Venezuela and Nicaragua Offer Asylum to Snowden courtesy of US and their respective puppet Nations bullying tactics . Russia encourages him to accept Venezuelan Offer.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Venezuela and Nicaragua Offer Asylum to Snowden courtesy of US and their respective puppet Nations bullying tactics . Russia encourages him to accept Venezuelan Offer.

Los Angeles Times

Venezuela, Nicaragua open their doors to NSA leaker Snowden

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, left, and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, seen at a meeting last month, have both offered asylum to U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, who is believed to have been stranded at a Moscow airport since June 23. (Inti Ocon / AFP/Getty Images / June 29, 2013)

By Chris Kraul, Tracy Wilkinson and Mery Mogollon

July 5, 2013, 7:27 p.m.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro offered NSA leaker Edward Snowden political asylum Friday, possibly the firmest offer of refuge the U.S. fugitive has received since exposing a massive program of surveillance of phone calls and emails in the United States and abroad. Also Friday, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said his government had received an asylum request from Snowden and would be willing to grant it under the right circumstances. Snowden, who is believed to be stranded in the transit area of a Moscow airport, has applied for refuge to about 30 countries. Many have already refused his request. Maduro made the offer during a military parade in Caracas commemorating the 202nd anniversary of Venezuela’s declaration of independence. Maduro had previously said he would consider such an offer, as had Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa. Correa, however, appeared to back away from his offer after receiving a phone call from Vice President Joe Biden. Although Maduro’s statement Friday seemed to go a step further in making a firm offer, the Venezuelan leader was in Moscow earlier this week and did not take the opportunity to bring Snowden back with him. And Maduro made no mention of facilitating Snowden’s trip to Venezuela with either an aircraft or travel documents.

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Snowden asylum bid: 3 offered, 1 withdrawn, 11 denied, 13 pending

Published time: July 02, 2013 16:27
Edited time: July 07, 2013 11:02

NSA leaker Edward Snowden has reportedly sought asylum in 27 countries, hoping to gain protection from US prosecutors. So far, Venezuela has offered Snowden asylum, with Nicaragua joining in, while 11 other states rejected the requests. As Snowden awaits replies at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro offered asylum to the NSA whistleblower, making the announcement Friday on television during a broadcast of a parade marking the country’s day of independence.

"I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American, Edward Snowden, so that in the fatherland of Bolivar and Chavez, he can come and live away from imperial North American persecution," said Maduro.

Venezuela has offered Snowden asylum despite a US extradition request, demanding that the whistleblower be “arrested” if he “travels to” or “transits through” Venezuela and “be kept in custody” for “the purpose of extradition”. Nicaragua also said that it would “gladly receive” Snowden, who has been holed up in a transit section of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since fleeing Hong Kong twelve days ago, and give him asylum, “if circumstances permit.”

In the meantime Snowden has received five outright rejections from Finland, Brazil, Poland, India, and Germany, according to WikiLeaks. New Dehli said on Tuesday that it has “no reason” to accede the whistleblower’s request. In his application to Poland, Snowden said that he risks facing the death penalty if he is returned to the US. Spain, Norway, Italy, Ecuador, and Austria have also rejected Snowden’s applications, stating that asylum requests cannot be granted unless the applicant is already inside the country. Italy stated that Snowden’s application was made via fax, which is not allowed, ITAR-TASS reported, citing a source in the Italian Foreign Ministry. France has also rejected Snowden’s application for asylum, saying that police would have to arrest the whistleblower if he entered the country due to the US extradition request.

"Like many countries, France received a request for asylum from Mr. Edward Snowden through its embassy in Moscow. Given the legal analysis and the situation of the interested party, France will not agree," the interior ministry said in a statement.

French newspaper Le Monde revealed that the asylum request has reached the French authorities in the form of a one-page letter, where Snowden argues that he will not be able to get a fair trial in his home country and explains the fate of Bradley Manning – another whistleblower currently on trial in the US.

Other nations have yet to respond to Snowden’s asylum requests. Those countries include Bolivia, China, Cuba, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, and Switzerland. Despite Wikileaks' claim that Snowden has, in fact, sought asylum in China, Beijing said on Tuesday that it is not aware of the request. France has also denied receiving a request in the past.

WikiLeaks announced on Friday that Snowden has applied to another six states in search of political asylum. In an effort to avoid US interference, the countries weren’t disclosed.

Escobar: 'Imperial hijack' reopens asylum bid for Snowden in Latin America

RussiaToday

Published on Jul 4, 2013

Latin American leaders meet to discuss the "hijack" of Bolivian president Evo Morales' plane in Austria. Regional leaders presented a united front, defending Latin American sovereignty in the face of what they see as post-colonial imperialism. International affairs analyst Pepe Escobar says such a turnover in Snowden chase could significantly increase NSA Whistleblower's chances on asylum in one of Latin America's countries.

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Los Angeles Times

Snowden should take Venezuelan asylum offer, Russian official says

Demonstrators show support for NSA leaker Edward Snowden in New Delhi on Sunday. India denied asylum to Snowden, but he has received offers from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia. (Tsering Topgyal / Associated Press / July 7, 2013)

By Carol J. WilliamsJuly 7, 2013, 11:30 a.m.

An influential Russian lawmaker on Sunday advised fugitive leaker Edward Snowden to take up Venezuela's offer of asylum, deeming it his "last chance" and cautioning that the leaker of U.S. security secrets can't live at Moscow's airport forever. It was a clear sign from the Kremlin that it has tired of the international standoff over Snowden, the 30-year-old former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed classified information about widespread U.S. surveillance of worldwide telephone and Internet contacts.

"Venezuela is waiting for an answer from Snowden," Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian parliament's international affairs committee, said on Twitter. "This, perhaps, is his last chance to receive political asylum."

In a separate tweet, Pushkov noted that Snowden "shouldn't live in Sheremetyevo," Moscow's main international airport where the fugitive has been stuck in a transit area for two weeks. Snowden arrived to Moscow on a flight from Hong Kong on June 23. But his U.S. passport had been revoked after Justice Department officials brought espionage charges against him and sought his extradition. That has prevented him from proceeding through passport control and officially entering Russian territory. The airport corridors and holding areas between the arrival gates and the immigration booths staffed by border guards comprise a diplomatic no-man's land from which an undocumented person can neither enter nor depart.

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