Latin America: Snowden gets support from Venezuela

Venezuela President, Nicolas Maduro (archive image.)

July 2nd, 2013 (VOA) Fugitive American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden has received verbal support from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro told reporters on Tuesday that Snowden “deserves the world’s protection.” He defended the former National Security Agency contractor who allegedly leaked secret intelligence information, saying Snowden “did not kill anyone” and “did not plant a bomb.”

President Maduro commented in Moscow where he is holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Associated Press reports Mr. Maduro dodged questions on whether he would take Snowden with him when he leaves.

Earlier, a Russian official said Snowden had dropped his bid for asylum in Russia, even as reports emerged that he is seeking political refuge in 19 other countries.

A spokesman for Putin said Snowden changed his mind after the Russian president said Monday he could only stay in the country if he stopped leaking sensitive U.S. intelligence.

The spokesman also confirmed Snowden remains in the transit zone of a Moscow airport, where he fled more than a week ago from Hong Kong.

He has been accused of continuing to reveal top-secret U.S. surveillance operations.

Wikileaks, the anti-secrecy group that has supported Snowden, says it has submitted asylum requests to 19 more countries on his behalf, including China, India, Brazil and several European nations. It said this is in addition to earlier asylum requests to Ecuador and Iceland.

But many of the countries have already said they will not consider an asylum request from Snowden unless he applies on their soil.

On Tuesday, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman, Syed Akbaruddin, announced his country had turned down an asylum request from Snowden.

“We have carefully examined the request. Following that careful examination, we have concluded that we see no reason to accede to that request,” he said.

The 30-year-old, who faces espionage charges in the U.S., broke his weeklong silence Monday, accusing the Obama administration of pressuring countries where he is seeking protection.

In a statement posted on Wikileaks, Snowden accused the White House of “using citizenship as a weapon,” saying the United States has “unilaterally revoked” his passport in a move that he says left him a “stateless person.” The U.S. State Department says revoking a passport and allowing only travel home to the United States on a temporary document is standard procedure when a U.S. citizen faces serious criminal charges.

While Putin said Russian security agencies had not contacted Snowden, he said Moscow has no plans to turn him over to the United States.

Ecuador is also believed to be considering Snowden’s asylum request. But Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said Sunday that it could do nothing about the request until Snowden reached its territory. He also said the White House has pressured him to reject any such claim.