Saying that his country never intended to intentionally help NSA leaker Edward Snowden and is not even considering Snowden's asylum until he is in-country, President Rafael Correa said it is the responsibility of Russia to facilitate Snowden's travel to Ecuador. Correa said giving Snowden a document for travel was a mistake.
Snowden applied for asylum in a host of countries on Tuesday, 21 in all, after abandoning his intentions to stay in Russia. Russia gave Snowden terms to stay there, they included having Snowden give up his anti-American activities. Which Snowden refused to do.
|
Poland, Brazil and India immediately rejected petitions as did the Netherlands. Other countries, such as Austria, FInland, Iceland, Norway and Spain, that have received petitions but say that the petition is legally invalid as he is not in their country. Italy called Snowden’s request irregular and Germany said they would review his petition according to their laws.
It is believed that Snowden is in the transit zone of Moscow’s airport and has been there since June 23rd. The U.S. has revoked his passport seriously curtailing his travel. Snowden says that President Obama has left him “a stateless person” by revoking his travel document.
Thus far, the only two countries that seems partial to Snowden’s plight is Venezuela and Bolivia, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said that Snowden “deserved the world’s protection.” Bolivia’s President Evo Morales said they would be willing, saying, “Yes, why not?”
On Sunday, Der Spiegal, the German news magazine detailed reports of Snowden’s revelations concerning the surveillance of European Union offices enfuriated European leaders, who have called for an end to the practices before those leaders would be willing to participate in Obama’s Tran-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement negotiations.