, Columnist
Ecuador's Hypocrisy on Snowden
In defending Snowden, Rafael Correa, Ecuador's president, can claim to support the free flow of information. Indeed, this is not the first time Correa's Ecuador has exploited global scandals to shine up its image abroad.Â
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Populist regimes in Latin America have long followed a "bread and circus" formula for governing -- plenty of state spending and plenty of political drama. Ecuador's willingness to consider an asylum petition by Edward Snowden, the U.S.'s most wanted man, fits the script.
The U.S. government has charged Snowden, who's currently holed up in Russia, with espionage for his role in leaking classified information about a surveillance program that delved into telephone records, e-mails and Internet use. For a leftist regime bent on thumbing its nose at the U.S., this makes Snowden a rock star of sorts.