{"id":48408,"date":"2013-07-07T13:09:40","date_gmt":"2013-07-07T12:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/venezuela-grants-snowden-asylum\/48408\/"},"modified":"2013-07-07T13:09:40","modified_gmt":"2013-07-07T12:09:40","slug":"venezuela-grants-snowden-asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/venezuela-grants-snowden-asylum\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela Grants Snowden Asylum"},"content":{"rendered":"
On July 6, Russia Today<\/a> headlined \u201d \u2018Free from imperial persecution:\u2019 Venezuela offers Snowden asylum.\u201d<\/div>\n

Days earlier, President Nicolas Maduro said asylum would be \u201cseriously\u201d considered if sought. Snowden deserves a \u201chumanitarian medal,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this young man is punished, nobody in the world will ever dare to tell the truth,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a man of his word. It\u2019s official. Maduro granted Snowden asylum. He did so on Venezuela\u2019s Day of Independence.<\/p>\n

On April 10, 1810, the First Republic of Venezuela was established. Venezuela\u2019s War of Independence began.<\/p>\n

On July 5, 1811, Venezuela declared independence. Spanish colonial rule ended.<\/p>\n

Venezuela was its first American colony to break free. Doing so reflected Bolivar\u2019s vision. He liberated half of South America. He advocated using national wealth responsibly, equitably and fairly.<\/p>\n

He fought against what he called the imperial curse \u201cto plague Latin America with misery in the name of liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chavez was his modern-day incarnation. Maduro carries his torch. Doing so responsibly matters most. Hopefully he\u2019s up to the challenge.<\/p>\n

Chavez called him Venezuela\u2019s most capable administrator and politician. His leadership experience prepared him well. His credentials are impeccable.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s ideologically left of center. He\u2019s a former union leader, legislator, National Assembly speaker, foreign minister, and vice president. On April 19, 2013, he succeed Chavez as president.<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s independence was short-lived. It lasted until July 25, 1812. Chavez restored Bolivarianism. It\u2019s institutionalized. It benefits all Venezuelans. It does so equitably and fairly.<\/p>\n

Americans are cheated. They\u2019re deprived. They\u2019re denied. They\u2019re persecuted. State terror is policy. Police state justice targets challengers.<\/p>\n

Neoliberal harshness punishes millions. Americans get force-fed austerity, growing poverty, high unemployment, and unaddressed homelessness and hunger.<\/p>\n

They get government of, by and for wealth, power and privilege alone. They\u2019re targeted for supporting right over wrong.<\/p>\n

Venezuelans enjoy government of, by and for everyone. National wealth is equitably shared. On July 5, Maduro acted responsibly, saying:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAs head of state and of government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Edward Snowden.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be independent, we must feel it. We must exercise our independence and sovereignty. Our discourses are meaningless if they aren\u2019t exercised with force at the national level.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\u201cI announce to the friendly governments of the world that we have decided to offer this statute of international humanitarian law to protect the young Snowden from the persecution that has been unleashed from the most powerful empire in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s ask ourselves: who violated international law? A young man who decided, in an act of rebellion, to tell the truth of the espionage of the United States against the world? Or the government of the United States, the power of the imperialist elites, who spied on it?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWho is the guilty one,\u201d he added. \u201cA young man who denounces war plans, or the US government which launches bombs and arms the terrorist Syrian opposition against the people and legitimate president, Bashar al-Assad?\u201d<\/p>\n

Venezuela isn\u2019t alone. Bolivia suggested asylum would be granted. On Friday, Nicaragua\u2019s Daniel Ortega said he\u2019ll \u201cgladly receive Snowden.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are open, respectful of the right to asylum, and it is clear that if circumstances permit it, we would receive Snowden with pleasure and give him asylum here in Nicaragua,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela, as well as delegations from Brazil, Chile and Peru reacted to France, Italy, Portugal and Spain denying Evo Morales airspace and landing rights.<\/p>\n

Their Declaration states:<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the situation that the President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Evo Morales, was subjected to by the governments of France, Portugal, Italy and Spain, we denounce before the international community and various international organizations:<\/p>\n