Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced that his government will offer political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose extradition to the United States was rejected on Monday by a British judge.

Mexico City.- At a morning news conference, the president said he will ask Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard to negotiate with the United Kingdom "the possibility of Mr. Assange being released and that Mexico offer him political asylum."

President López Obrador said that he "welcomed" the British decision, adding: "I believe that it is a triumph of justice." (RHC)