With Edward Snowden stuck in Moscow and Washington pushing hard for his return, many Ecuadoreans began realizing Tuesday that this small country’s deep economic ties with the U.S. could make it the one with the most to lose in the high-stakes international showdown over the National Security Agency leaker.
While President Rafael Correa’s leftist government was virtually silent on Snowden’s request for asylum, Ecuadorean analysts said his fate, or at least his safe harbor in Ecuador, could depend as much on frozen vegetables and flowers as on questions over freedom of expression and international counterterrorism.
