South American leaders slam US Prism

Leaders of South American countries have condemned US secret personal information gathering and agreed to accept an asylum request from former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

The meeting of Mercosur was held in Montevideo, Uruguay, on Friday.

Brazil, Venezuela, and other South American countries harshly criticized the US government for gathering personal data from e-mails and telephone calls across the region. The countries called it unacceptable behavior that breaches their sovereignty.

They agreed to urge the United States to immediately halt the intelligence activity and explain the purpose and other details of the program to each country.