WikiLeaks released a statement saying NSA leaker Edward Snowden is headed for Ecuador via a "safe route." He originally fled the United States for Hong Kong weeks ago and admitted to divulging information on the NSA’s surveillance program. Today, Snowden left Hong Kong with the help of WikiLeaks, which claims to be providing him with legal and diplomatic advisers. The anti-secrecy website's founder, Julian Assange, is currently under the protection of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

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On Twitter, Ecuador’s foreign minister backed up the report that Snowden is going there and has asked for asylum.

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

According to Reuters, sources say the U.S. government has revoked his passport.

Congressman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), former chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, reacted to the news on America’s News HQ. She’s not surprised Snowden is going to Ecuador. “Although Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, looks more Western in his clothing and in his way of communicating, he’s just as authoritarian as many despots in the region. He is […] a Chavez-wannabe.”

Ros-Lehtinen said freedom of the press is not respected in Ecuador and charged that there’s more espionage there than Snowden can “ever imagine.” She went on to call it “the epitome of irony that this gentlemen, Snowden, has castigated our own government because oh, we’re withholding programs, information to the American people and he seeks refuge in countries that don’t honor any commitment to freedom of the press whatsoever.”

Shannon Bream asked if she thought Snowden had good intentions when he released the information to the press. The congresswoman responded that there are whistleblower protections, but based on his travels to China, Russia and now Ecuador, his actions are suspect.

She added, “China’s not [helping him] as a humanitarian gesture. Neither is Ecuador. […] They do it because they’re going to get something out from him and what will he do with that information – he will share it with these hostile governments. That does do harm to the United States.”

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