Despite being a notorious critic of the press and Mexico is the country where the most journalists have died in the world this year, yesterday Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tone up his criticism of the United States for the lawsuits against Julian Assange:
“If they take him to the United States and he receives maximum punishment and dies in prison, we must launch a campaign to demolish the Statue of Liberty,” the president said at a news conference on Monday.
López Obrador has repeatedly stated that he offered asylum to the founder of Wikileaks. Two weeks ago, he showed footage of videos leaked by the Wikileaks website denouncing the actions of American soldiers in wars to praise what he considers “the greatest journalist of our time.”
Is Assange in Mexico?
Julian Assange has been in jail in London since 2019 after spending seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital. The US wants to extradite him to answer espionage cases in the country for leaking military secrets from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After a long legal battle, the British government has authorized extradition, but the defense is still trying a last resort.
Although Mexico had nothing to do with the Assange case, the statements made by the Mexican president were shared by his defenders and family members, as he was an Australian citizen and one of the alternatives to his defense was to try to get him home.
At the press conference for Mexican journalists, the reception was not the same. In the first six months of this year, 12 journalists died in Mexico – an average of two press deaths per month.
When asked at the press conference about this data compiled by international organizations such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and others that monitor global journalism, López Obrador was defensive: “This is a smear campaign against the Mexican government.”
Ignoring the numbers and his constant attacks on Mexican media critical of his government, the leader embraced the campaign for Assange’s release and thus positioned himself as a supporter of press freedom.
According to López Obrador, a possible conviction of the WikiLeaks journalist would mean that the statue in New York “will no longer be a symbol of freedom”, so the campaign to destroy the Statue of Liberty, which the French handed over to the United States, must do. Start.”
President today @lopezobrador_ Mexico has called for the Statue of Liberty to be dismantled and returned to France. #Assange not released.#FreeAssangeNOW https://t.co/lrsa1AT0wH
— Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@StellaMoris1) July 4, 2022
The Mexican president said he would bring the issue of Assange’s release to a meeting with US leader Joe Biden during his July 12 visit to Washington.
López Obrador claims that he has already discussed this issue with former President Donald Trump, because it “can’t be silence”.
Also Read | Assange is filing a new extradition appeal; Protest bus cruising the streets of London
Last month, the Mexican also spoke about the situation of the journalist imprisoned in London while commenting on the incident. UK decision to allow extradition of WikiLeaks founder to USHe faces up to 175 prison sentences for posting the country’s military documents on his website:
“Julian Assange is the best journalist in the world of our time and has been treated very unfairly, worse than a criminal. This is the disgrace of the world.”
López Obrador said he would ask Biden to drop the charges against Australia as “humanity must prevail”. And he said Mexico could “open its doors to Assange” if he was released.
At a press conference that same June, he also showed an excerpt from one of the videos posted on WikiLeaks during the war in Iraq, in which a US military helicopter killed 18 people, two of whom were journalists:
AMLO announced at its morning press conference that it would mediate for Julian Assange during his visit to the White House in July, playing a clip of the “Collateral Murder” video showing a US Apache helicopter killing 18, including 2 journalists, in Iraq. . pic.twitter.com/NgqFqMGgpi
— Kurt Hackbarth ???? (@KurtHackbarth) 21 June 2022
Speeches of the Mexican President Spread by Assange Supporters
Videos of López Obrador’s speeches were shared by Assange supporters, including his wife Stella.
“Today, the Mexican president has called for the Statue of Liberty to be dismantled and returned to France if Assange is not released,” said the lawyer, who is married to the journalist.
The Mexican leader’s support has also reinforced criticism of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has been reluctant to publicly defend the WikiLeaks founder since he took office.
“I wish our Australian Prime Minister had the courage” [de López Obrador]. We’re still waiting to see if your “silent diplomatic intervention” works,” one user said on Twitter.
“Even Australia doesn’t defend Assange like López Obrador. What excellent principles the Mexican president has,” wrote another.
After Britain authorized Assange’s extradition, activists, press freedom organizations and the journalist’s family intensified pressure to intervene in Albanese’s transfer to the United States.
Also Read | Family, activists and organizations pressure Australia to prevent Assange’s extradition to the US
The idea of taking Assange to Australia is not new. His father has long been running a local campaign to mobilize the community and politicians.
One option for the WikiLeaks founder would be to serve his sentence in Australia instead of going to the US. Or let the charges against him be dropped and he go back to his hometown.
The Australian Prime Minister said in an interview with reporters last month that he would not accept public pressure to intervene on behalf of the WikiLeaks founder.
But in December, while still leading the opposition, he said he “didn’t see the point” of “constant pursuit” of Assange by US officials.
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source: Noticias
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