Ecuador's President Says They Helped Snowden by Mistake

Ecuador is backpedalling on previous statements it made in regards to Edward Snowden’s asylum request.

In the beginning, the country’s officials were quick to say that they were considering Snowden’s asylum request and that they would not bow down to the pressures made by the United States, going as far as waiving their trade benefits with the country, The Guardian reports.

Then, as the citizens of Ecuador started expressing their worry about what this would mean for their economy and several phone calls from United States officials, Ecuadorean authorities said that they cannot review Snowden’s asylum petition unless he is on the country’s soil.

Now, Rafael Correa, the Ecuadorean president, said that his country is not even considering Snowden’s asylum request until he reaches the country and said that they have helped him by mistake.

In a letter Snowden sent to Ecuador, he expressed his gratitude for the temporary documents the country’s representative provided, which helped him flee Hong Kong for Russia.

“The decisive action of your consul in London, Fidel Narvaez, guaranteed my rights would be protected upon departing Hong Kong – I could never have risked travel without that. Now, as a result, and through the continued support of your government, I remain free and able to publish information that serves the public interest."

Correa explained the situation by saying that such actions were not sanctioned by his administration and that the consul acted on his own.

According to the Ecuadorean president, Julian Assange is a friend of the consul and called him up in the middle of the night saying that the authorities were going to capture Snowden, so he provided him with help in a spur of the moment decision.

Now, Correa says, Snowden’s fate is in the hands of the Russian authorities since they are the ones who would need to provide him with documentation if he were to fly to Ecuador.

In the meantime, however, Snowden has petitioned a large number of countries for asylum, including China, Russia, Cuba and Venezuela.

Previously, the Venezuelan president said that they would most likely grant Snowden asylum if he asked for it. Other countries might give a favorable answer as well.