As the asylum dragged on, his relations with his hosts soured and his behavior became more erratic. Embassy staff complained of him skateboarding at night, playing loud music and walking around in his underwear with no apparent concern for others in the tiny embassy. One senior Ecuadorian official described his room as a "sovereign territory within a sovereign territory" that none of the staff at No. But the stench from going weeks without a shower, and dental problem born of poor hygiene, was a constant nuisance, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to discuss details of Assange's behavior.
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics. Then there was the issue of Assange's poop, which authorities said he spread across embassy walls on at least one occasion in an act of open defiance showing how little he thought of his hosts. Within months of taking office in , Moreno's government scolded Assange again for meddling in international affairs by voicing his support for Catalan secessionists from the Ecuadorian Embassy.
Much of their job involved monitoring British police officers stationed outside. Scotland Yard later scaled back its presence outside the embassy and withdrew officers altogether in , when Sweden dropped its investigation into alleged sexual offences, which Assange has always denied.
Assange tweeted that same day in support of Catalan secession. In January, the agents noted that a new cleaner had started work. Letters arrived for him, as did flowers, the agents noted. Sometimes, Assange smoked a pipe.
His mood was generally placid. On occasion, there were angry eruptions, sympathetically interpreted by the agents who could understand his frustration after being in the embassy for such a long time. Journalists and film-makers have been frequent guests. In February, there were no more visits recorded for two weeks. Friends conceded that after almost six years in the embassy, Assange was visibly suffering, and in poor health , although they described him as mentally robust.
At weekends, embassy staff go home, leaving him with no one to talk to apart from a solitary guard. The logs do not explain how WikiLeaks received the 70, Democratic emails that had been hacked.
By the spring of this year, developments in Quito had moved in an ominous direction for Assange. As a candidate, Donald Trump praised WikiLeaks when it revealed embarrassing Democratic party secrets. A jammer was installed to prevent him from accessing emails. For more than a month, he has been forbidden visitors. Friends say he is passing the time by reading. They say he is leafing through books on the US election, which WikiLeaks did so much to influence and — its critics allege — subvert.
He has since landed at job at RT. Last week, the embassy appeared deserted. Nearby, well-heeled passengers emerged from Bentleys and Mercedes outside Harrods. A violinist serenaded him from the pavement. But according to Mr Basabe, Mr Correa does not need to resort to such strategies to stay in power. And the possibility of the British authorities storming into the Ecuadorean embassy in London to capture Mr Assange, raised on Wednesday by Foreign Minister Patino, has provided Correa supporters with a powerful rallying cry.
To a large extent, however, repercussions will depend on the reaction of the British and Swedish governments - and, of course, of the United States. And very few people seem to believe the Wikileaks founder will ever make it to South America. Assange's ties with Ecuador. For the next step, one can only assume that British authorities will begin a process of negotiation with Ecuador to try to resolve the impasse, but in the meantime, Mr.
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