Ecuador studies Assange safe passage strategy

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Wednesday said his government was studying "legal strategies" to help WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leave Britain through a safe passage. "We are studying several legal strategies before international courts decide whether to oblige Britain to grant a safe passage," Correa said at a press conference in the capital city Quito. But Correa refused to give more details about these alternatives "for obvious reasons." He added that if Assange is not allowed to leave Britain, he could stay "indefinitely" at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Correa reiterated his willingness to seek settlement of the current diplomatic standoff between London and Quito, though he insisted Britain should first "retract the huge diplomatic gaffe," referring to Britain's embassy-storming threat after Quito announced last week that it gave Assange asylum. Meanwhile, Deputy Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Marco Albuja told reporters that Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino would begin to visit several Latin American countries starting from Wednesday, to "explain Ecuador's stance on asylum," and ask for solidarity against "the threat received from Britain." Patino will also head to Washington to attend Friday's Organization of American States (OAS) meeting, where diplomats will discuss the diplomatic wrestle between Britain and Ecuador following Britain's threat to storm the Ecuadorean embassy in London to seize Assange. Assange, 41, has been taking refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London for two months in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault dating from 2010.