President Maduro offers to protect NSA whistleblower ‘from persecution by the empire’ and rejects US extradition request
Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua have offered asylum to Edward Snowden, the US whistleblower who is believed to have spent the past two weeks at a Moscow airport evading US attempts to extradite him.
The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his Nicaraguan counterpart, Daniel Ortega, made the asylum offers on Friday, shortly after they and other Latin American leaders met to denounce the diversion of a plane carrying the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, due to suspicions that Snowden might have been on board.
Shortly after, Morales also said Bolivia would grant asylum to Snowden, if asked. On Saturday, Venezuela’s offer was given a warm reception by an influential member of the Russian parliament.