US officials are also mounting pressure on Ecuador over its stance in the leaker debacle. Senator Robert Menendez, who heads the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate, said such a move would hurt Ecuador’s international trade, which is highly dependent on export to the US. "Our government will not reward countries for bad behavior," the influential US lawmaker said, as he was warning that he would target two trade programs with Ecuador for accepting the NSA leaker. Menendez said he would lead the effort to prevent the renewal of Ecuador's duty-free access to US markets under the Generalized System of Preferences program. He also said he would block renewal of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA). Both programs expire at the end of next month.

   The major commodities of Ecuador’s export to the US are crude oil, cut flowers, fruits and vegetables, shrimp and prawns. Duty-free access to US markets is supporting roughly 400,000 jobs in the country of 14 million people.

Ecuador is the last remaining recipient of the ATPDEA, which used to include Bolivia, Colombia and Peru in the past and was not expected to be renewed for Ecuador even before Snowden came up with his revelations of the US phone and internet surveillance programs.

The country has been lobbying the Obama administration to include additional goods under the Generalized System of Preferences program to soften the blow from the cancellation.

Riot police clash with demonstrators during a protest near the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, June 26, 2013 (Reuters / Hugo Cordeiro)

In the wake of ongoing nationwide protests that have left Brazil’s government scrambling to appease demonstrators’ demands, the country’s senate has fast tracked a new law that will increase the penalties for corruption.

The legislation, which will still need to be ratified by a second congressional chamber, is expected to sail through and become law. Once enacted, those individuals prosecuted for acts of corruption could face up to 12 years in jail. The bill had not made much headway since its introduction in 2011, but was approved within 48 hours following president Dilma Rousseff’s push for approval.

Additional measures to toughen the state’s punishment include the loss of amnesty for those convicted of corruption, and will make obtaining bail and parole more difficult.

The ongoing protests that have seen well over a million gather in cities across the country were triggered by proposed public transport fare hikes, but quickly grew to encompass a host of complaints, the majority of which revolved around corruption long ingrained in Brazil’s political life.

In addition to harsher treatment of corruption, Brazil’s congress has also voted to use all royalties from the country’s recent oil finds - which are expected to yield tens of billions of barrels of crude oil - directly into education and health services.

Anti-government demonstrators run during clashes with the police outside the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte, on June 26, 2013 (AFP Photo / Christophe Simon)

President Rousseff, once a Marxist guerrilla who fought against the country’s former military dictatorship, now finds herself in the unenviable position of listening to protesters’ demands, while avoiding becoming a target herself.

On Monday, Rousseff met with state governors and mayors to agree on plans for additional public hospitals, as well as prioritizing public transportation projects. On the agenda was also the congressional action to use all royalties from new oil fields for public services.

The Brazilian leader also proposed on Monday a plan to hold a public referendum to directly enact political reforms. The move was lauded as a bold plan, and likely an attempt by a popular president to bypass the country's unpopular Congress with a direct appeal to the people. Brazil’s  legal experts, however, said that was unconstitutional.

According to Reuters, the president of Brazil's Supreme Court, Joaquim Barbosa, weighed into that issue after meeting with Rousseff.

Violent demonstrators clash with the police in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on June 26, 2013 (AFP Photo / Christophe Simon)

 "Proposals have been sitting for years in Congress, which has shown no interest in reforming the political system. And that lack of interest, in part, has led to the crisis of legitimacy we have now," said Barbosa.

Beyond the president’s initiatives, the president of Brazil’s senate, Renan Calheiros, has also proposed free transport for all students, in an apparent attempt to reach out to the Free Fare Movement, a key organizer in the mass protests that erupted several weeks ago.

Despite political moves to appease public unrest some 40,000 protesters gathered in a march to a stadium in the city of Belo Horizonte during a Brazil-Uruguay Confederations Cup match on Wednesday. Police responded by firing tear gas as demonstrators attempted to break through barricades. About 2,000 people also marched through the northeastern city of Recife.

In Brasilia, demonstrators were seen kicking soccer balls over a police blockade towards congress, in a statement against the billions that have been spent by Brazil in preparation for the Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup.

Brazil’s legislative body has thrown out a proposed constitutional amendment, which was a key grievance of protesters across the country. The government is also planning to introduce a range of political reforms to appease demonstrators.

In what in being seen as a victory for people power, the measure was defeated on Tuesday by Congress by 430 votes to nine; with the Rio Times saying the protests were “largely fueled by social media and citizen journalists.”

The amendment, known as PEC 37, would have limited the power of state prosecutors to investigate crimes.

The protesters had argued that PEC 37 might have opened the way to more corruption; a problem which is endemic in Brazil.

Brazil ranks 69 out of 174 countries on the 2012 Transparency International index, a score that indicates significant problems with corruption.

The defeat of PEC 37 will keep public prosecutors at the forefront of the fight against corruption. If the amendment had become law, it would have granted power to carry out criminal investigations exclusively to the police.

Critics to the bill argued that it would have prevented prosecutors from conducting fair, impartial and effective criminal investigations, particularly into organized crime and corruption, in which the police themselves have been embroiled. In December last year 63 police officers were arrested after a yearlong bribery investigation.

The police in Brazil are amongst the most corrupt in the world and have been mired in recent years in a number of corruption scandals.

Congress also voted Tuesday to funnel all revenue and royalties from newly-discovered oil fields off the Brazilian coast into education and health.

The new fields are among the largest finds in recent years and, once fully operational, are expected to produce tens of billions of barrels of oil; although they are located deep on the ocean floor and extracting the oil will require expensive new technology and carries huge risks.

Protestors also voiced their anger at other issues, which they say the government is mishandling, including soaring levels of corruption, poor public services and the huge cost of staging the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, both to be held in Brazil.

The government, though, has promised a range of initiatives, which they say will combat corruption and improve public services.

A referendum proposing political reform is meant to address campaign financing and political representation, and the government says a vote may take place as soon as September 7.

A controversial plan to bring in foreign doctors to reverse a shortfall in the country is being pushed through despite the objections of Brazilian medical practitioners and an increase in public transport fares in many cities has also been scrapped. The President of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, has even proposed free transport for students.

Yet it is still unclear whether or not these hasty political concessions are having an impact. Protests are due to continue in the city of Belo Horizonte Wednesday, with tens of thousands of people expected to take part.

In a security nightmare for police, the demonstration will take place at the same time as the semifinal of the Confederation Cup between Brazil and Uruguay. One protest group has said it plans to protest outside the national team’s hotel.

Last Saturday there were violent clashes in Belo Horizonte during another protest and President Rousseff has warned against a repeat of violence.

When it comes to the whereabouts of Edward Snowden, there has been far more conjecture than concrete fact. While Washington would do anything to get its hands on the whistleblower, tracking down Snowden has turned into a full on cloak and dagger affair.

On Sunday Edward Snowden left Chinese territory two days after espionage charges were leveled against him, setting off an international game of cat and mouse which has the United States’ massive global intelligence apparatus trying to cut the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor off at the pass.

The White House for its part seemed to be certain that Snowden did in fact reach Moscow after taking off from Hong Kong on Sunday.“We have known where he is and believe we know where he is now,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said during a Monday afternoon briefing. “It is our assumption that he is in Russia.”

“I’m not going to get into specifics, but it is our understanding that he is still in Russia,” Carney continued. "We have asked the Russians to look at all the options and expel Snowden to the US,” he said.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said on Monday that Snowden was in a “safe place.” Assange, who was unable to give further information as to Snowden’s whereabouts, claimed that Snowden had left Hong Kong on June 23 “bound for Ecuador via a safe pass through Russia and other states."

Shortly after Snowden allegedly arrived in Moscow, the government of Ecuador announced it had received an asylum request from the fugitive whistleblower. Assange claimed Snowden, whose passport was reportedly revoked one day prior to his departure from Hong Kong, was further granted a refugee document of passage.

It has been reported that Snowden was snaking his way around the globe to avoid capture, with a complicated route which would have seen him fly from Moscow to Caracas via Havana, with the expectation that he would later travel on to the Ecuadorian capital Quito.

While the state-controlled Russian airline Aeroflot said that he had checked in for flight SU150 to Havana with two seats (17A and 17C) in his name on Monday, seemingly half the world’s press corps was on board, but Snowden was conspicuously absent.  

The fact that hefailed to board a Moscow-to-Havana flight on Monday following his hasty escape from Hong Kong one day prior begs the question: did the world’s most infamous whistleblower step foot on Russian soil at all? 

 Wikileaks and unnamed sources

The government of Hong Kong never specified Snowden’s destination, only stating that he had in fact left Chinese territory for “a third country” on Sunday. The Russian government has made no official comment regarding the whistleblower either.

Although reporters noted the heavy presence of Russian security services at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov disavowed any knowledge of Snowden’s arrival in the Russian capital.

“I don’t [know if he's planning to stay in Moscow]. I heard about his potential arrival from the press. I know nothing,” Peskov told the Guardian on Sunday.

When RT contacted Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) regarding the matter, the agency declined to comment.

With no corroborating video footage, the only actual proof that Snowden arrived in Moscow on Sunday evening stem from three primary sources: WikiLeaks, the government of Ecuador and anonymous sources working within the airport.

Wikileaks, whose representative Sarah Harrison reportedly accompanied Snowden on the flight, regularly sent out tweets up until flight SU213 touched down in the Russian capital around 5:00 p.m. local time. 

The anti-secrecy group said in a statement that the former CIA technician is on his way to Ecuador "via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks."

A source from within WikiLeaks, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to RT that the rogue NSA leaker was indeed on the flight, passing on the names of Ecuadorian officials who were slated to meet Snowden at the airport.

An unnamed Aeroflot official also told Russia’s ITAR-Tass news agency that the former CIA technician was indeed on board Flight SU213 which landed in Moscow.

Shortly after flight 213 landed, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino tweeted that “The Government of Ecuador had received an asylum request from Edward J. #Snowden.” Cars baring license plates for the Ecuadorian diplomatic mission were spotted at Moscow International Airport Sheremetyevo. 

Ecuador's ambassador to Russia, Chavez Zavala, was also seen at the airport. Just moments before stepping into a hotel on the airport’s premises, he reportedly told journalists: "We're waiting for [Sarah] Harrison. We're going to talk to them."

Although Snowden had reportedly taken a suite at the «V-Express» Capsule Hotel in Terminal E of the airport’s transit area, no visual confirmation of the former contractor has surfaced despite the myriad passengers and swarm of journalists staking out quite possibly the world’s most wanted man.
A source at Aeroflot told Interfax news agency that Snowden had checked into the hotel, noting that “he cannot leave the terminal as he has no Russian visa." Harrison, he added, did have a Russian visa.

Another source told the agency of the unprecedented security measures which had been taken “to maintain Snowden's security and to guarantee his safe departure.” “Everything has been done to allow Snowden to spend the night peacefully at the airport's capsule hotel and to fly quietly to Cuba," the source continued.

However, on Monday evening a source at the hotel later told RT that Snowden had in fact never checked in or out of the facility.

It bears recalling that WikiLeaks, which did everything possible to draw attention to Snowden’s location between takeoff and landing, has a vested nterest in concealing the fugitive whistleblower's actual movements.

Ecuador has already shown its willingness to take big political risks by granting Assange diplomatic asylum at its London embassy, where the Wikileaks founder has remained holed up for over a year. With round the clock police surveillance and a diplomatic standoff with the UK government set to last for years, Quito might have decided on avoiding another diplomatic showdown by facilitating Snowden’s safe passage before he arrives in Ecuador.

Destination unknown

Once Snowden failed to show for his Havana-bound flight, RT’s Irina Galushko noted there were at least four flights leaving on Monday that could put Snowden on route to Ecuador. A source familiar with the situation earlier told Interfax that Snowden might take the next flight to Latin America via Cuba.

“He’s probably got another ticket also via Cuba, as there are no direct flights [from Moscow] to Caracas or Quito.”

Like so much other information that has leaked out of Moscow’s international hub, nothing ever materialized. The same source later told Interfax that Snowden was probably already outside of the Russian Federation.

Speaking at a joint press conferred with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi, Secretary of State John Kerry said he had no knowledge of Snowden’s final destination, adding he would be deeply troubled if Moscow or China had prior notice of Snowden’s travel plans, Reuters reports.   

More baffling to Washington is how Snowden ever left Hong Kong as his passport had been revoked one day prior. On the same day, the US asked Hong Kong to hand over Snowden under the terms of a 1998 extradition treaty with the Chinese territory.

However, The Hong Kong special administrative region [HKSAR] government said their decision not to block Snowden’s departure stemmed from the fact that “the documents provided by the US government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.” “As the HKSAR government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong. The HKSAR government has already informed the US government of Mr Snowden's departure,” the statement continued.

On Friday, federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Snowden for leaking a trove of documents regarding the NSA’s clandestine surveillance programs.

Snowden was charged with theft, “unauthorized communication of national defense information” and “willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person.” The last two charges were brought under the 1917 Espionage Act, which allow for the issuance of an international arrest warrant against him.Russia, which has no extradition treaty with the US, said it would be under no obligation to hand over a US citizen. Foreign Minister. Sergey Lavrov has previously said Russia would be willing to consider an asylum request from Snowden. However, an unnamed security official told RIA-Novosti news agency on Monday that no orders for Snowden's arrest have been dispatched through Interpol to Russian law enforcement agencies. Speaking from Hanoi on Monday, Patino said he did not know Snowden’s current whereabouts, or where the whistleblower planned to travel next.

The Ecuadorian FM, who read a letter in which Snowden likened himself to Bradley Manning, the US army private who is currently on trial for leaking classified information to Wikileaks, intimated that the former NSA contractor’s asylum request would be considered on human rights grounds.
Following news that Snowden’s passport had been revoked, State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said he "should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel, other than is necessary to return him to the United States."

That Snowden could leave Hong Kong on an invalidated passport despite the charges leveled against him speaks volumes about the fallout from the United States sweeping surveillance activities.
And despite the massive troves of information the US government continues to cull both at home and abroad through PRISM and related surveillance programs, one critical fact remains elusive: where in the world is Edward Snowden?

Following weeks of mass protests nationwide that persisted into the weekend, Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff has proposed a referendum for political reform in a bid to subdue public dissatisfaction that has brought a million Brazilians onto the streets.

On Monday, Rousseff pledged to invest 50 billion reais ($25 billion) on public transportation projects, holding discussions with state governors and mayors to find ways to defuse the demonstrations that have sprouted in some 80 municipalities across Brazil.

Protesters planned to continue gatherings in Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, while small pockets of violence were reported over the weekend in smaller cities, such as Salvador.

A demonstrator shouts slogans during a protest for better public services, a new political system and against the Brazilian PEC37 draft law, a proposed constitutional amendment that would take away the power of independent public prosecutors to probe crimes making it harder to combat corruption, in Rio de Janeiro downtown on June 24, 2013.(AFP Photo / Yasuyoshi Chiba)

In a bid to appease the major demands at play among the protesters, Rousseff met with representatives of the Free Pass Movement, a group that advocates for free public transport and which was instrumental to organizing initial protests triggered by proposed hikes to bus and subway services across the country.

In Sao Paulo, many of the throngs of demonstrators complained of insufficient investment in underground rail, currently a very limited service in relation to the size of the bustling metropolis, the largest city in Brazil and the world’s seventh-largest city by population.

Over the weekend, the more than 250,000 protesters that took to the streets voiced their opposition to legislation known as PEC 37, which would transfer power from federal prosecutors to investigate crimes.

Those proposed reforms were seen as a symptom of endemic corruption for the country, on the heels of an investigation that unraveled the biggest corruption case in Brazil's history - the "mensalão" cash-for-votes scheme that came to light in 2005, and ensnared the highly popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The timing of that legislation meant that it was added to an already lengthy list of demands by protesters, which all focus on what is seen as misdirected public spending on glitzy sporting events like the 2014 World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup, at the expense of public services. 

Thousands of people march during a protest on Consolação Street in Sao Paulo, Brazil on June 22, 2013 .(AFP Photo / Daniel Guimaraes)

 Rousseff has been quick to welcome peaceful protests, and on Monday announced her government’s intention to focus on five policy “pacts” for the country, including fiscal stability, a public referendum to form a Constituent Assembly for reform, and investment in education, health and public transportation.

Just prior to the nationwide protests Rousseff’s government had introduced a plan to hire medical professionals from abroad, a plan that was not well received by Brazil’s medical community as it was seen to introduce unfair competition for available positions. In response, the president stressed that Brazil’s doctors would always be considered ahead of international applicants.

It remained unclear whether the latest announcements would be seen as resolving the demands of protesters, many of which have vowed to stay on the streets until they feel concrete measures are being taken to reform Brazil’s political system and tackle corruption.

During her remarks on Monday, Rousseff pointed out that Brazil’s demonstrations were a reflection of social inclusion, and that “now the people on the streets want more.”

Though the US says that any flight carrying Snowden should not be allowed to pass, they are hardly able to do anything, aviation expert Chris Yates told RT, adding that it is unlikely that the whistleblower is now on the flight from Moscow to Havana.

RT: First, no one has seen Snowden on this plane. Is it possible to secretly get someone aboard and hide them on a passenger jet?

Chris Yates: Well, quite frankly probably not. We’ve got that plane stuffed with journalists and other people who obviously attempted to keep an eye out for Mr. Snowden. It’s unlikely that he will be on that plane, in fact nobody has actually seen him. The fact of the matter is that he still might be in that transit lounge, he may be held for some reason in that transit lounge because of the media scrum. Whatever the case might be it certainly appears that he is not actually on the flight at the moment. 

RT:  If he is on this plane, is there a legal way to intercept it?

CY: Yesterday the American government put out a warning to all nations in the Western hemisphere not to let Mr. Snowden pass through except en route to the US. It could mean that any plane he is travelling on other nations might prevent from entering their airspace, because they don’t want to be caught up in this particular spat.  It is unlikely that would happen.  The bottom line in the aviation world is that if the flight is operating legally, it filed all the proper flight forms and done the rest of appropriate measures then that plane should be given free access straight cross any bit of airspace it is flying through. Could the US intercept the aircraft if it were to enter US airspace? Possibly they could instruct it to land somewhere in the US, but I would think that would be unlikely. Of course the pilot himself has the possibility to divert so he does not actually need to enter US airspace to actually fly down to Havana. And that will be another possibility as well.

RT: Who makes the decision to divert? Who does the pilot respond to: a legal authority or his corporate superiors?

CY: Once the plane takes off it’s entirely down to the pilot to choose the best route depending upon all of the prevailing conditions at the time and that could be weather and a whole other variety of things as well. So if the pilot were to choose to fly the route just outside of US airspace close to it then he would be entitled to do that of his own volition provided that it didn’t have any impact upon the safety of the flight and everybody else on board it. 

RT: This is an Airbus 330 - does it have enough fuel to divert?

CY: Yes is the short answer to that question. All flights operating all over the world are required to carry enough fuel in case of diversion whatever that diversion might be. The bottom line is that – yes, the airplane will be carrying enough fuel. Now the US says that any flight carrying Mr. Snowden should not be allowed to pass, but on the other hand they are powerless to do anything provided that the airplane does not enter US airspace.  

RT: Reports say Snowden's passport was revoked by the US If so, how can he move around the world?

CY: I’ve had personal experience of losing a passport, for example, and there are methods and mechanisms in place for people to be able to travel back to their home country without a passport. That is a legal document which is usually produced by some official authority, the police for example, in my case it issued a document that let we travel across Europe to get back to the UK. The fact that the US government revoked his passport does not necessarily mean that he cannot get on a flight which is pre-booked, and particularly if he is the transit lounge of an airport because effectively he is in no man’s land. If he used a legal passport it would seem to me at his point of departure and while he is in transit then it would seem that it doesn’t really matter whether he has got that passport in his hand and it’s actually a legal document at that time. 

The US has revoked Edward Snowden’s passport without a hearing and is threatening dire consequences if he is not sent back, even though the country routinely accepts dissidents without passports, historian Gerald Horne told RT.

“If you listen to the congress person appearing on Sunday’s chat shows, they are breathing fire threatening measures just short of a nuclear war if Mr Snowden is not speedily dispatched back to New York or Washington,” Horne said.

RT: Just how easy is it for the US to revoke a passport?

GH: One would hope that there would be notice to Mr Snowden and a hearing before something as important as a passport is revoked. But if you examine the State Department’s statement they basically said that that was not necessary from their point of view if you are accused of a felony then your passport can be revoked. Its well known that particularly during the Cold War period the US routinely revoked the passports of political dissidents.

RT: So , the US has done this so he cannot travel anywhere else. He can’t travel any further without that valid passport?

GH: Not necessarily. The US routinely excepts on its territories citizens fleeing Cuba without passports. I would also say that the US routinely receives on its soil those it deems to be political dissidents who might or not have passports. I don’t feel that Moscow’s hands are tied with regard to Mr Snowden not having a passport. And in any case if we assume that his eventual destination is Ecuador if you look at the extradition treaty between the US and Ecuador there is a revision that says that extradition does not have to be adhered to if a so called political crime is at play. And what Snowden is accused of is in essence a political crime.

RT:Will there be diplomatic spat and  fallout if Moscow let's him fly?

GH: If you listen to the congress person appearing on Sunday’s chat shows, they are breathing fire threatening measures just short of a nuclear war if Mr Snowden is not speedily dispatched back to New York or Washington. However they’ll get over it. I think that they recognize that Moscow has the opportunity if not a responsibility to make sure that Mr Snowden is not persecuted for what is in essence a political crime.

RT: Could they intercept the aircraft and force it land where they could apprehend him?

GH: You can’t rule that out when you are talking about the US, which sees itself as a police officer of the world . However I would caution the US authorities to tread carefully in a situation like this because it is well known as Mr. Obama has said himself that Washington would like to reset relations with Moscow so that it can pivot towards China. It would be difficult for the US to apply pressure against China when it simultaneously has difficult relations with Moscow. I think that operative principle will basically be in play as the scenario unfolds.

RT: We have got a man on the run, he is in a Moscow airport. Do you think he will be a free man and get to where he wants to and be out of the grip of the US?

GH: I would bet that Mr Snowden will be sleeping in Ecuador sooner rather than later. Keep in mind that Ecuador has difficult diplomatic relations with Washington. A major US oil company has polluted the environment in Ecuador, poisoned and killed a number of citizens. And the US refuses to be forthcoming with regard to bringing this company to justice. Supposedly Mr Snowden will be transiting through Havana and we all know the difficult relations between Cuba and the US. So I should say Mr Snowden should sleep soundly tonight.

Has Edward Snowden betrayed people of the world or certain elites in a particular country, asked Ecuador Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino as he confirmed that the whistleblower was in Russia following the asylum bid the South American country.

Patino said on Monday that human rights principles were the most important consideration in the case of former CIA contractor.

Ecuador has been in contact with the Russian government over Edward Snowden and has informed Russia that it is considering him asylum appeal, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister said at a press conference in Hanoi on Monday.

He stressed that the Ecuadorian government puts human rights above any other party’s interests. Patino also said it is “paradoxical” the person who revealed alleged rights violations is being “persecuted.”

“It should be asked, who betrayed whom,” Patino stressed as he questioned the correctness of calling Snowden’s leak a “treason.”

“Is this betraying the citizens of the world, or betraying some elites that are in power in a certain country?” the Minister asked.

The alleged US espionage plan would be violating the rights of “every citizen in the world,” Patino said, referring to Snowden’s claim that the US agencies are “intercepting the majority world’s communications.”

Patino also read out Snowden’s formal asylum request. In it, the whistleblower has compared himself to the US Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, who has been accused of sending a trove of classified documents to WikiLeaks and is now on trial for “aiding the enemy.”

“It is unlikely that I will have a fair trial or humane treatment before trial, and also I have the risk of life imprisonment or death,” Snowden said in his asylum bid, citing Manning’s case and his “inhumane” treatment.

The Ecuadorian Constitution guarantees the safety of people who publish opinions through the media and work in any form of communication, Patino stressed.

Meanwhile, Ecuador is also considering a US request related to Snowden, which it received from the US envoy in Quito. Patino said the decision would come in due time.

“The relationship between the US and Ecuador should be based on respect for the sovereignty of both countries and our actions are founded on our principles. We consider the consequences of our decisions, but we act in the name of our principles,” said the Minister, stressing that the US had denied the extradition of several Ecuadorian bankers charged in Ecuador.

Snowden, a former contractor for the US National Security Agency (NSA) who exposed a top-secret PRISM surveillance program to the media, was expected to fly to Cuba on Monday and then change planes to Ecuador. However, he has not been seen aboard the plane flying from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport to Havana, RT's Egor Piskunov reported.

The Ecuadorian government is analyzing NSA leaker Snowden’s asylum bid as he attempts to elude extradition to the US, said Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino. The whistleblower is allegedly in Moscow’s Sheremetevo airport after fleeing Hong Kong.

"We are analyzing it with a lot of responsibility," Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters in Hanoi, Vietnam, where he is currently on an official visit. He added that the decision has to do “with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world."

“We always act in the name of principles not in our own interests. There are governments who make decisions more according to their own interests, we don’t do that. Our main focus is human rights,” said Patino, when asked how granting Snowden asylum could affect Ecuador’s relations with the US.

The Government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. #Snowden
— Ricardo Patiño Aroca (@RicardoPatinoEC) June 23, 2013

A car with diplomatic license plates of Ecuador is at the Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport at the moment.

According to Interfax news agency, Snowden, who is accompanied by WikiLeaks representative, Sarah Harrison, has rented a suit at the airport’s «V-Express» Capsule Hotel. If he’s going to fly to Ecuador it won’t happen until Monday, June 24.  

WikiLeaks Statement on Edward Snowden political asylum flight http://t.co/6cSiljOD7H
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 23, 2013

“Mr Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who exposed evidence of a global surveillance regime conducted by US and UK intelligence agencies, has left Hong Kong legally,” a statement by the WikiLeaks said. “He is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.”

The statement added that when the whistleblower arrives in Ecuador, his asylum request “will be formally processed”.

Snowden left Hong Kong for Moscow on Sunday, despite ABC claiming that his US passport has been revoked a day before.

The Russian capital is considered a transit point en route to a third country for the former NSA contractor, who exposed a top-secret US National Security Agency’s PRISM surveillance program to the media and is now accused of espionage, theft and conversion of government property. 

Ecuador and Iceland were initially named as Snowden’s most likely destinations. Later the news appeared that he was going to fly to Venezuela via Cuba. 

More than a quarter of a million Brazilians marched through the streets of more than 100 Brazilian cities, protesting government corruption. A new poll shows that 75 percent of citizens support the demonstrations.

Demonstrations were punctuated with outbursts of violence in some cities as police cracked down on activists with rubber bullets and tear gas.

In the cities of Belo Horizonte and Salvador the protests descended into violence as activists scuffled with police, while the vast majority of demonstrations were peaceful.

The protests were initially triggered by a transport fare rises, and then the demonstrators turned to issues like poor services, World Cup spending, and, finally, widespread government corruption.

Throughout the week of protests, the crowds largely consisted of the young and middle class.

The protests have become the largest public demonstrations Brazil has seen in twenty years. 

Riot policemen guard demonstrators during a protest against corruption and price hikes in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on June 22, 2013. (AFP Photo / Yuri Cortez)

 On Saturday, protesters denounced congressional legislation, known as PEC 37, that would limit the power of federal prosecutors to investigate crimes, and many Brazilians express concern that the law would make it harder to put corrupt politicians behind bars.

On Friday, the country’s President Dilma Rousseff addressed the nation on prime-time television, saying that peaceful protests were welcome and emphasized that she would not condone corruption.

She stressed she would meet with movement leaders and create a plan to improve urban transportation and use oil royalties for investment in education.

 "Dilma is underestimating the resolve of the people on the corruption issue," Mayara Fernandes, a medical student who took part in a march in Sao Paulo, told AP. "She talked and talked and said nothing. Nobody can take the corruption of this country any more."

A new poll by the respected Ibope Institute shows the majority of Brazilians support the protesters rather than the country’s leader. The research, which involved over a 1,000 people from across Brazil, revealed that 75 per cent of the population support the rallies.

Soccer balls marked with red crosses planted by members of NGO Rio de Paz (Rio Peace) as a protest in Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro June 22, 2013. (Reuters / Pilar Olivares)