Latin America seroiusly irked by US spying program
Anger is mounting in Latin America over the US intelligence gathering disclosed by controversial American whistleblower, Edward Snowden. - Colombia, the closest US military ally in Latin America, expressed concern on Wednesday about reports that it was the target of US electronic surveillance, saying it would demand an explanation from Washington. In a statement, the Colombian Foreign Ministry rejected "acts of espionage that violate people's right to privacy and international conventions on telecommunications." Snowden disclosed classified information about Washington’s electronic surveillance programs on a global scale last month. The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor disclosed that the agency's so-called PRISM Internet surveillance program gathered phone logs and Internet data on a massive scale. The NSA can present secret court orders to Internet firms like Google and Facebook to gain access to emails, online chats, pictures, files and videos uploaded by foreign users.
Bill Van Auken: NSA casts massive surveillance net over Latin America - According to the documents reported in the Rio de Janeiro-based daily O Globo, the most intensive surveillance has been conducted against both US allies—including Brazil, Colombia and Mexico—and against Venezuela, whose bourgeois nationalist regime has in the past come into conflict with US aims in the region. Also subjected to the NSA surveillance net have been Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and El Salvador, according to the O Globo report.
BBC: US allies Mexico, Chile and Brazil seek spying answers