Venezuelan FM says Snowden has not yet responded to asylum offer

 
The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro confirmed on Tuesday that his country would grant political asylum to NSA (National Security Agency) leaker Edward Snowden.
                
Speaking at a military ceremony in Aragua, just outside Caracas, Maduro said that he wanted to send a clear message that Venezuela didn't fear the United States.
               
However, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua told reporters on Tuesday that Snowden still hadn't confirmed whether he would take Venezuela up on their offer of asylum.              

"The first thing that we have to do is wait for his decision to accept asylum here and afterwards make contact with the government of Russia to be able to make this asylum viable," Jaua said.           

Snowden, who is believed to be in a Moscow airport's transit zone, has applied for asylum in a number of countries, but it is not clear how easy it would be for him to travel to the Latin American country.            

It had been expected that he would travel on a commercial flight to Havana in Cuba and then on to Simon Bolivar International Airport, close to the Venezuelan capital, if he were to accept asylum in Venezuela.           

However it remains unclear if a commercial plane carrying Snowden would be permitted to fly through the necessary European airspace after Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane was prevented from flying over France and Portugal on his return from Russia last week due to suspicions Snowden was on board.


AP