Bolivia, Venezuela offer asylum to US fugitive Snowden

     
Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Saturday he would grant asylum, if requested, to former US intelligence agency contractor Edward Snowden             

This comes after Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro offered asylum to Snowden on Friday in defiance of Washington, which is demanding his arrest for divulging details of secret US spy programs.              

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.                      

"He is a young man who has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the United States spying on the whole world."                              

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.          

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.             

Both Russia's foreign ministry and President Vladimir Putin's spokesman declined to comment on Venezuela's offer.             

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 organization, 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 U.S. espionage charges.          

WikiLeaks said on Twitter it would not reveal which six new countries Snowden had applied to for asylum, due to "attempted U.S. interference".
                          
Maduro said Venezuela was ready to offer him sanctuary, and that the details Snowden had revealed of U.S. spy programs had exposed the nefarious schemes of the US "empire."          

Already one of Snowden's most vocal supporters on the world stage, Maduro has sharpened his rhetoric in recent days.                  

It peaked after Bolivia said France, Portugal, Italy and Spain banned a plane carrying its president, Evo Morales, from using their airspace because of suspicions Snowden was aboard.            

Latin America's most vocal leftist leaders denounced that as a disgrace and a serious breach of protocol, and Maduro said the CIA, the U.S. spy agency, was behind it all.               

Snowden had revealed that the United States was spying on its European allies, Maduro said on Friday, and yet European leaders still caved under U.S. pressure to ground Morales' jet.                      

Speaking in Managua, President Daniel Ortega said he would gladly give Snowden asylum in Nicaragua "if circumstances permit". He did not say what those circumstances might be.              

Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the Americas, has benefited greatly from financial support from Venezuela, and Ortega was a staunch ally of Chavez.     

A bid by Snowden for Icelandic citizenship hit an impasse on Friday when the country's parliament voted not to debate the issue before its summer recess.


REUTERS