Ecuadoran President Correa Gives VP Biden An Earful

[ProSense]

Ecuadoran President Correa Gives VP Biden An Earful

by FiredUpInCA

On Friday, Ecuadoran President Rafael President Correa received a call from Vice President Biden about granting asylum status to classified data leaker Edward Snowden.

He said he had told the US vice-president: "Mr vice-president, thanks for calling. We hold the United States in high regard. We did not seek to be in this situation. Do not get the idea that we are anti-American, as some ill-spirited media outlets are doing."

If Mr Snowden ever came to "Ecuadoran soil" with his request, he added, "the first people whose opinion we will seek is that of the United States".

The Ecuadorean president, a leftist economist who received a doctorate in the US, denied he was seeking to disrupt relations and said he had "lived the happiest days of my life" in the US.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23115554

President Correa, addressed his nation about the conversation and did not let up one iota in his respectful-of-your-face description of how Ecuador will weigh Snowden's asylum request.

"We have to act very carefully but with courage, without contradicting our principles but with a lot of care, responsibility and respect of course towards the U.S. but also respect for the truth," Correa said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/29/politics/nsa-leak/

Ouch. Biden was all 'please don't grant asylum' and then Correa was all 'we have to act with a lot of respect of course towards the U.S.' Things are getting hot while Correa rubs the U.S. face in it.

Then Correa again reiterated to the nation exactly where the United States could shove their free trade agreements with Ecuador.

"We need to be very realistic. We use the U.S. currency. We are extremely vulnerable. We shouldn't make any false assumptions," Correa said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/29/politics/nsa-leak/

U.S. did you hear that? Somebody got told.

Correa did not let up and laid out exactly how this whole thing is going to go and exactly whose interests would be considered first and foremost.

Correa said that the first ones to be consulted "would be the U.S. as we did in the Assange case with England." He was referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who's been residing in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for almost a year.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/29/politics/nsa-leak/

Meanwhile Monday is just around the corner.

The most likely casualty of sheltering Mr. Snowden would be the trade preferences, which have been in place since the early 1990s. Originally designed for several Andean nations, Ecuador is the last remaining recipient. But the preferences, which applied to about $429 million in non-oil exports last year, expire at the end of July unless they are renewed by Congress.<...>

Ecuador has begun its own campaign to keep the preferences, including a Web site called Keep Trade Going, that urges Americans to contact their legislators to ask them to vote in favor of the pact.<...>

At the same time, Ecuador has staked out a fallback position, petitioning to include roses, frozen broccoli and canned artichokes in a separate trade program, the Generalized System of Preferences. That decision is controlled by the White House, so Ecuador is essentially asking President Obama’s help in getting around opposition in Congress.

Mr. Obama must decide by Monday whether he will include those items — a move that becomes increasingly thorny as the standoff over Mr. Snowden continues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/world/americas/ecuador-courts-trade-problems-with-us-if-it-grants-snowden-asylum.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/29/1219984/-Ecuadoran-President-Correa-Gives-VP-Biden-An-Earful

Analysis: Snowden's options appear to narrow in bid to evade U.S. arrest
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023124655






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[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[longship]

2. I'll kick for you.

Informative.

Things are getting sticky for Snowden. His options may be wearing thin, if he even had many to begin with. Without making judgement -- a position I wish to maintain here -- he seems to be in a pickle barrel and no where to go.

I was concerned about this earlier when he ended up in, of all places, Hong Kong. Then, when he flew to Moscow and didn't show up en route to SA via Havana, I kind of knew he was screwn.

Thanks for your updates.
R&K

[ProSense]

3. Thanks.

[ProSense]

4. Another. n/t

[treestar]

5. kick

:kick:

[SidDithers]

6. DUrec...nt

Sid

[MADem]

7. I find it hilarious how some folks just create cartoon images of foreign leaders or people.

Like Iceland, for example. People don't realize that they had an election and there's a new guy in charge, who is a bit more of a centrist. They also don't notice how trade with USA has increased greatly in recent years.

Ecuador doesn't even have their own currency. They are very dependent on US trade, AND they have their hand in the tiger's mouth because they owe CHINA a fortune.

These things aren't always about fist shaking....and when fists are shaken, it's sometimes just for domestic consumption.

Snowden might want to go visit North Korea--maybe Little Kim will want to hang out with him and play computer games or something....???

[flamingdem]

9. What do you think about Maduro offering asylum

if that's a real offer -- and Correa making nice with Biden?

I just hope they realize what a liability this Snowden is long term.

[MADem]

10. I hope Maduro gets his refineries back online soon...because we're the ones that do most of that

work for him. His oil is nasty and heavy, and not all refineries can handle it. Ours can. He'll need his own assets if we turn our backs on him, because his oil will be un-sellable.

I don't think Maduro wants trade hell with USA--they get most of their goods from us, and as it is, they're having a hard time keeping even simple things in supply.

Correa is getting an earful from the foreign minister and the business community. I wouldn't be surprised if they slip Assange a mickey and toss him out the door, claiming he sleep-walked, and let the bobbies have him.

I wonder if Cuba will take him? They make money from people-to-people programs (which is tourism, under an educational and exchange of cultures umbrella), and they benefit economically from relaxed rules about family visits.

Someone would have to make up the cash difference to make it worth their while--and I can't see anyone doing that.

North Korea might be that jerk's best bet. Wonder if Little Kim needs a sys admin?

[flamingdem]

11. Cuba will not take him. I like your idea of him being an exhibit for the People-to-people tours!

Things are improving a bit between the USA and Cuba so I believe that's also why we haven't seen Snowden in Ecuador.

Remember he was supposed to be on a flight to Havana and it was cancelled, though that may have been the lack of passport issue.

I don't think Cuba will even let him transit due to the 2006 accord to return all US fugitives to the USA.


My hope is that other than the USA Snowden ends up in Venezuela for purely selfish reasons I think it would be fascinating to watch him adjust to the Socialist Republic and all of that. I think he'd realize something about freedom, I know I did after visiting Cuba!

[flamingdem]

8. So Obama has an option to help Correa that must be decided tomorrow?

Oh dear he needs a few more days.

He needs to see if Maduro will spirit dear Snowdon off to Venezuela to the glories of socialism and the Libertarian Retraining Camp he is sure to attend (just an indulgent joke).

I didn't realize there was another way Ecuador could keep the preferences. This will all be very telling. The best outcome would be strengthened ties between the US and Ecuador. It's doable but there are right wing forces that will do what they can to undermine Correa.

Let's hope that Sen. Robert Menendez puts his Democratic hat on and doesn't give in to temptation to bully Ecuador at this sensitive time. He did that last week no doubt to the delight of his Cuban American congressional friends, and it was a real setback forcing Ecuador to react by rejecting the renewal of trade preferences, the 1990 ones.

Even more interesting is what Maduro will do and if he realizes that Snowden could backfire on him, especially the optics of taking him back to VE in his presidential jet.