Puebla Group Supports AMLO’s Offer to Grant Asylum to Assange

"Mexican President AMLO said he had sought a pardon for Julian Assange from former U.S. President Donald Trump before he left office last year and repeated his offer of asylum for the Wikileaks founder on Monday." | Photo: Twitter @ggreenwald

Published 4 January 2022

Julian Assange is a victim of political persecution by U.S. authorities after revealing in 2010 crimes against humanity committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

On Tuesday, the Puebla Group supported the initiative reiterated the day before by the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to offer asylum to the Australian journalist and founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange, who is a victim of political persecution by U.S. authorities.

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The organization of progressive leaders of Latin America disseminated through its social networks a message in which they congratulated "the initiative of the Government of Mexico and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to grant political asylum to the persecuted Julian Assange.

During his meeting with the press at the National Palace on Monday, the president again made the asylum proposal and said that the U.S. administration should act with humanism towards the activist.

 AMLO stated that "Assange is ill and it would be a sign of solidarity, of fraternity, to allow him to receive asylum in the country where he decides to live, including Mexico."

Assange is being held in London's Belmarsh Prison, with several health problems. He is waiting for the U.K. Supreme Court to decide on a defense appeal to prevent his extradition to the United States.

In this country, he faces 18 charges and a sentence of 175 years in prison for the revelations he made in 2010 about crimes against humanity committed by U.S. troops and allied nations during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

López Obrador recalled that Mexico has a solidarity asylum policy which he described as "pride of our foreign policy."

He also revealed that he sent a letter to former U.S. President Donald Trump (2017-2021) before the end of his term, requesting that he be acquitted of charges, but the letter was not answered, he said.

According to local news media, the Mexican head of state first offered Assange asylum a year ago.

During the press conference, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard informed that the government maintains communication with Assange's lawyers, who are aware of the asylum offer. However, at this moment, they cannot take it for procedural reasons, he said.