Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro offers asylum to Edward Snowden
Just days after defending NSA whistleblower to Russian media, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday he had decided to offer asylum to former U.S. intelligence contractor, according to a Reuters report.
“I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American, Edward Snowden, so that in the fatherland of (Simon) Bolivar and (Hugo) Chavez, he can come and live away from the imperial North American persecution,” Maduro told a televised parade marking Venezuela’s independence day.
Maduro defended Snowden earlier in the week saying, “He did not kill anyone and did not plant a bomb. What he did was tell a great truth in an effort to prevent wars. He deserves protection under international and humanitarian law”, the Washington Times reported.
This comes a day after Presidents from five South American countries — Argentina, Ecuador, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela — met with Bolivian President Evo Morales over the situation that occurred concerning Morales plane trip from Russia to Bolivia earlier this week where the plane was not allowed to fly over airspace of certain European countries after suspicions of Snowden being on the President’s plane.
Snowden, with the help of Wikileaks, has applied for asylum in some 26 countries, the last six countries being unnamed due to potential US interference.
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[…] come after Friday’s statement by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who said, “I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American, Edward Snowden, […]