Edward Snowden to Nicaragua?
If things don’t work out with Venezuela, whistleblower/leaker Snowden may be able to find a safe haven in that Central American nation.
As we have previously reported , Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he would grant asylum to the former intelligence contractor. Snowden is rumored to still be in the transit area at Moscow International Airport and may be running out of options as quite a few countries have turned him away. Said Maduro: “I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American, Edward Snowden, so that in the fatherland of (Simon) Bolivar and (Hugo) Chavez, he can come and live away from the imperial North American persecution.”
The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, is now getting into the act, however. Ortega said he might be willing to allow Snowden entry into his country “if circumstances allow it.” Among other countries, Snowden applied to the Nicaraguan embassy in Moscow for asylum and and the request is under review according to AP .
Added Ortega: “We have the sovereign right to help a person who felt remorse after finding out how the United States was using technology to spy on the whole world, and especially its European allies.”
There are conflicting reports as to whether Snowden was aboard Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane that was en route from Moscow to Boliva and forced to land in Vienna on Tuesday.
Snowden , the Booz Allen contractor who leaked the details of the massive National Security Agency PRISM domestic spying program, initially fled to Hong Kong from Hawaii last month, and on June 9 outed himself as the source of the bombshell revelation about internet surveillance that was published in The Guardian .
Late last month, federal prosecutors have charged Snowden with espionage, theft, and conversion of government property. While still in Hong Kong, Snowden, 29, insisted that “I’m neither traitor nor hero. I’m an American.”
Where do you think Edward Snowden will eventually wind up?