Brazil to probe reports of US spying
Cuba
backs Snowden asylum bid
RUSSIA: Fugitive US
intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has won support from Cuba for his bid
to seek asylum in Latin America, as he embarked on his third week in
limbo at a Moscow airport. Cuba, a key transit point from Russia on the
way to Latin America, on Monday supported the leaders of Bolivia,
Venezuela and Nicaragua, who have offered the 30-year-old a possible
lifeline as he remains marooned without documents in the transit area of
a Moscow airport. “If Raul Castro's solidarity on #Snowden is serious,
Cuba will publicly offer Snowden asylum,” anti-secrecy organisation
WikiLeaks said on Twitter. AFP
BRAZIL: Brazil said Monday it will investigate reports of US
electronic spying on its citizens and called for a multilateral agency
to govern the global Internet.
The pledge came after the daily O Globo reported Sunday that the US
National Security Agency (NSA) spied on Brazilian residents and
companies as well as people traveling in Brazil, citing documents leaked
by the fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Earlier documents leaked by Snowden had alleged that the US
maintained a vast surveillance system over the US territory, as well as
EU offices in Washington and New York and some European countries, such
as Germany. The satellite intelligence collection base in Brasilia was
jointly operated “at least until 2002 by the NSA and the Central
Intelligence Agency,” the report said.
“I have absolutely no doubt” about the veracity of the reports,
Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo said.
“Now the circumstances in which this was carried out, the exact form
and date, this we must verify,” he added.
Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota welcomed Washington's readiness to
discuss the issue describing the spying allegations as “extremely
serious.” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed the US had
“spoken with Brazilian officials regarding these allegations.” But she
refused to deny or confirm any details, saying simply “we plan to
continue our dialogue with the Brazilians through normal diplomatic
channels, but those are conversations that of course we would keep
private.” President Dilma Rousseff, who is due to visit the United
States later this year, “was very concerned. I would even say outraged,”
Bernardo said.
The Communications Minister said Brasilia planned to use the case to
seek international support for the creation of a multilateral agency to
govern the global internet.
“We need a change in the governance of the Internet. It cannot be
governed by a private US entity when we know that this entity is
controled by the US government,” he added.
Bernardo also said he did not believe the NSA monitoring of
Brazilians' telephone and email data was done with the collusion of
Brazilian firms.
AFP
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