Nicolas Maduro wave during a meeting in Cochabamba, July 4, 2013.
LA PAZ/CARACAS - Bolivia offered asylum on Saturday to former U.S. spy
agency contractor Edward Snowden, joining leftist allies Venezuela and
Nicaragua in defiance of Washington, which is demanding his arrest for
divulging details of secret U.S. surveillance programs.
Snowden, 30, is believed to be holed up in the transit area of
Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport and has been trying to
find a country that would take him since he landed from Hong Kong on
June 23.
Bolivian President Evo Morales had said earlier this week that he
would consider granting asylum to Snowden. But he took a harder line
on Saturday, angered that some European countries banned his plane
from their airspace this week on suspicion it carried Snowden.
"I want to tell ... the Europeans and Americans that last night I was
thinking that as a fair protest, I want to say that now in fact we are
going to give asylum to that American who is being persecuted by his
fellow Americans," Morales said during a visit to the town of Chipaya.
"If we receive a legal request, we will grant asylum," he said.
Bolivia's Foreign Ministry was not immediately available to comment on
whether a formal asylum request had been received.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro also offered refuge to Snowden
late Friday and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said his country
had received an asylum request and could agree to it "if circumstances
permit."
Russia has kept the former National Security Agency contractor at
arm's length, saying the transit area where passengers stay between
flights is neutral territory and he would be on Russian soil only if
he went through passport control.
It was not immediately clear how Snowden would react to the new offers
from Latin America, nor reach the countries if he accepted.
There are no direct commercial flights between Moscow and Venezuela's
capital, Caracas, and the usual route involves changing planes in
Havana. It is not clear if Cuban authorities would let him transit,
however, and there was no sign of Snowden aboard the flight to Havana
on Saturday.
To obtain refugee status in Bolivia, Snowden would have to submit a
request to the Bolivian Embassy in Russia and would not have to be
physically in Bolivian territory, said former Foreign Minister Armando
Loayza. Ecuador, which also backs Snowden, has said it could only
consider granting asylum once the fugitive landed on Ecuadorean soil.
Given the dramatic grounding in Vienna of Morales' plane, using
European airspace could prove problematic.
RUSSIA IMPATIENT
Russia has shown signs of growing impatience over Snowden's stay in
Moscow. Its deputy foreign minister said on Thursday that Snowden had
not sought asylum in that country and needed to choose a place to go.
Moscow has made clear that the longer he stays, the greater the risk
of the diplomatic standoff over his fate causing lasting damage to
relations with Washington.
Both Russia's Foreign Ministry and President Vladimir Putin's
spokesman declined to comment on Venezuela's offer.
"This is not our affair," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters.
But senior pro-Kremlin lawmaker Alexei Pushkov, head of the
international affairs committee of Russia's lower house of parliament,
said asylum in Venezuela would be Snowden's best option.
The White House declined to comment. But one U.S. official familiar
with the matter, who asked for anonymity, said: "It's fair to say in
general that U.S. officials have been pressuring governments where
Snowden might try to go to do the right thing here."
WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organization, said on Friday that Snowden
had asked six more nations for asylum, bringing to about 20 the number
of countries he has appealed to for protection from U.S. espionage
charges.
WikiLeaks said on Twitter it would not reveal which six new countries
Snowden had applied to for asylum, due to "attempted U.S.
interference."
Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous leader and a former union leader
for the country's coca leaf farmers, and Maduro both condemned the
U.S. spy programs that Snowden revealed and said he deserved
protection.
"Who is the guilty one? A young man ... who denounces war plans, or
the U.S. government which launches bombs and arms the terrorist Syrian
opposition against the people and legitimate President Bashar
al-Assad?" Maduro asked, to applause and cheers from ranks of military
officers at a parade.
"Who is the terrorist? Who is the global delinquent?"
'COLONIES OF THE UNITED STATES'
Since narrowly winning a presidential election in April that followed
the death of his mentor, Hugo Chavez, from cancer, Maduro has often
lambasted the United States - even accusing the Pentagon and former
U.S. officials of plotting to kill him.
But the former bus driver and union leader has at times also struck a
much more conciliatory note, saying he is ready for better relations
with Washington, based on mutual respect.
Already one of Snowden's most vocal supporters on the world stage,
Maduro has sharpened his rhetoric in recent days.
Latin America's leftist leaders denounced the diversion of Morale's
plane over European airspace as a disgrace and a serious breach of
protocol, and Maduro said the CIA, the U.S. spy agency, was behind it
all.
Snowden had revealed that the United States was spying on its European
allies, Maduro said on Friday, and yet European leaders still caved
under U.S. pressure to ground Morales' jet.
"The European people have seen the cowardice and the weakness of their
governments, which now look like colonies of the United States," the
Venezuelan president said.
Venezuela's opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, accused Maduro of
making a fuss about Snowden to distract voters from a dismal economic
picture at home, and a host of other problems including one of the
highest murder rates in the world.
"Nicolas, you can't use asylum to cover up that you stole the
election. That doesn't give you legitimacy, nor make the people
forget," Capriles said on Twitter.
Speaking in Managua, Ortega said he would gladly give Snowden asylum
in Nicaragua "if circumstances permit." He did not say what those
circumstances might be.
Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the Americas, has benefited
greatly from financial support from Venezuela, and Ortega was a
staunch ally of Chavez.
A bid by Snowden for Icelandic citizenship hit an impasse on Friday
when the country's parliament voted not to debate the issue before its
summer recess.
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