MONTEVIDEO, July 13 (RIA Novosti) – Members of South American trading bloc Mercosur have harshly criticized the United States for alleged spying in the region and defended their authority to grant the right of asylum.
Mercosur leaders, who gathered for a summit in the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo, on Friday, described the US espionage actions as “unacceptable behavior” that breaches the sovereignty of their nations and “harms relations between nations.”
Leading Brazilian daily, O Globo, reported on Tuesday that the US National Security Agency (NSA) conducted electronic espionage in several Latin American nations, including Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico. The newspaper cited documents leaked by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
"We emphatically reject the interception of telecommunications and espionage actions in our nations, as they constitute a violation of human rights, of the right of our citizens to privacy and information," Mercosur presidents said in a joint statement after the summit.
Mercosur, which comprises Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay as full members, and Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru as associate members, also expressed outrage over US attempts to block Snowden’s safe passage to Latin American countries that had offered him asylum.
Snowden, who is wanted by Washington on charges of espionage and property theft after he leaked details of secret state surveillance programs, has submitted over 20 asylum applications to countries across the world, but Latin American states, including Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela, have been the only ones prepared to offer him refuge.
"We repudiate any activity that could undermine the authority of States to grant and fully implement the right of asylum," the statement by Mercosur leaders said. "We reject any attempt in pressuring, harassment or criminalization of a State over a country's sovereign right to grant asylum."
Meanwhile, Snowden on Friday announced plans to ask for asylum in Russia when he made his first public appearance since arriving from Hong Kong on a June 23 flight to Moscow.
The fugitive whistleblower met with a dozen prominent Russian lawyers and rights activists at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, where he is believed to have been holed up since his arrival.
Russia was one of the first countries to which Snowden submitted an asylum application, but he withdrew his request after President Vladimir Putin said last month that Snowden would only be able to stay if he “stopped his work aimed at harming our US partners.”
However, pro-Kremlin lawmaker Vyacheslav Nikonov told reporters after the Sheremetyevo meeting on Friday that Snowden said he is now ready to accept Russia's terms.
It is not clear whether Russia would satisfy Snowden's asylum request, but experts believe a positive decision could deliver another blow to Russian-US relations.
Both the Kremlin and the White House said Friday that the Russian and US presidents had already discussed the latest developments in the Snowden standoff.
