recent free delivery of Yakult. Just to give you so...
Read more

An African-German who wanted to join Hitler Youth and became a ground-breaking editor – amazing, true, inspiring

Image
Every so often you read of someone whose life has been so unimaginable, so extraordinary – so inspiring – it takes your breath away.   This was my experience, today, reading of the life of Hans Massaquoi – a black teenager in Germany during the war who failed in an adolescent bid to join the Hitler Youth, survived the carpet bombing of Hamburg, played saxophone for American servicemen, emigrated to the USA, served in the Korean war and edited two ground-breaking black American magazines. Massaquoi died on 19 January - his 87th birthday, He also published his autobiography - see cover photo above. Read on, please: telegraph.co.uk independent.co.uk wikipedia
Read more

Mick Woollett, a true gent.

Mick, a proper gent – I’ll miss him Mick Woollett (easy to remember the name, double everything except ‘e’ and ‘w’) died on Monday.   He was my editor at Motor Cycle Weekly in the ‘seventies and early ‘eighties.   He was mature in every sense of the word, made editor in his early fifties and a proper gentleman, having to work with an office-full of (mostly) youngsters. He never lost his cool, was unfailingly courteous, never swore and was always perfectly mannered.   Extraordinary. I plan to get a lot more off my chest about Mick, but for the moment I’ll leave you with this, true, story from, about 1982. MCW had one mouthy sub, a Kiwi called Brendan who was always shouting off about everything.   He knew everything, was witty, but packed full of bluster and b**s**.   In the run-up to the Daytona Speed Week one year he’d been shouting the odds about how HE ought to join the team because of all his experience, skills and how he’d do a better j...
Read more