Bolivia has joined Venezuela and Nicaragua to offer asylum to American whistleblower Edward Snowden, whose next moves are being closely watched by Washington.
Bolivian President Evo Morales, whose plane was diverted last Tuesday to Vienna after France, Portugal and Spain denied use of their airspace because of suspicion that Snowden was on board, said on Saturday that the leaker of American surveillance secrets was welcome to his country.
Meanwhile, German news weekly Der Spiegel quoted Snowden as saying that the US National Security Agency (NSA) was operating secret spying partnerships with other Western Governments.
In comments reportedly made before his exposure of US surveillance programmes, Snowden is said to have commented that NSA spies were “in bed together with the Germans and most other Western States”.