HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020347.jpg

193 Yet, if not for the “special operation”, he could have easily gone by foot to Terminal E. It was, as I found, only a nine minute walk through the transit passageway in which one does not have to show a passport. But that raises the question: Was Snowden’s plan really to go to Ecuador? Consider Snowden’s putative motivation in seeking sanctuary in Ecuador: his safety. Yet, Snowden assessed that he would be vulnerable to capture by the U.S. government in Ecuador. “If they [the U.S. Government] really wanted to capture me, they would’ve allowed me to travel to Latin America, because the CIA can operate with impunity down there,” he explained in a recorded interview with Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of Zhe Nation, in 2014, He had previously discussed the likelihood of his being captured in Ecuador with Julian Assange in Hong Kong in June 2013 before his departure for Moscow. He also told Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, that he considered that he was at risk in Latin America. This vulnerability was no minor matter to Snowden. He told Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong, before arranging to fly to Moscow, that his “first priority” was his own “physical safety.” Since he did not believe Ecuador was a Safe place for him, why would he leave the comparative safety of Russia and risk being kidnapped by American forces in Latin America? Nor was a U.S. passport a prerequisite for U.S. citizens flying to Havana in 2013. Since the State Department did not sanction travel to Cuba for the general public, the vast majority of Americans going to Cuba obtained a travel document from a Cuban consulate so the Cuban entry stamp would not be marked in their passport.) So Snowden, if he really had intended to fly to Cuba, only needed this document. He had over a month to obtain it from the Cuban consulate in Hong Kong. But he did not. He could also have obtained a visa to Ecuador at its consulate in Hong Kong. But he did not. According to his lawyer Kucherena, who closely examined his passport in July 2013, Snowden had no visas at all. Unlike his words, Snowden’s actions were with any plan to go to any place in Latin America. Shortly after the “special operation,” a tip was placed on a publicly-accessible Russian website saying that Snowden was booked on the Aeroflot flight SU-150 to Cuba on June 24th. In response to this anonymous tip, Russian and foreign news organization in Moscow ordered their reporters to buy tickets on that flight With their tickets, reporters swarmed into the departure area of the airport in such numbers that the police had to set up cordons. They checked all the VIP lounges, restaurants, rest rooms and boarding area for the next seven hours, but Snowden was nowhere to be found. A Russia Today reporter later said “It was a total madhouse. Everyone was screaming ‘Snowden’ at the airport ground staff.” Over a hundred reporters actually boarded the plane. In fact, Snowden had never checked in for that flight and, as far as is known, was never seen in terminal E. Only after the plane took off did the journalists realize Snowden was not aboard it. All they could do was photograph two of the unoccupied seats, 17A and 17 C, which they reported in tweets were Snowden’s and Harrison empty seats. By the time the plane landed in Cuba Aeroflot denied that anyone named Snowden had ever been booked on any of its flight to HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020347