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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEcuador Says Snowden Asylum Document Unauthorized
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and JULIE PACE Associated Press
An Ecuadorean diplomatic employee issued a safe conduct pass for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden to travel to Ecuador to seek political asylum, but the action was unauthorized and the pass has no validity, government officials said Thursday.
Ecuador's scramble to explain the document, revealed by the Univision television network...Ecuadorean officials have repeatedly expressed sympathy for Snowden for revealing secret global U.S. surveillance programs, but have insisted they have taken no decision on granting him asylum, and they rushed to distance themselves from the unsigned letter shown by Univision.
Secretary of Political Management Betty Tola told a news conference that "any document of this type has no validity and is the exclusive responsibility of the person who issued it."
Another government official said that while the document is authentic, it was issued without approval from the Foreign Ministry or other officials in the capital and thus has no legal power....Tola told reporters that Snowden's asylum application hadn't been processed because he was not in Ecuador as required by law. She also threatened legal action against whoever had leaked the document. She and other officials offered no further details about his case.
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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ecuador-snowden-asylum-document-unauthorized-19506458
Oh, the irony!
By David Weigel
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But why Ecuador? First, the country has an enviably loopholed extradition treaty with the United States. Outlaws wanted for offenses "of a political character" can dodge extradition. The oh-so-bright American senators who rushed to call Snowden a "traitor" have certainly created the impression that Snowden is wanted for political reasons, and in his interviews he's happy to reinforce this.
Second, the ruling regime in Ecuador doesn't really care what America thinks. In 2006 the country gave its presidency to Rafael Correa. A fan and ally of Hugo Chavez, Correa reversed decades of Ecuadorian kowtowing to the United States by declaring the national debt illegitimate and defaulting on the country's bonds. A country that had adopted* the U.S. dollar as a default currency had sparked a nationalist debt revoltand it sort of won. Correa, never as colorful as Chavez, still consolidated power and won a landslide re-election. Giving asylum to people who make America look weak, and spill its secrets, is easy politics for him.
The result: Snowden, avoiding extradition, is on a world tour of regimes generally more hostile to press and information freedom than the United States is. At the moment he's less concerned with irony than with avoiding jail.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/06/23/why_ecuador.html
Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon says his legal team wont represent NSA leaker Edward Snowden
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023101737
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)I expected by now we'd already be neck deep in Snowwald links.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Ah there you are, I was beginning to worry...I expected by now we'd already be neck deep in Snowwald links."
...you're not getting your wish: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023110058#post4
Upset?
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)railsback
(1,881 posts)The trick is to give the impression of being a populist and anti-Western to keep your popularity up while not slitting your own throat - or Ecuador's throat - by doing something completely stupid. The needs of the one don't outweigh the needs of the many, in this case, 15 million Ecuadorians. Making up all these excuses for not granting asylum to Snowden seems like his only way out now.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"The trick is to give the impression of being a populist and anti-Western to keep your popularity up while not slitting your own throat - or Ecuador's throat - by doing something completely stupid."
...while doing so. The situation is dripping with irony.
The stakes are high for the Latin American country: The United States is Ecuadors biggest trading partner, and any weakening of their relationship could deal a blow to its economy.
With the United States as our principal commercial partner, (Ecuadorian President Rafael) Correa is playing with fire, said Blasco Peñaherrera, a businessman and president of Ecuadors Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
Ecuador now sends about 40 percent of its exports to the United States, including crude oil, seafood, fruit and nuts, cocoa and cut flowers. The nations total exports to the United States tallied up to $9.6 billion in 2011, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
But that could all change if some programs that favor the South American nation are terminated an outcome experts say is much more likely if Ecuador harbors Snowden and its looking almost certain given the governments new position.
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http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/ecuadorian-business-frets-snowden-arrival-93505.html?hp=r6
Ecuador has been lobbying for continuation of reduced tariffs on hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of trade in products such as cut flowers, artichokes and broccoli. Nearly half Ecuador's foreign trade depends on the U.S.
With the deal already struggling in Congress, Ecuador's announcement it is considering asylum for Snowden threatened to kill its access to the Generalized System of Preferences, which benefits 127 countries.
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http://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-renounces-trade-benefits-us-124843149.html