Bolivian Officials Decry American 'Kidnapping' Of President Evo Morales in Hunt for Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden made national headlines last month after he revealed the National Security Agency's (NSA's) domestic and international internet spying program known as PRISM. Now, it appears the very possibility of his presence is of greater concern than the political amnesty of elected officials.
The Bolivian government is outraged at what they have classified as a "kidnapping" of President Evo Morales in Europe. Morales was returning from a trip to Moscow, where it is believed Snowden is currently living, but ran into problems when his airplane was reportedly denied access from crossing several European counties' airspace.
"We're talking about the president on an official trip after an official summit being kidnapped," Bolivia's ambassador to the U.N, Sacha Llorenti Soliz, told reporters. He also noted that it was an "act of aggression" by France, Portugal, Spain and Italy and that "the orders came from the United States."
The belief was that Bolivia, which has voiced its support of Snowden, was harboring the whistleblower on Morales' airplane. The craft eventually had to make a stop in Austria for the night, where it was promptly searched. Snowden was nowhere to be found.
"We don't know who invented this lie [that Snowden was travelling with Morales]," Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said. "We want to denounce to the international community this injustice with the plane of President Evo Morales."
Snowden has sought asylum in a number of different countries, including Bolivia, while the United States attempts to find and detain him. Many in the international community have voiced their support of Snowden, and at this point it appears that the U.S. will have to resort to extreme measures if officials are to have any chance at capturing the former NSA employee.
"Mr. Soliz said Latin American presidents were planning an emergency meeting to discuss the incident, while the President of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, said on Twitter that the re-routing of the plane was 'crazy' as aircraft carrying heads of state had 'total impunity,'" reports the Independent.
The NSA's PRISM program has been an international controversy ever since Snowden first detailed the extent to which the program was spying on U.S. citizens and others. Since then it has come to light that the U.S. was also spying on a number of other countries, including France and Germany. International relations for the U.S. have since grown more tense, with France even reconsidering a trade pact with America due to the findings.
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