Bolivia 'could close' US embassy after plane incident

[EC]

Via the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23190278

President Evo Morales has threatened to close the US embassy in Bolivia after his official plane was banned from European airspace.

The warning came as South America's leftist leaders offered him support at a special summit on Thursday.

His plane was forced to land in Austria on Tuesday after several European nations barred it from flying through their airspace.

There were unfounded suspicions that US fugitive Edward Snowden was on board.

The Bolivian president blamed Washington for pressurising European countries into refusing him passage.

"My hand would not shake to close the US embassy," Agence France-Presse news agency quoted Mr Morales as saying.

"We have dignity, sovereignty. Without the United States, we are better politically, democratically."

More at link.

[EC]

Related story: http://www.npr.org/2013/07/05/198906520/south-american-leaders-back-morales-in-plane-row

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Thursday that he and other leaders were offering full support to Morales following the rerouting of the plane, calling it an aggression against the Americas.

"We're not going to accept that in the 21st century there's first, second and third rate countries," Correa said.

"The leaders and authorities in Europe have to take a lesson in history and understand that we're not 500 years behind. This Latin America of the 21st century is independent, dignified and sovereign."

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro protested alleged attempts by Spanish officials to search the Bolivian presidential plane.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said Latin Americans treasured freedom after fighting for their independence from Europe in the 19th century and then surviving Washington's 20th-century history of backing repressive regimes in the Americas.

She then demanded an apology for the plane ordeal.

"I'm asking those who violated the law in calm but serious manner, to take responsibility for the errors made, it's the least they can do," Fernandez said. "To apologize for once in their life, to say they're sorry for what they've done."

Morales has said that while the plane was parked in Vienna, the Spanish ambassador to Austria arrived with two embassy personnel and they asked to search the plane. He said he denied them permission.

"Who takes the decision to attack the president of a South American nation?" Maduro asked. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano "Rajoy has been abusive by trying to search Morales' plane in Spain. He has no right to breach international law."

More at link, I quoted the relevant portion.

[Rapunzel]

stirred the hornets nest with this incident, might actually lead to them taking in Snowden.

[EC]

I actually think they want Snowden in South America. Far easier to arrange an "accident" there than in Russia or China.

[mountaineer]

"We're not going to accept that in the 21st century there's first, second and third rate countries," Correa said.

Well, there are. Thanks to Obama, the U.S. is in that last category.

[evadR]

Morales has said that while the plane was parked in Vienna, the Spanish ambassador to Austria arrived with two embassy personnel and they asked to search the plane. He said he denied them permission.

"Who takes the decision to attack the president of a South American nation?" Maduro asked. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano "Rajoy has been abusive by trying to search Morales' plane in Spain. He has no right to breach international law."

He's right of course.