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Tuesday’s allegations come amid the backdrop of Snowden’s ongoing asylum plight. Experts say there’s no easy way out of Russia for him. His U.S. passport has been revoked and commercial flights out of Moscow to potential Latin American asylum destinations stop in countries that are likely to extradite him. His best bet might be a flight from Moscow to Havana, but even that flight crosses international boundaries that could complicate his journey.
And it’s not clear if Cuba is interested in playing a role in the affair, said Frank Mora the director of the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University.
“The Cubans don’t want any of it. They are in the midst of negotiations with the U.S. government,” he said. “They are not going to throw a grenade into the middle of this by ranting ideologically about why it’s important to protect Snowden.”
Venezuela and the United States are also in talks, and hoping to exchange ambassadors for the first time since 2010. Giving Snowden asylum would likely complicate those conversations.
But Mora doubted it would ever come to that. He said Venezuela and others have likely made the calculation that they will never have to make good on their promise.
“This offer is an opportunity for these three countries to poke the eye of the imperialists without having to incur much of a cost because it’s just rhetoric,” he said. “The question is whether, push comes to shove, if they will accept him. I tend to think no.”
Also Tuesday, the Organization of American States held a special meeting in support of Bolivian President Evo Morales, whose airplane was forced to make an emergency landing last week in Austria amid suspicions he was trying to smuggle Snowden out of Europe.
Bolivia and its allies say that Spain, Italy, France and Portugal put the president’s life at risk, and broke a series of international treaties, by closing off their air space. Bolivia is asking the OAS to pass a resolution condemning the event and asking the involved nations to explain the incident and apologize. An agreement had not been reached by late Thursday.
The United States wants Snowden on criminal espionage charges after he began revealing details about Prism and other mass surveillance programs.
Snowden has said the activities are illegal and violate international agreements.
“I don’t want to live in a world where everything that I say, everything I do, everyone I talk to, every expression of creativity, love or friendship is recorded,” he said in a video interview published on the Guardian Web site this week. “And that’s not something I’m willing to support not something I’m willing to build and not something to live under.”
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