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EU apologies not enough, Bolivia says
July 17, 2013, 3:29 pm

Morales has said apologies from EU countries do not go far enough [XInhua]

Morales has said apologies from EU countries do not go far enough [XInhua]

France, Italy, Portugal and Spain have apologised for forcing an aircraft carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales to be grounded in Austria for 14 hours last week on suspicion he was harboring Edward Snowden, a former CIA whistle-blower wanted by the US.

But Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said that the apologies did not go far enough and that authorities in those countries must identify those responsible and punish them “in an exemplary fashion so that such an incident does not happen again”.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital La Paz, he urged the EU countries to “repair the damage that has been done to the president”.

The aerial blockade of Morales’s aircraft sparked an international diplomatic scandal.

A host of South American nations supported Morales in expressing outrage at the rerouting of his plane.

Morales met with counterparts from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) late last week to discuss the diplomatic row.

Source: Agencies