Nicaragua and Venezuela offer asylum to Snowden

Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia offer asylum to fugitive US whistleblower Edward Snowden, who remains stranded in a Moscow airport after leaking details of a secret government surveillance program. Nicaragua reveals details of Snowden’s letter, in which the ex-intelligence contractor says he is seeking asylum “because of the risk of being persecuted by the (US) government and its agents.” He writes, “Under the circumstances, it is unlikely that I would receive a fair trial or appropriate treatment before trial.” Nicaragua is one of three Latin American countries in recent days to offer possible asylum to Snowden. On Saturday, Russian lawmaker Aleksei Pushkov says political asylum in Venezuela would be the “best solution” for Snowden. He tweets, “The country has a sharp conflict with the United States. It will not be worse.” The New York Times reports the US and Venezuela recently began talks for reconciliation, but a senior US official says this would end if Venezuela helped Snowden.

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