Australian Associated Press, June 21, 2013
ECUADOR has announced the appointment of a new ambassador in London where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been holed up in its embassy for nearly a year to avoid extradition to Sweden.
Ana Alban, who was ambassador when Assange took refuge at the Ecuadoran embassy June 19, 2012, is being replaced by former bank superintendent Juan Falconi Puig, Vice Foreign Minister Marco Albuha said.
Albuha earlier this week denied a British newspaper report that Alban was removed for taking in Assange. He said she requested a transfer last year and had submitted her resignation early this year.
But the move comes days before a visit to London by Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, who is scheduled to meet next Monday with British Foreign Minister William Hague to discuss Assange's situation.
Patino said last week he hoped the meeting with Hague "will enable us to envisage a solution to the Assange case." [.....]
Also see, possibly related in some convoluted way:
Ecuador: Fully Respect Refugee Rights
Presidential Decree on Asylum Procedures Violates Basic Guarantee
Human Rights Watch press release, June 20, 2013
(Washington, DC) – Ecuador should ensure that all asylum procedures fully respect the basic rights of refugees under international law, Human Rights Watch said in a letter sent today, World Refugee Day, to President Rafael Correa.
Presidential Decree 1182, adopted on May 30, 2012, by Correa to regulate asylum procedures in the country, does not protect asylum seekers’ due process rights. Ecuador has the largest number of registered refugees in the region – 56,000 at the end of 2012. The majority are Colombians escaping armed conflict [....]