Bolivia's Morales says US aimed to intimidate
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian President Evo Morales said Thursday that the rerouting of his plane over suspicions that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden was on board was a plot by the U.S. to intimidate him and other Latin American leaders.
Morales, long a fierce critic of U.S. policy toward Latin America, received a hero's welcome from a cheering crowd in La Paz airport late Wednesday night.
His return followed a dramatic, unplanned 14-hour layover in Vienna that ignited an international diplomatic row. Bolivia's government said France, Spain and Portugal refused to let the president's plane through their airspace, forcing it to land in Austria. He was flying home from a summit in Russia.
Latin American leaders were outraged by the incident, calling it a violation of national sovereignty and a slap in the face for a region that has suffered through humiliations by Europe and several U.S.-backed military coups. Several South American presidents were headed to the Bolivian city of Cochabamba on Thursday to show their support for the leftist leader.
Morales said the incident involving his plane was a provocation to the region, and he urged European nations to "free themselves" from the U.S. "The United States is using its agent (Snowden) and the president (of Bolivia) to intimidate the whole region," he said.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bolivias-morales-arrives-home-after-plane-flap
