Venezuela's President Maduro offers asylum to Edward Snowden

Caracas
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The president of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro announced that he has decided to offer asylum to Edward Snowden, the whistle blower and former US intelligence contractor who is believed to be still stranded in a transit area of a Moscow airport.
The Venezuelan president said on Friday: "As head of state of the Boliviarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden ... to protect this young man from the persecution launched by the most powerful empire in the world". Maduro made the offer during a speech marking the anniversary of Venezuela's independence.

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

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The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, also said that it could accept an asylum request from Snowden "if circumstances permit". That could be a very big "if". Ortega said: "We are an open country, respectful of the right of asylum, and it's clear that if circumstances permit, we would gladly receive Snowden and give him asylum in Nicaragua," Ortega is an ally of Venezuela and often a critic of US policies as well. Ecuador was originally thought to be a likely refuge for Snowden since Julian Assange is already a refugee in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. However, the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, seems to have decided that it might be better for him not to further antagonize the US. Joe Biden had phoned Correa and requested that he not grant Snowden asylum. Snowden is said to have applied for asylum in 20 countries at least. Al Jazeera reports that he has been turned down by 21 countries already. The US has exerted a great deal of pressure upon countries not to grant him asylum. The US is regarded as behind the denial of permission for the Bolivian presidential plane to fly through the air space of several European countries including France. The plane was forced to land in Austria where it was reportedly searched and held for almost half a day. The next problem for Snowden is how to get from Moscow to Venezuela without his plane being forced to land so that he can be grabbed and sent to the US. If only Mossad were on his side!

Source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/353792

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