Venezuela's Maduro said he was offering asylum so that the former National Security Agency contractor could live "free of imperial North American persecution."
Outraged Ticos bombard social media networks under the hashtag #LauraLeaEsto to defend the long-standing Costa Rican right to free speech after President Laura Chinchilla threatened to sue anyone who defames her on Facebook.
Vladimir Putin, who has disagreed with the Obama administration on its handling of the Syrian conflict and plans to develop a missile-defense shield in Europe, tried to distance himself from the case.
The Costa Rican Comptroller General’s Office put the brakes on plans to build a new $1.3 billion oil refinery on the Caribbean coast with funding from China.
