After being holed up for nearly two weeks in Moscow Airport’s transit zone, fugitive American whistleblower Edward Snowden has finally received offers of asylum from the latin American countries of Venezuela and Nicaragua, both known for their antipathy to Washingto
“As Head of State and Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young US citizen Edward Snowden so he can come to the fatherland of Bolivar and Chavez to live away from the imperial North American persecution,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said in Caracas on Friday.
Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega said in Managua: “If the circumstances permit it, we would gladly receive Snowden here and would grant him asylum here.” But, he did not elaborate on the circumstances.
However, the big question mark on Saturday appeared to be over how safely Snowden can make it to either of those countries, given the recent episode in which key European nations denied use of their airspace to Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane because of suspicion that he was “smuggling” Snowden out of Moscow.
Speculation in a section of the American media is that the only “safe” commercial flight across the Atlantic and avoiding countries having extradition treaties with the US would be the one from Moscow to the Cuban Capital of Havana. Once Snowden gets there, he can take a connecting flight to his final destination. The White House refused an immediate comment on the asylum offers, referring questions on the matter to the US Department of Justice.
last week, President Barack Obama had commented that the US was “not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker,” but Bolivian officials claimed Washington’s hand behind France, Portugal and Spain’s denial of access to President Morales’ flight on Tuesday night.
With his US passport having been revoked, Snowden may have to wait in Moscow till he gets valid travel documents from either of the two countries offering him asylum.
Venezuela has been the most enthusiastic among the latin Americans about granting asylum to Snowden, while a majority of some 20-odd countries, including India, rejected his requests on one ground or another.
Hours before the announcements by the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan leaders, Wikileaks, which has been helping Snowden, disclosed that he had sent out asylum requests to six more countries, without naming any of them, because of “attempted US interference.”