---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Just Foreign Policy <[email protected]> Date: Sat, Jul 6, 2013 at 5:49 PM Subject: Venezuela Asylum Offer, w/ Bolivia, Nicaragua, is "Game-Changer," says CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot To: [email protected]
[image: Just Foreign Policy]<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.justforeignpolicy.org> *Venezuela Asylum Offer, with Bolivia and Nicaragua, is “Game-Changer,” says CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot* *Latin American Countries Break “Wall of Intimidation,” Join Amnesty International Condemnation of US Government Treatment of Snowden for “gross violations of his human rights.”* *For Immediate Release:* July 6, 2013 *Contact:* Mark Weisbrot (202) 746 7264 WASHINGTON -- The offer by President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, joined Friday by Nicaragua and Saturday by Bolivia, of political asylum to whistleblower Edward Snowden is a “game-changer,” said Mark Weisbrot<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cepr.net%2Findex.php%2Fclips%2Fmark-weisbrots-op-eds%2F>, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=3&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cepr.net> . “Until now, there had been a prevailing narrative of Snowden’s ‘narrowing options,’ said Weisbrot. “But by breaking the wall of intimidation that Washington has been trying to construct, these governments have taken a stand for international human rights and made a positive outcome for Snowden much more likely.” Weisbrot noted that one of the most important global human rights organizations, Amnesty International, has strongly condemned the U.S. government’s attempts to interfere with Snowden’s right to asylumn as a “gross violation of his human rights<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amnesty.org%2Fen%2Fnews%2Fusa-must-not-persecute-whistleblower-edward-snowden-2013-07-02> .” In a press release<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=5&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amnesty.org%2Fen%2Fnews%2Fusa-must-not-persecute-whistleblower-edward-snowden-2013-07-02>on July 2, Amnesty International stated: “Snowden is a whistleblower. He has disclosed issues of enormous public interest in the US and around the world. … No country can return a person to another country where there is a serious risk of ill-treatment … “We know that others who have been prosecuted for similar acts have been held in conditions that not only Amnesty International but UN officials considered cruel inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of international law.” For Amnesty International and other human rights organizations, Weisbrot noted, it is a violation of Snowden’s human rights to “to block Snowden’s attempts to seek asylum.” “There are a number of other countries, including Ecuador, that would almost certainly grant asylum to Snowden if he were to show up in their territory or embassy,” said Weisbrot. “It remains to be seen, after Tuesday’s gross violations of international law in the blocking of President Evo Morales’ plane, how far the U.S. government will go in trying to interfere with Snowden’s right to asylum. But ultimately, Washington cannot hold the whole world hostage, and Snowden will likely find a safe place to live, free from persecution.” Weisbrot is also President of Just Foreign Policy<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=6&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.justforeignpolicy.org%2F> . © 2013 Just Foreign Policy -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected]
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