LatinNews Daily Report - 02 July 2013

POLITICS | Morales offers asylum to Snowden. On 1 July President Evo Morales said he was prepared to grant asylum to the fugitive US whistleblower, Edward J. Snowden. President Morales said his government had yet to receive any such request from Snowden, although according to international press reports, Bolivia is one of 21 countries to which Snowden has requested asylum. With the exception of Brazil, the other Latin American countries to which Snowden has reportedly appealed - Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba - are all members of the Venezuela-led anti-US bloc, Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (Alba). Morales made the announcement in Russia, where he attended the 2^nd summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), a grouping of the world’s major gas exporting countries. While in Russia, Morales also firmed up ties with another anti-US ally, the outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. Bolivia and Iran re-established diplomatic ties in September 2007, the year after Morales took office for the first time. The two leaders last met in June 2012, during Ahmadinejad’s visit to La Paz.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 324 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial