Today Mexico and it’s leader, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, offered political asylum to Julian Assange to further protect him from extradition to the US.
Obrador preached, it was his nation’s “responsibility” to offer protection after the US announced it was appealing a UK court decision not to extradite the WikiLeaks founder, who faces up to 175 years in prison for espionage charges.
The president (of Mexico) was very adamant of protecting and pardoning Assange.
I’m going to ask the foreign minister to carry out the relevant procedures to request that the UK government releases Mr. Assange and that Mexico offers him political asylum.
Lopez Obrador told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The United States has still got a hard on to get Assange and waste taxpayers money because they can’t take a loss or like the fact that they were exposed, hence the ridiculous charges. On Wednesday his lawyers plan to fight for his release at a bail hearing.
Mexican Hypocrisy for Julian Assange Asylum?
Critics have already came out swinging claiming this doesn’t make any sense considering mexico’s history, and one verified twitter user making a legitimate tough argument despite the country’s own authoritarian or violent practices.
“Mexico, the world’s deadliest country for journalists, where the government uses spyware to monitor the private communications of reporters, today offered political asylum to Julian Assange.” In all fairness this could be a shot at the suppression of truth coming from pressure of the drug cartels, it wasn’t really clear.
I’m no expert but I would say Mexico has historically had a “decently generous” asylum policy (intellectuals, political leaders, artists etc.)
This is not the first time that somebody the United States does not like, Obrador has granted asylum to political enemies of the United States in the past, most notably former Bolivian President Evo Morales following a 2019 U.S.-backed coup.
