South American bloc to send tough message to U.S. on spying, Snowden
(Reuters) - South American leaders planned to send a tough message to Washington on Friday over allegations of U.S. spying in the region and to defend their right to offer asylum to fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.
Capping two weeks of strained North-South relations over the Snowden saga, presidents from the Mercosur bloc of nations were meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay. Complaints against the United States were high on the agenda.
"Any act of espionage that violates human rights, above all the basic right to privacy, and undermines the sovereignty of nations, deserves to be condemned by any country that calls itself democratic," Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told reporters on arrival at the meeting.
Rousseff, who was imprisoned and tortured under military rule in Brazil in the early 1970's, said the rights issue was particularly important for South American countries that lived under dictatorships for years and are now democracies.
The Mercosur bloc comprises Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The meeting began as reports emerged that Snowden plans to eventually travel to Latin America after seeking temporary asylum in Russia. Leftist leaders in Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have offered him asylum.
Leaders throughout the region are furious over reports that the U.S. National Security Agency targeted most Latin American countries with spying programs that monitored
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/12/us-usa-security-snowden-latinamerica-idUSBRE96B0K820130712
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