The presidents of Nicaragua and Venezuela offered Friday to grant asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden in defiance of Washington, which is demanding his arrest for divulging details of secret US spy programs.
Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua made their offers during separate speeches in their home countries Friday afternoon.
Snowden, 30, is believed to be holed up in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo international airport and has been trying to find a country that would take him since he landed from Hong Kong on June 23.
“In the name of America’s dignity ... I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to Edward Snowden,” Maduro told a military parade marking Venezuela’s independence day.
Russia has kept the former National Security Agency contractor at arm’s length, saying the transit area where passengers stay between flights is neutral territory and he will be on Russian soil only if he goes through passport control.
It was not immediately clear how Snowden would react to Maduro’s offer, nor reach Venezuela if he accepted.
There are no direct commercial flights between Moscow and Caracas, and the usual route involves changing planes in Havana – to which there is a flight from Sheremetyevo at 6:05ET. It is not clear if the Cuban authorities would let him transit.
Given the dramatic grounding in Vienna of the Bolivian president’s plane this week over suspicions that Snowden was onboard, using European airspace could prove problematic.
Russia has shown signs of growing impatience over Snowden’s stay in Moscow. Its deputy foreign minister said on Thursday that Snowden had not sought asylum in that country and needed to choose a place to go.
Moscow has made clear that the longer he stays, the greater the risk of the diplomatic standoff over his fate causing lasting damage to relations with Washington.
Raising the possibility of at least one other option, Nicaragua said it had received an asylum request from Snowden and could agree to it “if circumstances permit.”
WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organisation, said on Friday that Snowden had asked six more nations for asylum, bringing to about 20 the number of countries he has appealed to for protection from US espionage charges.
Maduro said Venezuela was ready to offer him sanctuary, and that the details Snowden had revealed of US spy programs had exposed the nefarious schemes of the US “empire.”
Since narrowly winning a presidential election in April that followed the death of his mentor, Hugo Chavez, from cancer, Maduro has often lambasted the United States – even accusing the Pentagon and former US officials of plotting to kill him.
Venezuela’s opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, however has accused Maduro of making a fuss about Snowden to distract voters from a dismal economic picture at home, and a host of other problems including one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Nicaragua’s Ortega said Friday he was willing to make Maduro’s same offer “if circumstances allow it,” although he didn’t say what the right circumstances would be when he spoke during a speech in Managua.
He said the Nicaraguan embassy in Moscow received Snowden’s application for asylum and that it is studying the request.
