The NSA Is Amassing Call and Email Data from Latin America Too: Paper

It's not just the U.S.: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and other Latin American countries are subject to the NSA's wide-ranging data-mining operations, Brazil's O Globo reported yesterday, citing leaked documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

According to the Rio de Janeiro paper, whose reporters worked with the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald, the NSA has collaborated with Brazilian telecommunications companies to gather data, and engaged in even more extensive surveillance operations in countries like Venezuela:

The paper, O Globo, based in Rio de Janeiro, says the documents show the National Security Agency amassed military and security data on countries such as Venezuela, an American adversary that has been accused of aiding Colombia’s Marxist rebels and maintaining close ties with Iran. But the documents also show that the agency carried out surveillance operations to unearth inside commercial information on the oil industry in Venezuela and the energy sector in Mexico, which is under state control and essentially closed to foreign investment.

"A shiver ran down my back when I learned that they are spying on all of us," Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said in a speech. Leaders of South American countries are holding an "extraordinary meeting" this week in Bolivia in response to European countries rerouting Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane last week apparently over fears that it was carrying NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced her country will investigate the report, saying "If we lower our heads, they will trample all over us tomorrow."

[image, of Bolivian supporters of Evo Morales on Wednesday, via AP]