BUENOS AIRES: Latin American leaders slammed European governments yesterday for diverting Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane on rumours it was carrying a wanted former US spy agency contractor, adding a new diplomatic spat to the Edward Snowden saga.
Morales was returning from Moscow on Tuesday when France and Portugal abruptly banned his plane from entering their airspace due to suspicions that Snowden, wanted by Washington for leaking secrets, was onboard. Italy and Spain also banned the Bolivian plane from their skies.
The unusual treatment of the Bolivian military aircraft touched a sensitive nerve in the region, which has a history of US-backed coups.
Several furious presidents from across the region rallied behind Morales and protests erupted on the streets of Bolivia.
“(These are) vestiges of a colonialism that we thought were long over. We believe this constitutes not only the humiliation of a sister nation but of all South America,” Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said in a speech in Buenos Aires.
Heads of state in the 12-nation South American bloc Unasur denounced the “unfriendly and unjustifiable acts” and some members wanted an emergency summit in Bolivia.
Ministers from the bloc will meet to discuss the affair in Lima today.
The bloc includes the leftist leaders of Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia as well as more moderate ones in Chile and Brazil. Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador were among the other Latin American countries speaking out against the Europeans’ actions.
“These are times of sovereign, democratic, popular governments that won’t be pushed around by foreign powers,” said Venezuelan communications minister Ernesto Villegas.
Brazil’s foreign ministry spokesman said the government would not comment on its own because Unasur would do so collectively. The Chilean foreign ministry issued a statement saying it “lamented” what happened to Morales and that more clarity was needed on the facts.
Bolivian officials were quick on Tuesday to accuse the US of strong-arming the Europeans into denying access to their air space in an “act of intimidation” against Morales for suggesting while attending an energy conference in Moscow that he would consider granting asylum to Snowden if requested.
Reuters
