{{Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro offered asylum to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden on Friday in defiance of Washington, which is demanding his arrest for divulging details of secret U.S. spy programs.}}
“Who is the guilty one? A young man … who denounces war plans, or the U.S. government which launches bombs and arms the terrorist Syrian opposition against the people and legitimate President Bashar al-Assad?” he asked, to applause and cheers from ranks of military officers at the parade.
“In the name of America’s dignity … I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to Edward Snowden,” Maduro told a military parade marking Venezuela’s independence day.
“He is a young man who has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the United States spying on the whole world.”
Russia has kept the former National Security Agency contractor at arm’s length, saying the transit area where passengers stay between flights is neutral territory and he will be on Russian soil only if he goes through passport control.
It was not immediately clear how Snowden would react to Maduro’s offer, nor reach Venezuela if he accepted.
There are no direct commercial flights between Moscow and Caracas, and the usual route involves changing planes in Havana – to which there is a flight from Sheremetyevo at 6:05 ET. It is not clear if the Cuban authorities would let him transit.
Given the dramatic grounding in Vienna of the Bolivian president’s plane this week over suspicions that Snowden was onboard, using European airspace could prove problematic.
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